I am really in an inflammatory mood and am going to say a couple of things on my mind.
First, regarding Speedo's sponsorship of Phelps three words come to mind that they might consider using in their next media blitz for selling suits to worshipers of the sport: Loser, poor sport and quitter.
Loser: in my mind, Phelps finished second in the 200 free but the average Joe sixpack will call that a loss. Hence, loser.
Poor Sport: it's been mentioned already in another thread that Phelps wouldn't even look at Biedermann after his loss. And we vilified Kitajima for his behavior? Hmmm.
Quitter: Bowman says he shouldn't swim until the suits are banned and Phelps says Bowman knows best. It's great to stick by your sponsor but shouldn't good ethical values trump your coaches view on occasion?
Second, regarding the 'great coaches' opinions: Schubert wants to place an asterisk by all records with the new suits. Bowman says it's all right to go back to 2007, before the LZR was introduced.
Doesn't that mean that all Phelps medals at Beijing are invalid? Or, at least, should have a star by the listing? How does Mark Spitz feel about that? What about Ian Thrope's comment that Phelps could never beat Spitz' record? Since Phelps is the Speedo poster boy for the LZR and, as noted elsewhere in the Forums, beat Crocker's record in a full body suit shouldn't he be ashamed?
My opinion of the whole lot has dropped tangibly. Personally, I'm ashamed to have cheered for Phelps during his career. He embarasses me...
this loss will make phelps better, he'll train with determination to recapture the record in the 200 free.
Maybe the win will make Biedermann train harder too with the intent of staying on top.
What then for Phelps? Will he give up on the 200 free?
I would hope not, I love a good rivalry.
That link by Chris sums it up, especially the MJ video. As much as it pains me that dunk by Starks is one of the top 10 dunks of all time, Jordan has the other 9 however.
If you look at LeBron, Phelps, Vick what you see is three young guns who have been coddled and told they are the greatest since they were 12 or 13. They never lost, were never told they were anything but the greatest and therefore developed no humility or sportsmanship. Sometimes that comes with age (or jail, in Vick's and Burress' case).
Phelps lost for the first time in 4+ years, he's pissed - he knows he didn't train enough, the suits tech has caught up and surpassed the LZR and he got beat by a guy who wasn't very much on the radar - Biedermann swam a huge race, immense from start to finish - did the suit give him the extra 1.22 sec - maybe, more than likely. If they were to have raced in LZRs it could very well (likely?) have been a different result.
These statements are not exactly true. In November 2007 at the US Nationals at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Phelps lost for the first time to Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM (1:40.08 to 1:41.32) and he set the American Record in the process. In August of 2006, Phelps was defeated by Aaron Peirsol in the 200 Back (1:56.36 to 1:57.09) at the US Nationals/Selection meet for the Pan Pacific Championships. Then at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in the final of the 200 Meter Back, he was defeated again (1:54.44 to 1:56.81) so this statement as its written is not correct. These 3 races along with the one yesterday proves he has lost by over a second to competitors in the past.
Your statement about Biedermann not being much on the rader is completely false. Last November in a World Cup meet in Berlin he broke a World Record of Ian Thorpe in the 200 Free. I provided a link to that swim in the other thread. He broke the record by .37 (1:40.83 to 1:41.10) and no one except Ian Thorpe has gone in the 1:41 range. In 2007, he went a 1:42.39 in the 200 SCM Free. In comparison, swimmers like Park went 1:42.22, Hayden went 1:42.35, and Magnini went 1:42.54 as there SCM best times. Phelps went 1:42.78 in 2006 for comparison. So he put the world on notice last November that he was a guy to watch. Anybody that breaks an Ian Thorpe WR, has to be noticed.
This year he did the same thing in the LCM format before this meet started with two outstanding swims in the 200 LCM Free. On 6-14-09, he went 1:44.88 at Mare Nostrum in Monte Carlo. On 6-28-09, he went 1:44.71 at the German Nationals in Berlin, which is the exact time that Ian Thorpe did when he won the 200 Free at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Those times were the fastest in the world until Phelps went 1:44.23 at Indy earlier this month so the difference here is less than a half second.
When everyone saw what Biedermann did in the 400 Free and how he raced the second half of that race, everyone knew that Phelps was in big trouble. He did take a 6 month break, then got suspended for 3 months after that, did not swim in a competitive meet for 9 months and these are additional factors in his swimming that people don't want to talk about but just want to focus on the suits.
Geek- I will point out that Andre Agassi went through a very long journey to get to the point where he was able to lose gracefully, perhaps this will help Phelps evolve as a person. Heck, even you have evolved in the last few years...
One true point, one untrue point.
I disagree. There is nothing that says you have to be a boorish dope when you lose, no matter how great you were/are. I think this is simply another in a long line of immature behavior by Phelps.
I agree as well and am not surprised. When I saw MP on one of the late-night shows after the Olympics, he did not compliment his competition even once. The host gave him a bunch of easy opportunities to say, "everyone swam really well, and it's great to be among such a strong group of competitors who have pushed me to achieve my very best," but he did not rise to any of them. Just kept grinning and repeating how hard he'd worked and how great he felt.
P.S. All champions hate to lose, but guys who have taken it to the next level DESPISE losing. That's what makes him one of the greatest atheletes of all time. Same with Jordan, Armstrong, Woods, etc.
Mr. FOP - no one is arguing he hates to lose. The point is hating to lose doesn't mean being a poor sport. But, as Cruise the Commie from Canader points out, with age comes humility, maybe.
Someone took their innovative idea and made it better. Capitalism at its best. Sorry, Speedo, but get your scientists out of hibernation and maybe one day soon, you'll again have the best suits in the pool.
Absolutely correct. Speedo got beaten in the market, fair & square. It's just sad to see the greatness of capitalism (better products, better availability and, had it been left to continue unfettered, lower prices) now mired by the worst of corporate cronyism and protectionism cloaked under some guise of returning to the "purity of the sport." With their "unionized" sponsored swimmers whining, Speedo's starting to sound like the UAW.
Then I console myself that UniversalSports will have live (or taped) coverage during the week. However, living in Canada, I can get to watch UniversalSports' commercials but not the footage (not valid in my area.)
There's just no way to get any respect as a Canadian Swimmer/swimming fan.
Yeah, but I was in Canada during the 2005 Worlds in Montreal and the CBC's coverage then was outstanding.
