Phelps : The Great 8

[Chandan]

An embodiment of the Olympic ideal, Michael Phelps saved the Games By Pat Forde ESPN.com Updated: August 17, 2008, 10:03 AM ET BEIJING -- According to archaeologists and historians, mankind has been working at this organized sports business since roughly 4000 B.C. Some think the Chinese might have started the whole thing. Sunday morning in the putative birthplace of sports, we saw the endeavor elevated to a new plane by Michael Phelps. We witnessed the apotheosis of the athlete -- 6,000 years in the making; 30 minutes, 51.68 seconds in the perfecting. That's the combined length of time Phelps swam to win his Olympic-record eight gold medals, to set seven world records, to swim five lifetime-best individual times, to endure two great escapes, and to become the singular competitor in species history. Over nine days and 17 swims, he was in the water for roughly the length of a sitcom. It turned out to be the greatest TV many Americans have ever witnessed. NBC said 66 million people tuned in to at least six minutes of its prime-time telecast Friday, when Phelps somehow won the 100-meter butterfly by one-hundredth of a second for his seventh gold medal. That dwarfs virtually any non-Super Bowl sporting event, and it proves one thing: Michael Phelps single-handedly saved the Olympics. These Beijing Olympics, and perhaps those to come. The entire enterprise has new life. The new motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius, Phelpsius. Faster, higher, stronger, greater. Before these Games, the prevailing sentiment I heard was that the Olympics had lost their allure. They were considered passé. Too long and too arcane and too compromised by drugs and politics and commercialism. In Football America, fewer people than ever seemed to care. And then, Phelps zipped up his Speedo and got busy. Michael Phelps swam the butterfly leg of Sunday's 4x100 medley relay to help the U.S. win gold. By the time he finished, America had gone nuts over a swimmer. Nuts like it doesn't even go over football, baseball and basketball players. Nuts like perhaps only Tiger Woods can understand. Phelps has an idea how nuts, but he probably won't realize his full impact until he returns home later this week. Across the United States, bars were erupting in cheers when Phelps won. His races were shown on giant video screens at Major League Baseball and National Football League games and on the big screen in Times Square. The morning conversation in offices everywhere was the same -- "Did you see Michael Phelps last night?" As with the Miracle on Ice team in 1980, everyone was rowing in the same direction on this one. It wasn't your team versus my team. It was Our Michael versus Their Mortals. In Beijing, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant showed up twice to see Phelps swim. The second appearance was Sunday, and they stayed around to see the final medal ceremony after Phelps and his teammates won the 400-meter medley relay. They raised their arms to get his attention, blew kisses at Phelps' mom and sisters across the pool, clapped like starstruck fans. They weren't alone. Australian breaststroker Leisel Jones won two gold medals but said the highlight of her Games was watching Phelps perform. Saying the Olympics needed Phelps is like saying Terrell Owens needs attention. It needed an athlete to rekindle a romance that seemed to fade since the Jim McKay days. In Phelps' eight medal races, we saw the Olympic ideal: athletic excellence, gripping competition, incredible drama, admirable sportsmanship, earnest teamwork, visceral humanity. And a passel of passed drug tests. (Don't expect that to change in the days, months and years to come. Phelps is not Marion Jones.) We saw complete dominance (Phelps' crushing of all comers in the 200 and 400 individual medleys, the 200 freestyle and the 800 free relay). We saw races so tense they left your hands trembling (the 400 free relay and 100 butterfly, won by a total of nine-hundredths of a second). We saw him win a race with his goggles full of water (the 200 fly). We saw a fitting coronation in the finale. "What he did today, what he did this week, beats winning the Tour de France, beats making the last putt at the U.S. Open," relay teammate Brendan Hansen said. "This guy is the greatest athlete in the world, and every athlete in the world needs to tip their hats to this guy." And after that, we heard humility and appreciation, not ego and entitlement. We heard how Phelps was staying in the athletes' village instead of a luxury hotel, and how he