It's official. Michael Phelps is flat out the best swimmer ever. Granted, he could not have accomplished what he did without those other swimmers, but man, the guy is incredible. And to think, he's only 23. He should still have plenty of gas left in the tank four years from now.
He's awesome! (half man - half fish) I do think it was sad though that NBC only showed him during the national anthem since it was a four-man team.
might?!!? He has 14 Olympic Gold Medals (more than anyone in Olympic History), and he's only 23. Hell 2 Olympics from now (2016) he'll only be 31, younger than the guy who swam anchor for the US relay teams this year. He can basically put the career Gold Medal Record at whatever number he wants to.
Absolutely devastating. Shame, shame, shame on NBC. If it makes you feel better, NBC showed them all equally during the medal presentation (and even gave equal time to the raising of the American flag as #1)... and NBC did interview each of them equally previous to that. Also, everybody who participates in these team relays, even during the qualifying rounds, gets the medal that the team ends up winning, so it's not just a four-man team. If I remember correctly, in the qualifying round I watched, Phelps wasn't able to be there to swim, and the announcers said his substitute will get a medal as well... although he didn't get any camera time in the final event. At least the other 3 guys got that, so don't feel too "sad" for them. Besides, as Americans, they are all proud of what Phelps achieved for us--except for maybe the one guy during the interview making it sound he was most interested in doing well for Kobe and LeBron, who were watching the event in the audience (yeah right!!!).
Not just that, but also the most Gold medals in a single Olympics. Phelps is a god. We should all be in awe of him. Hell, I was in absolute awe of him in the 2004 Olympics. But there have been so many greats in Olympics history that have inspired me with awe. The way I look at it: who would I want to be if I could be any Olympian in history? For me, it would be a hard choice. Phelps is a god, but so were many others to me. Heck, even just watching Bolt win that 100 the way he did, without the preparation that Phelps had for his events, so new to the scene, so young, so relaxed, even joking around during his very WORLD RECORD Gold-medal winning run itself... it was astonishing to see how greatly he dominated that event. If I could choose between doing what he did just in that one event and doing what Phelps did overall, it would be a tough call to me... and there have been a lot of great Olympians who I'd love to be like... even people that don't even win Golds... just based on the storyline of their particular feat (even people that don't win any medal, but win our hearts). To me, the announcer I was just listening to said it the best... it is debatable if Phelps is the best Olympian ever... but there is no doubt that no Olympian is greater than Phelps... and I agree with that. The man is a god. We should all be in absolute awe. I certainly am.
That's cool. Like I said, he's awesome and he should and WILL get a ton of coverage. Watching the faces of the fellow Americans during the national anthem is one of my favorite parts of the election. I just wanted to see them all. Speaking of Kobe, I hope he watched the race and realized a relay is a "team" sport.
He now has to be consider in the talk of greatest athlete of all time. And while he has said that he will not compete in a program like this in 4 years, I think it would be cool if he changed and concentrated on the events he does not have gold medals in. And between the next 2 games try to hold medals and records in ALL swimming events!
