Superman!

I wanted to write about this guy last week, but I didn’t want to jinx him. Not that I have the power to do that, but if I was to write about Michael Phelps and he would have gone on to not get a gold medal in an event, I would have blamed myself for jinxing him and I couldn’t stand it. So, now that his quest for 8 gold medals is now complete and was successful, I feel like I need to write about how amazing his accomplishments have been. 23 year old Michael Phelps is truly a superman and now the greatest Olympian of all times. He matched, then beat the 36 year old record of 7 gold medals in one games set by Mark Spitz. Granted he needed some help to get a few of those medals with three of the events being team relays. His teammates did an amazing job to win those extremely close races! Especially the 4x100 Free where they beat the smack talking French by a 8 tenths of a second!

Phelps set or was part of 7 new world records, which is another amazing feat when you think about it. He has become the darling of the 08 Olympic games and the face of his sport. Then when you hear about his past it is even a more amazing accomplishment. This was a kid that was teased constantly while growing up and had to overcome his ADD. It seems that swimming was a good outlet for him and he enjoyed the long hours in the pool. Also, it doesn’t hurt that he has the perfect body for swimming. He is 6 feet 4 inches tall and has an arm span of 6 feet 7 inches, he has size 14 feet (providing the effects of flippers), he has a long, thin torso (which allows for low drag in the water), he has hypermobile (basically double jointed) ankles and knees that allow him to whip is legs and feet for extra trust, and his heart pumps close to 8 times more blood than normal humans. This also accounts for his need to eat 12,000 calories a day. That is five time more than the average adult male! All those things combined together create the best swimmer and Olympian of all time.
Phelps Mania has taken over the country and the world. In one week, Michael Phelps has single handedly changed the swimming and sports world. He has done the equivalent of hitting a homerun in the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series to win, he has made a three pointer at the buzzer to win the NBA Championship, he has made a long putt for birdie to win the Masters, thrown a winning pass in the final seconds of the Super bowl, and won the Tour de France all in one week. I know his star will fade some once the Olympics are over, but it is truly amazing what he has done. He will go back to being an after thought once the NFL and College football start up, but for these few weeks in August 08, he is the biggest star on the planet and I can’t think of a more deserving person.

To steal a phrase from Mark Spitz, it has been epic!