excitedly sought out tennis star Rafael Nadal to say hello. We heard him say that the time spent playing spades and Risk with his teammates were the best times of all. "I am lucky to have everything I have," Phelps said. "I'm lucky to have the talent I have, the drive I have, the excitement I have about the sport. I'm fortunate to have every quality I have." After his historic race, Michael Phelps moved through a mob of photographers to share his moment with his two sisters and mother. Humanity among them. Phelps can be coldly focused before a race, and his performances are so routinely excellent that he sometimes seems bereft of human qualities. But after races, we saw howls of jubilation and tears of joy straight from Phelps' core. "This is all a dream come true," he said. "To really just imagine anything and work toward it, to have ups and have downs, and to really accomplish anything you've ever dream of -- it's fun." It's overwhelming. On the podium Sunday, Phelps kept taking deep breaths. His life's work has been built upon deep breaths. They are intrinsic to swimming. The longer and harder you swim, the more you develop your lung capacity. But this was deep breathing of a different sort. This was an attempt to govern his emotions, to avoid sending the tears welling up in his brown eyes splashing down his cheeks before a world audience. While "The Star-Spangled Banner" played, a lifetime of thoughts and memories flashed through his mind. A child with ADHD who struggled in school had become a man who brought a nation to its feet. "My mom and I still joke that I had a middle school teacher who said I'd never be successful," he said. Seems he's turned out OK. It would take more than a few doubting teachers to keep him down. And it would take more than a few hundred daunting practices to hold him back. On the days he hated to get out of bed, knowing that several miles of murderous practice lay ahead, the goals he'd written and kept on his nightstand were there to spur him on. Phelps has never told anyone other than his extraordinary coach, Bob Bowman, exactly what was on the goals sheet. But for the first time, he tacitly acknowledged Sunday that winning eight golds was part of the master plan. "Everything was accomplished," he said. "It all happened this week." Not that it was easy. Phelps needed the ultimate wingman, relay freestyler Jason Lezak, to help close the deal. It was Lezak who pulled out the 400 free relay, somehow channeling almost inhuman adrenaline to chase down former 100 free world-record holder Frenchman Alain Bernard by eight-hundredths of a second. And it was Lezak who held off current 100 free world-record holder Eamon Sullivan on Sunday to secure the medley relay. Michael Phelps set seven world records in his eight races in Beijing. And Phelps needed that indescribable 100-butterfly win Friday, when he rallied from seventh at the turn to inexplicably out-touch Milorad Cavic at the wall by .01. Surely you've seen the frame-by-frame photos by now: Cavic's outstretched hands mere inches from the wall while Phelps' arms were still spread out at his shoulders. It seemed impossible he could get from there to the wall faster than the man next to him, but Phelps has made a career out of expanding the realm of the possible. Then there was the cumulative effect of all those swims -- all the effort and exertion of competition, all the tedium of warm-ups and warm-downs, the repetition of ice baths and massages, the constant need to keep moving on to the next task without relaxing or cracking. He came close to cracking Friday. After winning the 200 IM, he had to turn around and swim the semifinals of the 100 butterfly. As Phelps wobbled through the mixed zone in a panting daze, he thought to himself, "Oh my gosh, I'm exhausted." He spent most of the next day in bed, watching movies or sleeping. He recharged himself just enough to chase down Cavic, tying Mark Spitz's record seven golds, then he came back again Sunday with his final swim. It was another powerful butterfly leg, this time rocketing the American relay from third to first and setting up Lezak with a lead. And after celebrating with his teammates and leaving the world in awe, Phelps had a single, simple, endearing wish. "I kind of just want to see my mom," he said. Back home, Michael Phelps has a couple hundred million surrogate moms and dads and brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. He's everyone's hometown hero now. Everyone's Olympic ideal. He's the apotheosis of the athlete, perfecting what they started here six millennia ago.

