In high school, back before I took up the ancient and honorable sport of sabre fencing, I was a swimmer, albeit a swimmer of no great distinction. With that precarious purchase, I claim the faintest glimmerings of insight into the athletic life of swimmer Michael Phelps. I know that he is doubtlessly genetically gifted, just like everyone else in the cube at Beijing. I know also that the difference between gifted and be-medaled at the Olympic level is Herculean dedication, a willingness to abide more pain for a longer period than those on either side.
Pool training is a harsh discipline of grinding repetition the better to optimize aerobic capacity and creatively destroy muscle mass. It is a matter of continuous effort at the uttermost limits of human capability. For years now, Phelps’ life has been one of swimming, eating – he consumes 14,000 calories a day – and sleeping. Day after day, week after week, the months fading into years. It has made him into the finest athlete his sport has ever produced, if not necessarily a sparkling conversationalist.
So I’m very happy for him that he has won his eighth Olympic gold medal in Beijing, surpassing previous record holder Mark Spitz. Combined with the six he won at Athens in 2004, he now has 14 total gold medals – five more than the nearest competitor.
And yet, I could be happier for him, and for sport as a whole: As a publicity stunt effort, Speedo broke the news that he would win a $1 million dollar bonus for winning eight medals in Beijing. And so with each world record smashed, each gold medal won – whether as individual, or as a part of a relay team – he racked up not merely another stellar achievement in pursuit of the Olympic ideal, but stood also – one was never permitted to forget – one step closer to the cash.
I’m no innocent in the world. I know that athletes need more than adulation to sustain the sinews, that corporations need more than good will to create value and that interest in swimming as a sport will take another quadrennial decline until the next Olympics – Speedo must strike while the iron is hot, yes, yes – I see.
But it takes nothing away from Mr. Phelps’ achievement to observe that the net effect of all that prospective cash hovering around poolside was to diminish rather than increase the honor which ought to have attended his prodigious feats of excellence. This was shabbily done.
Bring back Avery Bunbridge and amateur athletes at the Olympics. Sure, everyone knew the countries provided their training and expenses, but no one actively competed for real money.
THAT, Cap’n is the major difference between Phelps and Spitz. Spitz didn’t capitalize until after ’68 Olympics (marred as they were by Black September). Phelps is already a millionaire.
Senior D beat me to it, but he’s on the mark. Avery Brundage would be rolling in his grave with what has happened to the Olympics. History has not treated Brundage very kindly, but he was adamant about the difference between an amateur or professional.
Even with the changes in the sporting world, I’m suprised Speedo did not at least wait till the games were over.
and the unintended consequences of returning …
Sorry, I just had visions of McCain/Feingold applied to ensure a pure, unadulerated “amateur” Olympics. The thought of George Soros in that lycra is too much to ponder.
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I can’t blame Phelps for chasing the coin. If I were in his shoes today I’d probably do the same.
Sadly, we’re a long way from being able to believe in miracles seeing that so many nations put their professional themes in Olympic Sport.
Just a decade or two ago we were sending our best and brightest AMATEUR Olympians when the world was sending their genetically altered pros. At this point in time I would be happy with having our pros competing against every nations pro team so long as ALL participants were Doping free.
I sometimes wonder if we have forgotten concepts like honor, or simply devalued them to the point that they no longer matter in the calculus of organizations or of heros.
What does it mean when the Chinese basketball team wears uniforms with the Nike swoosh? That even the commies are willing to sell out for enough cash benefits?
I won’t touch anything with Nike on it anymore. It’s become “Just Don’t Do it!” :>)
Money is a big motivator. . .but even $1M is not going to be the difference between gold and no gold. This kid has busted his ass since age 11. He did something amazing by the sweat of his brow and deserves everything he gets.
Unlike his peers who played football and basketball, he has no real career to look toward. Not even a chance at it. Even the trackies could go to Europa and run professionally. Swimming? I guess he can coach someday. Maybe endorse a line of swimming pools. But not actually swimming.
Speedo screwed the pooch on this one for sure, but I don’t for one second take anything away from Phelps for it.
A similar argument exists for the naysayers who cite the deeper pool, wider lanes, NASA swimsuits, and hyper-oxygenated Water Cube as the sources of MP’s success.
This kid did it. Leave him alone.
Yes, this kid did it – with help. Not all the gold medals were a result of his individual performance. He is an amazing athlete but it was somewhat disrespectful of the others on his team when the media kept pinging them about how they felt helping Phelps stay on track to break records – very little was said about how their “life’s work” attributed to a gold medal for the US.
