Besides Phelps athletic ability, something really impressive is how he has handled life. We've read in recent articles about how his father left the family when Michael was young and how his dad has not had much communication with him. In many young men, this could seriously result in self-doubt. Isn't it impressive how Michael has maintained a belief in himself yet been so humble?
He also has ADHD, at least he did as a child, so is it not extremely impressive how he has been able to overcome this and keep his focus? I read somewhere that he asked his mom to take him off his medication when he was only 11.
Michael has had to overcome things in life that some people might use as an excuse for their misbehavior or as an explaination for their failure to succeed. In light of all of this, aren't the 8 golds all the more impressive?
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Former Member
I don't want to go over the top with Phelps, but he does seem to be a nice guy. But we don't really know. Because NBC couldn't keep a camera off of him, I noticed this incident: He was walking back to the warm down pool after the 200 IM final, preparing for the 100 fly semifinal (I am not 100% sure those were the events, but I know he was between events). Athletes have to walk right by "reporters row," when they traveled to the warm down area. A reporter, I think Australian by the looks of him, stepped up and asked Phelps a question. Phelps turned his head and looked the other way.
There is NOTHING wrong with Phelps doing that. He was between events. If anything the reporter should have known better. However, I thought to myself that if the camera was rolling it would be easy to make Phelps look like a jerk. Save the footage for a year, when nobody will remember the circumstances, and it would look really bad.
I guess what I am getting at is that it is easy to make good people look bad, and bad people look good when a camera is on 24/7.
I don't want to go over the top with Phelps, but he does seem to be a nice guy. But we don't really know. Because NBC couldn't keep a camera off of him, I noticed this incident: He was walking back to the warm down pool after the 200 IM final, preparing for the 100 fly semifinal (I am not 100% sure those were the events, but I know he was between events). Athletes have to walk right by "reporters row," when they traveled to the warm down area. A reporter, I think Australian by the looks of him, stepped up and asked Phelps a question. Phelps turned his head and looked the other way.
There is NOTHING wrong with Phelps doing that. He was between events. If anything the reporter should have known better. However, I thought to myself that if the camera was rolling it would be easy to make Phelps look like a jerk. Save the footage for a year, when nobody will remember the circumstances, and it would look really bad.
I guess what I am getting at is that it is easy to make good people look bad, and bad people look good when a camera is on 24/7.
