Sorry...I have to strongly disagree. He put in years of yardage and hard workouts before he got any monetary rewards! He deserves every penny of what he is getting right now. He wants to be the best in the world. I think it is awesome that swimmers are finally making a fraction of the money that other professional athletes make.
I'm with you, Beth! There is no way that anyone could continue to push themselves through the kind of workouts that Phelps does if it was only for the money. Phelps main motivators seem to be:
1. He hates to lose
2. He wants to elevate the sport of swimming, particularly in the US
Based on his recent results, and on the fact that there was a two page spread in Sports Illustrated on World Championships (the only swimming news that I've ever seen in SI in a non-Olympic year is those little 'Faces in the Crowd' blurbs), I'd say he's doing pretty well on both counts! Yay Phelps!!
Sorry...I have to strongly disagree. He put in years of yardage and hard workouts before he got any monetary rewards! He deserves every penny of what he is getting right now. He wants to be the best in the world. I think it is awesome that swimmers are finally making a fraction of the money that other professional athletes make.
I'm with you, Beth! There is no way that anyone could continue to push themselves through the kind of workouts that Phelps does if it was only for the money. Phelps main motivators seem to be:
1. He hates to lose
2. He wants to elevate the sport of swimming, particularly in the US
Based on his recent results, and on the fact that there was a two page spread in Sports Illustrated on World Championships (the only swimming news that I've ever seen in SI in a non-Olympic year is those little 'Faces in the Crowd' blurbs), I'd say he's doing pretty well on both counts! Yay Phelps!!