[SachDan]

Greatest Olympian ever. Sir Michael Phelps :hatsoff:

[Chandan]

Ranking Phelps' eight great wins in Beijing BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' eight gold-medal swims were all magnificent. But the world needs lists, so we're here to rank his great haul of China from most memorable to least: 1. 100-meter butterfly Yes, this was the only race in which Phelps did not set a world record -- but what he did to reach the wall first was the stuff of legends. Apparently beaten by Milorad Cavic in the final meters, Phelps somehow squeezed in a rapid-fire final arm stroke to touch and win by one-hundredth of a second. Still-frame photos show Cavic inches from winning before Phelps made up ground and splashed in at the last instant. The fact it was his seventh gold, tying Mark Spitz's Olympic record and securing a $1 million bonus from Speedo, didn't hurt. 2. 400 freestyle relay It's hard to find good help nowadays -- unless you're Michael Phelps, and you need a relay mate to perform a miracle on your behalf. That would be anchorman Jason Lezak, who roared back from a considerable deficit in the final 50 meters to stun Frenchman Alain Bernard by .08 seconds. Phelps certainly did his part, leading off the relay by swimming what at the time was the third-fastest 100 freestyle in history -- in an event that's far from his specialty. 3. 400 individual medley This was Phelps' first swim of the Games, and the pressure on him to perform was undeniable. Not only was he the centerpiece of the pre-Olympic hype, but President George W. Bush was in the stands to watch. Phelps delivered and then some, smashing his own world record and crushing fellow medalists Laszlo Cseh and Ryan Lochte. 4. 200 butterfly Phelps said this was the only swim that disappointed him, because he expected to swim much faster. But the fact that he broke his own world record after his goggles leaked only adds to the Phelps mythology. He said he was basically swimming while blind, guessing at where the wall was on his turns. Who needs to see to win gold? Not Phelps. 5. 200 freestyle Phelps only qualified fourth-fastest for the final, but he wasted no time in burying his competition. Phelps exploded to a fast start and led the entire race, leaving runner-up Park Tae-hwan of Korea and bronze medalist Peter Vanderkaay of the U.S. in his wake. Phelps easily broke his own world record and won by 1.89 seconds. 6. 200 individual medley Phelps beat Cseh and Lochte the same way he beat them in the 400 IM -- with a strong breaststroke leg that gave him separation leading into the final 50 meters of the freestyle. Whereupon he broke his own world record, of course. The impressive thing is the fact that Phelps' only "weak" stroke is the breaststroke. Turning that into his secret IM weapon only further validated his astonishing versatility. 7. 800 freestyle relay This was an American tour de force, led off by Phelps. He gave the Yanks a huge, 2.6-second lead, and the rout was on. They wound up winning by three seconds and smashing their own world record, on a day when Phelps had to swim two finals. 8. 400 medley relay The final swim of the meet, and of the Phelps program, was highly anticipated but largely anticlimactic. The American relay was pushed, but led fairly comfortably for the final 125 meters. Phelps took the Americans from third to first during his butterfly leg, then watched anchorman Lezak close the deal again by holding off the Australians. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which one of Phelps' eight wins is most impressive? 100 butterfly 400 free relay 400 IM 200 butterfly 200 freestyle 200 IM 800 free relay 400 medley relay

[Chandan]

What makes Phelps so good? Breaking down Phelps, stroke by stroke Michael Phelps begins his quest for a record eight golds in one Games on Saturday in Beijing. BEIJING -- Michael Phelps isn't just the best swimmer in the world, he's the most versatile. He's the world-record holder in the two events that include all four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. And he's world class in three of the four strokes individually. What makes Phelps so good? ESPN.com asked his coach, Bob Bowman, to break him down by each discipline. Butterfly Phelps owns the five fastest times in history in the 200 fly and five of the top 10 in the 100. Yet he's done it by breaking one of the long-standing butterfly tenets: He breathes every stroke, barely lifting his chin above surface level. For years, coaches drilled their butterfliers to breathe every two or three strokes. "I think he just has a better rhythm when he breathes every stroke," Bowman said. "He's getting more air, and that's a good thing. When he picks his head up every stroke he balances better." Phelps' fulcrum is an abnormally long torso -- it's the reason why he's anatomically perfect for his sport, and especially this stroke. His immense wingspan allows him to cover more area per stroke than his competitors, and his double-jointed ankles serve as virtual flippers to power his dolphin kick. Backstroke Phelps doesn't swim this in individual events, but he's still an excellent backstroker. At last year's national meet, he posted times that were the second-fastest in the world in 2007 for both the 100 and 200 back. Bowman worked hard to refine Phelps' pull and streamline his body position in the water. "He gets better distance per stroke, holds onto more water per stroke," Bowman said. "He's also a little flatter [in the water] than he used to be. And he's stronger." Breaststroke This is the closest thing Phelps has to a chink in his individual medley armor. It's the only stroke he's not capable of dominating, but he's hardly bad at it. "It's so much better in every way," Bowman said. "What we worked on is coordinating his arms and his kick, and activating his core muscles in every way." The breaststroke is all about timing and rhythm, keeping the pull and kick working in synch. And Phelps' dry-land weight training, which he'd never done prior to last year, has enhanced his core strength. Freestyle Watch Phelps swim this stroke and it might evoke some memories of former Russian freestyle great Alexander Popov. His stroke was so powerful and efficient that he never appeared to be working as hard as his competitors -- yet he always beat them. In developing Phelps' stroke, Bowman studied Popov's technique. "We worked on trying to do some drills like Alex, riding the stroke. He was always a very good kicker. What we've worked on most is distance per stroke, maximum amount of water pulled." Starts and turns Phelps has no wasted motion leaving the blocks, throwing his arms straight forward and into a tight streamline position as he enters the water. From there, his incredible dolphin kick rockets him the maximum 15 meters underwater (go any farther and it's an automatic disqualification). The same dolphin kick and streamline have made Phelps' turns the best in the world. Watch how much he separates himself from competitors underwater. Hard work on technique, coupled with weight training, has turned what once was a liability into a strength. Bottom line "I think Michael has this incredible feel for the water that I do not think is taught," said four-time U.S. gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg. "It's natural. … His hands are so synchronized underneath the water, with almost no bubbles. That is so rare. You either have it or you don't. But it cannot be ignored how the guy works his butt off."