Mike Phelps should be giving at least a portion of the money to his gold medal winning team members.
Let us not forget it was because of the hyprocrisy off Brundage and his minons who looked the other way at Soviet Bloc subsidization of “amateur” athletes that the term “Shamasteurs” came into being and led to the more or less even playing field
that is today’s olympics–witness the collapse of many of the State-supported ex- Soviet Bloc Olympic teams.
But I do admit I hate to see corporate logos on everything–even more so at the College level–makes one think of the movie “Roller-ball.” “The future is now! “
I’m in agreement with Humble1390. I have said over and over to my family, what in the world is Michael Phelps going to do when he’s done swimming?
Money isn’t his goal, although I know its nice, very very nice. I’m willing to bet that the lists he gives Bob Bowman don’t include, ’1M from Speedo’, but consists solely of the times he wants in each event.
Speedo, on the otherhand, could have handled it differently. THEY make me a bit ill.
As for the times in the watercube, etc. I’ve done a lot of research on the pool and yes, I feel no doubt that the WR times are what they are due to the 1 meter depth difference, the new suits as well as the ozonated vs. chlorinated water.
That said, I still believe Mr. Phelps would be beating the WR, perhaps not by the same margins, and he would most definitely still be coming in first. Nothing changed specifically for him with regard to the pool, so any advantage he feels from depth, water concentration, suits, EVERYONE gets.
He’d still be beating the Speedos off of everyone.
Yes, I was a swimmer.
I was once a top US athlete in an Olympic sport. personally, I always liked the pure amateur point of view. However, what he had to sacrafice to get where he has earned to be is both good and bad. No one who has not been at the top of an olympic sport, never mind at his age,can understand the shock that is about to hit him. His life to this point is now over. The 8th medal ended the world as he knows it and forces him to start over cold. He may have money, but how many rich people and or sports people, do dumb life ending things every day? I wish him the best – he earned a second chance to be great again.
I’m just passing this baloney along, since it’s hard to believe a “former sailor” would be laying it down like this:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/08/17/losing-their-majority/
BTW, Lex, it’s almost scary. I was also a swimmer and sabre devotee–until tennis (my ultimate ticket to a College scholarship) took over my life. And while it was definitely cooler in the outdoor pools I trained in than on those sun-baked asphalt courts, (120-30+ if you put the thermometer to the asphalt at oh, around 14-1500hrs) at least it wasn’t as mind-numbing and narrowly focused dull as swimming. Plus the obvious time constraints meant that one couldn’t realistically train for both and be serious about it, hence choices had to be made…..
My “specialty” (such as it was) was the 50 free and the 100 and Butterfly. Yours? PS: funny, I wasn’t good at the longer distances, but ran the mile when I briefly tried to do both Tennis and Track in H.S. Which brings me back to Phelps. He swam every stroke specialty–unlike
Spitz, who swam only two–something which makes his accomplishment even more special. Knowing the demands on one’s time it takes to get good in one sport or specialty, I’m always amazed at successful multi-sport/speciality champions. One of my uncles won 14 Letters in College–Tennis, Basket Ball, Football, and two in Track. I always wondered why the piker didn’t round it out to an even 16–must have wanted to loaf a couple of semesters.
On a higher level Jackie Robinson was also his college basketball team’s leading scorer. leading conference rushing back on the football team, and set some conference records in track that stood for years. He was also the City of Long Beach MEN’S Table-Tennis Champion at age 13! Wonder how many Wimbletons he would have won had he taken up tennis…..
PS: Of course the Robinson tennis thing is strictly rhetorical, they wouldn’t have let him inside most tennis venues in the early days of his career.
In the middle of Women’s 8 with cox, it was reported that the Romanian women were going to get > $260,000 EACH if they finished with gold. Turns out that they got bronze ….
Man, I gotta say, give the all the money that some swim suit company is willing to give him. He isn’t going to make it anywhere else. You don’t see people excited about the new swim season or have ESPN devote hours upon hours on the Sunday swim meet. He’s got to make the dough some how. He has worked this hard, may as well pay off for him in some way.
Television wrecks everything because TV pays for the privilege to broadcast whatever sport it might be, then demands that the sports be (1) played so that TV can show them in “the best” (most profitable light / time slot) way, (2) demands they be reconfigured to make them “more interesting” so as to get more audience, and (3) the sports go along because there is now huge coin coming in and everyone wants access to the money…..catch-22 in sports and everything goes to hell over time. You used to be able to listen to a baseball game in an hour and one-half…not now; you used to be able to afford to go to major league sports…not now. Everyone wants more, there are huge amounts being given out, and everyone plays along to get along and hopefully get rich.
