Phelps going where no man has gone before

Posted August 12, 2008

Does anyone care? I sure as hell do, and although that surprises me, I think you should care too.

Michael Phelps earned his third gold medal with Tuesday’s 200-meter freestyle win making him 3-for-3 in this year’s Olympics. Then, less than an hour later he had to qualify in the 200 fly semis. And he didn’t just qualify people, the man broke a world record.

“It’s just swimming!” you say? Yes, that is true, but it’s still incredible and if you’d actually turn off the Brett Favre coverage for two minutes and watch a race, you’d be surprised how wildly entertaining it is.

Think about it this way -- you’re doing the most strenuous physical activity you can imagine for two entire minutes - the kind that makes your heart feel like it’s coming out of your chest. Your breath is so lost you may never find it again, and your stomach wants anything that is or isn’t in it out in a hurry. For nearly 120 seconds, you exert yourself harder than any sane person ever has. It’s what you’ve worked for your entire life, those two minutes. Now, imagine the rush is over, the adrenaline is gone, your body is tired -- and you? You have to do it all over again! Less than an hour later! Never mind that he’s been training for this his whole life, it still has to hurt, let’s be real.

Then there’s the mental aspect of it too. Every single race, you have been psyching yourself into thinking, “I have been working my whole life for these two minutes.” Phelps has replayed that line in his head likely dozens of times between qualifiers, and not to mention the nine times he’s turned that phrase into gold. Nine times -- as much as any other person in history has ever worn gold. And there’s little doubt he’ll add No. 10 during these Games, breaking the record in addition to all of those swimming records he has already broken along the way. Phelps is unstoppable, simply an incredible athlete, and again, wildly entertaining.

Watching the 200-meter fly semifinal last night, I couldn’t help but sit up in my seat, palms a little sweaty, heart beating a little faster for the guy. He was behind for the entire race leading up to the final flip -- far behind. If you were watching, you probably thought to yourself (or yelled out loud at the television like me), “There is no way he’s pulling this off! No way! He’s too tired.” I saw all of his dreams, all of those record-breaking golds he’s trying to win, slipping away before my eyes. The announcer calling the race made mention of Phelps’ ability to turn things in his favor on his final flip and I thought, “No way, dude.” (No, Bart Simpson was not watching this race with me.) “No way he wins it. He’s nearly an entire body length behind first.” Lo and behold though, in incredible fashion Phelps did something on that last flip that I can’t even comprehend. Perhaps swimming experts do, but to me it defied all logic. Somehow under the water -- he surged. Some little kicky thing mixed with a little flaily thing (clearly being a play-by-play announcer for swimming isn’t in my future), and Phelps was suddenly in front of everyone -- way in front, breaking the world record in front.

I’m telling you guys, it might just be swimming, but these athletes are incredible and Michael Phelps is absolutely worth watching.