[putrevus]

Phelps is product of NBC's overhype, I agree he is great but to proclaim him as greatest ever is insult to one's intelligence, Swimming is sport where there are too many medals given , compare that track and field could carl lewis have competed in more than 4 events, he won gold medals is 4 Olympics which is great feat of excellence over a long period of time. so how is phelps who still competes in a rich man's sport in developing countries where in you need all the facilities to become great be greater than Carl lewis who competed in a sport where in athletes from all round world participate. How is Phelps greater than Usain bolt who destroyed his competition in most prestigious event of any Olympics, in Sydney NBC's show piece was Marion Jones , All americans care is to over hype one athlete as a face of that Olympics to get ratings, they couldnt care less about Usain bolt's record which they didnt even broadcast live. Phelps may be the greatest swimmer ever but to say he is greatest Olympian is insult to other great athletes who have graced Olympics over the years .

[Dravid]

1 of em he got big time help from lezak.. who came from behind and beat the french big mouth... also, that 1 other race was pretty close.. where the other guy was just gliding his way to touch the wall.. while phelps took another half stroke and beat him.. 8 out of 8.. amazing

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Lurker]

It turned out to be the greatest TV many Americans have ever witnessed. NBC said 66 million people tuned in to at least six minutes of its prime-time telecast Friday, when Phelps somehow won the 100-meter butterfly by one-hundredth of a second for his seventh gold medal. That dwarfs virtually any non-Super Bowl sporting event, and it proves one thing: Michael Phelps single-handedly saved the Olympics. These Beijing Olympics, and perhaps those to come. The entire enterprise has new life.

What a totally dumb article!! Michael Phelps SAVED the Olympics?? Seriously how effing self-absorbed can one get? USA in sports is worse than Australia in cricket. Sore losers of the highest order. Now that China is beating the cr@p out of US in Gold medals tally every single news channel keeps showing how US is leading in "Total" Medals tally! Never seen that before. And again, what a dumb article.

[cowboysfan]

i would have said the "phelps saves the Olympics for american audience"

[Dravid]

have u guys heard how those commentators for gymnastics are always *****ing about china getting "undeserved scores" sore losers...

[cowboysfan]

they are NBC commentators-enough said-although some scores were very high for the chinese .

[triam]

Utter tripe, but whatever floats their boat or gets them ratings I guess.

[triam]

One of the greatest olympian, and the greatest in beijing, in my opinion is "Du Toit" http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3543845&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2 if we go by the standard definition of what olympics stand for, to give hope and inspire people there is nothing bigger than this. Even Dara (the 41 year old woman) is greater than Phelps in this respect.

[putrevus]

What a totally dumb article!! Michael Phelps SAVED the Olympics?? Seriously how effing self-absorbed can one get? USA in sports is worse than Australia in cricket. Sore losers of the highest order. Now that China is beating the cr@p out of US in Gold medals tally every single news channel keeps showing how US is leading in "Total" Medals tally! Never seen that before. And again, what a dumb article.

If you notice how they keep USA ahead of China in medal standings if total number of medals is most important Phelps won 8 medals in 2004 also so what is the big deal , they are contradicting themselves.