But sport suffers. Not to take away from Phelps, or the others, but it gets to be a bit much when guys are still swimming into their 30′s – One can ask: “So guys, why don’t you get a job?” Their answer: “This is our job. We’re professionals at this.” None of it is as interesting as it used to be for me, either. But TV loves it, and so do the money-grubbers at the IOC. Feed the machine.
I’m with Adam and all of you other “pro-$$$” contributors. If Speedo is willing to give him a Million Bucks, “more power to him,” I say. He paid the price, let him receive the benefits!
Hey, at my age I certainly won’t be buying any Speedos; I won’t be funding any of his bonus.
SeniorD, historical correction–Spitz won his medals in 1972. 1968 was in Mexico City.
…there was a lot to be said for just awarding a wreath of laurels.
When the NBA started sending players to the Olympics – I stopped watching. It’s not about amateurs anymore; as SteveC said, for most of these people it is their job, period.
Michael Phelps is a machine who deserves all the accolades – metallic and monetary – that he can collect. Then too, so do his parents. And all the other people who sacrificed along with him.
Thanks, Zane! Memory is the second thing to go when one gets old(er).
I remember Spitz came home early (he’s Jewish) and the climate arount Munich after Black September was dicey.
I, too, was a swimmer in High School – 400 yard freestyle. My younger brother swam 100 and 200 free on the same team. Later in life, Masters Swim Team as both competitor (100 meter breaststroke) and Coach.
And, yeah, while East Bloc countries (and some Western allies) did ‘supplement’ their athletes, the spirit of the games wasn’t quite so mercenary. Give Phelps the credit where credit is due, but please don’t tell me modern Olympics is anything but high paid professional athletes just doing another job.
you used to be able to afford to go to major league sports…not now.
Want to knock the stuffing out of the Major League salary structures? Change the tax laws so that the price of tickets (including the cost of skyboxes) are no longer deductible from corporate income as “client entertainment” or “sales expenses” or cost of business”.
I watched pretty much all the coverage of Phelps’ races, including the interview of him and his mother last night. This kid wasn’t doing it for the money.
No mention of his father. Divorce? Early death? Does anyone know?
Divorce, I believe. And though they’ve been in contact, there has been a falling out and what seems to be a consistent distance. http://www.courant.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sports/hc-fred0818.artaug18,0,4657875.story
I don’t know whether to be shocked or appalled by the bald unadulterated idealism expressed above. How many years did Americans bemoan the “professional” athletes of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War Olympics? How many times have we complained about “National Teams” which are little more than professional sports franchises supported by the public fisc?
How on earth, in the face of those complaints, can we bemoan the accomplishments of Mr. Phelps and his decades of dedication? What is the difference if he makes a buck or two after all his sacrifice and dedication?
I’m ashamed of the lack of understanding expressed above and the complete lack of recognition that Mr. Phelps has earned his pay day like any NBA or NFL star.
OAM
I thought that NBC’s coverage of Phelps was appaling. Remember they were the ones shoving the rest of the relay team members out of the limelight, not Phelps. I used to like Bob Costas untill he became just another shill.
Are you really shocked and appalled OAM? Or does it just give you that joyful frisson of moral advantage to claim to be? Did all Americans bemoan professional Eastern bloc allies? If not, how can you be certain anyone here did?
I don’t think anyone did bemoan – there’s that word again – the accomplishments of Phelps, nor yet his decades of dedication. If your stockpile of outrage is limited, it might save you some for better uses to read what’s actually written rather than what you impute.
I don’t begrudge Phelps his jingle at the end of all that labor, nor is it his fault that a company should chose to market their campaign in this way. My beef is with Speedo, who thrust themselves into a moment of transcendental athletic grace with a bag full of cash, lessening it.
There are already too many kids who think they’ve a better chance to cash in as a basketball player than as a… lawyer, let’s say. Too many professional athletes who revel in not being role models.
Certainly world class athletes ought to reap the benefits of their dedication and I would never argue otherwise. But in execution, the Olympic ideal ought to exclude this sort of crass commercialism, or else why bother?
Having been both a swimmer and a coach, I see both sides of all of this. I agree that Speedo’s handling of this was atrocious. However, there IS a business side to any sport.
Phelps is one of the most humble, unassuming people you’ll ever meet. He’s still very much the 11 year old boy that Bob Bowman took under his wing so many years ago. He tried to pull his relay mates into the spotlight with him but NBC kept pushing them aside. Thankfully his relay mates are about as humble as he is.
