Phelps is going down ....

In the AP story of July 28, this is what we find: While Biedermann hung on the lane rope, thrusting his right hand in the air, Phelps stared at the scoreboard for a few seconds before heading off in the opposite direction, not even bothering to shake hands with the swimmer who had just handed him his first big individual loss since July 30, 2005. The article also quotes Phelps, after his loss and the topic of the tech suits in the air: "It's going to be fun next year," he said, "when swimming is back to swimming." (my emphasis) Huh? Now, Keith M. says that Phelps shook B's hand even though it wasn't on TV....nice to hear that but who saw it? Keith? And assuming Phelps did I wish they caught it on camera, for Phelps's sake. I don't want to be hard on Phelps. The guy proved in his race against Cavic that he is the most gifted and intense competitive swimmer we have seen in, well, in my life anyway. He is simply the best. But to say "next year when swimming is back to swimming" after he lost sounds like whining and it is ungenerous to Biedermann. When Phelps had the LZR with its polyurethane patches and was kicking ass in Beijing, did he consider that "swimming"? Of course. So, he said and did a couple of things that a more mature person would not do or say. Not such a big deal, but no point in our glossing over it because of his phenomenal ability as a swimmer. And why do I care? Good question. I think because at some fundamental level we idolize these guys because their athletic ability is both beautiful and stunning. I want them to be both athletic gods and paragons of virtue. It's unrealistic but I saw a good bit of that at Rome (e.g. Stephannie Rice towards Kukors who just smashed her world record). I think Phelps learned a hell of a lot at this meet and will grow from it. His coach....? Well, I don't know.

In the AP story of July 28, this is what we find: While Biedermann hung on the lane rope, thrusting his right hand in the air, Phelps stared at the scoreboard for a few seconds before heading off in the opposite direction, not even bothering to shake hands with the swimmer who had just handed him his first big individual loss since July 30, 2005. The article also quotes Phelps, after his loss and the topic of the tech suits in the air: "It's going to be fun next year," he said, "when swimming is back to swimming." (my emphasis) Huh? Now, Keith M. says that Phelps shook B's hand even though it wasn't on TV....nice to hear that but who saw it? Keith? And assuming Phelps did I wish they caught it on camera, for Phelps's sake. I don't want to be hard on Phelps. The guy proved in his race against Cavic that he is the most gifted and intense competitive swimmer we have seen in, well, in my life anyway. He is simply the best. But to say "next year when swimming is back to swimming" after he lost sounds like whining and it is ungenerous to Biedermann. When Phelps had the LZR with its polyurethane patches and was kicking ass in Beijing, did he consider that "swimming"? Of course. So, he said and did a couple of things that a more mature person would not do or say. Not such a big deal, but no point in our glossing over it because of his phenomenal ability as a swimmer. And why do I care? Good question. I think because at some fundamental level we idolize these guys because their athletic ability is both beautiful and stunning. I want them to be both athletic gods and paragons of virtue. It's unrealistic but I saw a good bit of that at Rome (e.g. Stephannie Rice towards Kukors who just smashed her world record). I think Phelps learned a hell of a lot at this meet and will grow from it. His coach....? Well, I don't know.