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Golden Boy

August 18th, 2008. Published under General. 6 Comments.

You know, I was so damn excited watching Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal of the Beijing Olympic games. Just ask Tim: I was jumping up and down screaming like I was his mom.

Yeah, that’s pretty much how I looked, but with more jumping up and down.

People don’t view him as an underdog, but if you look back in his personal history he was most definitely the underdog. The quiet, skinny, full of energy kid that got picked on in school and in swim meets because he was quiet, skinny and full of energy. He overcame a lot to get where he is today.

But what impresses me more than anything is his grace in winning. Other people in the media are trying to downplay the monumental achievement by saying that “oh, it’s easy to win so many gold medals in swimming” - if that were the case, why had Mark Spitz’s record stand for 36 friggin’ years?

There was relatively no drama (aside from the 4×100 freestyle relay taunting from the French) in any of his races, he didn’t blow everyone out of the water (the 0.01 margin of victory in the 100m butterfly), he had problems (he swam virtually blind with water-filled goggles the last 1/2 of the 200m butterfly) and he relied on his friends and teammates to get him to that goal. He has been gracious and humble after every victory, despite the fact that he wanted to win so much.

I don’t know why people are getting their panties in a bunch over the whole story. He is one of the greatest Olympians of all time - period. To split hairs over the fact just makes one look petty.

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Keeping with the Olympics theme, I just cracked up at the reaction to Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint win. You know, the one where he slowed down and started celebrating with 20m to go and not only did he still win the race, but also broke the world and Olympic records? The post-race interview was equally as priceless. When asked why he slowed down and what would his time had been if he hadn’t, Bolt said simply that all he wanted to do was break the Olympic record and win the gold medal, and he had done both. What’s the big deal?

Of course now the accusations are flying that he’s doping, etc. What I think they forget is that he’s 6′5″ tall. If you get the sprinter’s physiology and speed on a 6 foot 5 frame, you’re going to have someone that runs faster than a 5 foot 10 sprinter. It’s just basic physics.

Can you see how long his damn legs are?

It’s also funny that the sports media can’t fathom an athlete with such a laissez faire attitude about the whole thing. It’s refreshing.

Can’t wait to see how he does in the 200m, the distance he’s “better” at.

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I discovered last night that Tim has never seen “Animal House.”

This will be rectified tonight.