Other things so impressive about Phelps....

I just want to know, as a mom of three kids WITH a husband to help, how the heck Phelps' mom managed to work, raise three kids by herself and get them to the pool and all their other activities. I can't imagine...

I just want to know ... how the heck Phelps' mom managed to work, raise three kids by herself .... It would appear she dropped them off at the pool in the morning and picked them up on her way home from work in the afternoon. :D Skip

Young, bored, restless - must be ADHD! (The garbage diagnosis of the 20th century.) Phelps has a loving, swimming family and a father figure in Bowman. All fine. He has certain genetic attributes. He worked and works hard. Oliver Sacks wrote a very interesting article on why Michael Jordan could not achieve the same success in baseball. Being excellent in one sport does not equate to being excellent in another sport, even if you had started Sport B at the same age you started Sport A and put in equivalent training, had the same excellent coaching, and so on. It does not strike me that Michael Phelps had unusual difficulties to surmount. A lot of things did work out for him. He is a phenomenon, in the sense that a number of unusual attributes, logistics, coaching-trainee effect, teammates, and plain luck all came together for him - against the odds, statistically. VB

how the heck Phelps' mom managed to work, raise three kids by herself and get them to the pool and all their other activities. Maybe she gave them bus fare? Heck, Michael was so fast from such an early age he was probably swimming with the senior group when he was still quite young. He probably got rides from his sisters and other older teammates.

Debbie/Debi Thomas, the figure skater, did go on to become an orthopedic surgeon and is in practice (per Wikipedia). She had some hurdles to get over: prejudiced judges (when she was young), no money for lessons. Many elite sports figures do seem to have difficulty adjusting when their elite days are behind them. They have to be single-minded (usually) to get as far as they do, then next year they are old news.

If Michael Phelps had dedicated this much effort to basketball or track - I guarantee you would have never even heard his name. Another famous Michael (Jordan) had believed his success was due to his hard work until he tried to make it in Major League Baseball. He then realized that talent had a role as well! It seems to me we focus too much on winning and not enough on maximizing personal performance based on where you're starting from. I always tell people to focus on improving their own results--something they can control to a large extent--and not to worry about things they can't control, like whether they win (which depends on, among other things, how talented the competition is). Because, face it, for almost all of us, there are faster people around than us, and we're going to lose if they show up!

I see Phelps as an athletic phenomenon, from a scientific perspective. I agree that he had a lot of advantages to start with, in terms of his genes. Great coaching, early mastering of techinque and some hard work allowed him to come close to his potential, which is very high due to his body. And he seems like a nice, humble guy. But I'm not sure he should be presented as a role model. Most of the elite swimmers I knew ended up not being as successful at anything else after college. When I arrived at college, the guys on my team were collectively the most immature group of people I met in college. To pursue swimming at the expense of all else seems like a poor decision based on the time and energy it requires and the chances of making it at the professional level. There is more to growing up than learning hard work and discipline for 20 hours a week. I'm more of an "everything in moderation" advocate-- sometimes I actually regret how much time I spent swimming between the ages of 7 and 20. Phelps is sure fun to watch and he is inspiring, but I think he should be seen for what he is- a guy with a lot of talent at the far end of the bell curve- and not someone to model your life after.

I am not so certain about all this "overcoming all odds" stuff with Phelps. It is true that ADD and the so called autism spectrum disorders can have a major impact on a persons ability to focus and achieve perfection in one subject. On the same habd, many of the most talented people in history have been recently classified with similar issues (Motzart and Thomas Edison to name a few). I am not trying to take away from Phelps, he is an amazing athlete and a tribute to extreme dedication and hard work. But lets not forget that a lot of this talent is in his genetics (both his sister were stand out swimmers, one might have been an Olympian if not for injury). There is no doubt this guy was designed to swim! If Michael Phelps had dedicated this much effort to basketball or track - I guarantee you would have never even heard his name.

If Michael Phelps had dedicated this much effort to basketball or track - I guarantee you would have never even heard his name. Just think - if Michael Phelps had picked up a golf club when he was 4 which eventually led him to win the PGA Tourny just before the Olympics, the name Michael Phelps would have been a household name! :rofl:

Interesting you mention that. The one impression I get from watching Phelps on TV swimming and the occasional interview is his extreme awkwardness. He seems shy, introspective and humble... That outburst after the free relay was amazing to me. Maybe swimming was one way to hide himself from any psychological traumas he might have. I can swim if I am sad or depressed because it is mechanical and I don't concentrate on thinking so much. But running or jogging is another story. While running feeling down you sometimes get more depressed as you think things over. Better get back to the TV or internet where you have can take solace. Cielo, although extremely good looking comes on TV as being very shy, and I've seen plenty of his interviews on Brazilian TV. He is also a child prodigy training seriously since 11. He spent three years at Auburn only training, training, with breaks for some classes. He said he was not allowed to date or anything related to girls. No boozing, no parties, no nothing. He seems sincere and he says he followed the rules set by his coaches.