I'm sorry but.....

This is just an observation...and I am most probably wrong but... Although Michael Phelps is brilliant and the best swimmer this world has ever seen or ever will see, could it be that unconsciously him being so successfully is actually having an adverse effect on the US swim team? Why train for years and years if you know that all you will achieve is possibly a silver behind Michael? Why bother when you know he will bring home the bacon or in this case gold? Is this mind bend spilling over to the women? I am saying this because, our Aussie men inadvertently did exactly the same thing after sydney 2000. They simply did not hunger anymore. They knew they were being out swam by the Americans and what gold they could get ..well Thorpie and Hacket would get it for them. When Ian retired, we hits the pits. and there was hell to pay back here in Oz. The public wanted to know why they were pouring all this money into our swimmers if they weren't producing the goods. After the commonwealth games,where they performed humiliatingly badly, they started to slowly pull themselves together. It still isnt good but they are learning to hunger for the gold. They can because to another country without Michael Phelps..silver or bronze is good. Our women swimmers have been climbing the mountain since 2001 to get somewhere, and the men are just now starting to take a leaf out of their books. Your American women were dominant for so very long but now not only are the Aussies strong but so are swimmers from allover the globe. Eventually they will pull themselves together again and start fighting back. Your mens team, though, well, I worry that, while Michael is so dominant they will start allowing him to pick up the gold and they will just be there for the ride. If Aaron Peirsol and Leak retire..what then? Worse, what if Michael Phelps suddenly decides that he has done all he can do in swimming and retires?

This is just an observation...and I am most probably wrong but... Although Michael Phelps is brilliant and the best swimmer this world has ever seen or ever will see, could it be that unconsciously him being so successfully is actually having an adverse effect on the US swim team? Why train for years and years if you know that all you will achieve is possibly a silver behind Michael? Why bother when you know he will bring home the bacon or in this case gold? Is this mind bend spilling over to the women? I am saying this because, our Aussie men inadvertently did exactly the same thing after sydney 2000. They simply did not hunger anymore. They knew they were being out swam by the Americans and what gold they could get ..well Thorpie and Hacket would get it for them. When Ian retired, we hits the pits. and there was hell to pay back here in Oz. The public wanted to know why they were pouring all this money into our swimmers if they weren't producing the goods. After the commonwealth games,where they performed humiliatingly badly, they started to slowly pull themselves together. It still isnt good but they are learning to hunger for the gold. They can because to another country without Michael Phelps..silver or bronze is good. Our women swimmers have been climbing the mountain since 2001 to get somewhere, and the men are just now starting to take a leaf out of their books. Your American women were dominant for so very long but now not only are the Aussies strong but so are swimmers from allover the globe. Eventually they will pull themselves together again and start fighting back. Your mens team, though, well, I worry that, while Michael is so dominant they will start allowing him to pick up the gold and they will just be there for the ride. If Aaron Peirsol and Leak retire..what then? Worse, what if Michael Phelps suddenly decides that he has done all he can do in swimming and retires?