I don’t begrudge him for one minute the money that Speedo is throwing at him. More than likely there is money for his team members as well – Speedo might be inept at handling the PR side of this situation but they know well the fact that it took 4 people to win each of those relays (especially Jason Lezak who is my hero in all of this).
It sounds like some think that this part of MP’s promo contract w/ Speedo was a recent invention, made only to capitalize on events as they unfolded.
In fact, MP has had an endorsement deal w/ Speedo since he was 16, and the $1M was put in place five years ago, before the last Olympics. So he was able to actually collect. Big deal. Does the fact we were earning a paycheck from the US Govt (and perhaps later took retention bonuses) diminish the gold wings we earned in the wayback? I don’t think so.
And remember that the “good old days” were all that good. Many “college” football players in the early days were semi-pros that went from college to collge. Aforementioned Soviet bloc teams were state-funded pro teams. To finally have a level playing field is better than a false ideal that ends up cheapening the entire thing.
I don’t think anyone here is blind to the realities of competing at the international level these days. And the fact that money drives a lot of what happens with and for atheletes. It is what it is, BUT, I think most of the commenters here would acknowldge that teh 1980 hockey victory over the Soviet Union had a special poignancy because it was amateurs and not NHL players who dealt a defeat to the subsidized Soviet Union players.
I, for one, am nostalgic to see that kind of thing return. When NBA/MLB/NHL players are in the team, it is just…..different. However there is no going back.
Still think Speedo could have waited till after the closing ceremonies though.
Well drat stuff and bother!
Skippy-san took the point I was going to raise and, in a manner far better fashion than I could, hitteth the ball out of the park. If I may humbly add, professional tennis players to his list.
Perhaps the WWE/TNA style will replace Greco-Roman style wrestling in the near future?
In the brief inteviews with MP’s relay teammates, I detected a bit of pride in his accomplishment. They all seemed to realize that they couldn’t do what he did, that he couldn’t have done it without them, and that their beloved sport benefitted greatly from the attention. Anyone care to wager by how much enrollment at your local ‘Y’ will go up next quarter?
Also seemed to me that MP was already out there in several TV ads for various products (VISA, etc.). Nike just made a blunder making a big deal about the payout.
OK, Fellow Gomers…It’s a given…Michael Phelps , notwithstanding his somewhat goofy, conversationally challenged, man-child countenance, is a wonderful…nay almost super human athlete who deserves all the hosanas and yes most assuredly the money associated with his accomplishments….that said my question is …where does he go from here? …the circus? … official greeter at an Indian casino? … the rodeo? …back to school? ( hopefully)… one wonders…but finally, and most importantly, how does all this flopping around in a pool stack up against the true bust-out sport of these here Olympics…
Womens Beach Vollyball ? …ahhh a wonderous event to behold. Best
PS, Skippy-San, Re your comment # 29 above…Totally agree, in my humble opninion, our 1980 hockey team’s win over the Soviets has no equal in all of sports.
So, how much does one of those gold medals _weigh_? And if he wore all of his around his neck to pose for a picture like that Spitz guy did, would that be unpleasant to him?
I mean, talk about groaning under the weight of one’s honors!
Yah, I know he’d barely notice at his current age and condition, but I’d still like to see the photo, out-doing the one Spitz did, with all those clanky gold things hanging off of his neck. We may have to go to just ribbons for people like that.
P.s., and besides, I think Kim Rhode is cooler, and cuter, and deadlier!
(but I liek chikz wif gunz!)
What grinds me about the way the Olympics are covered is the fawning over the stars to the complete exclusion of the also-rans. There can be no competition without the also- rans. They are the ones who push the stars to be better. They train, sweat, suffer, and give their all because they love the sport. Or, maybe in this day and age, they may get paid as well. For me it is a grand display of humans (winners and also-rans) pushing themselves to the max. It’s what competitive sport is about for me. I appreciate all the dedication and hard work that goes into it all. I also appreciate the parents and coaches that have worked, pushed, and sacrificed to help the athletes along in their quests.
I like few things the Canadian Broadcasting Company does, but I like their coverage of the Olympics because they do give all competitors their due. (We get the Vancouver station here in the Puget Sound.) Yeah, it’s more boring than the NBC approach, but the CBC isn’t competing for viewers.
Michael Phelps is that rare human who was seemingly born to swim competitively. Short legs, limber ankles, long upper body, even longer arms, and an ability to produce low levels of lactic acid during exertion have combined with his willingness to perform herculean workouts to produce a swimmer that we won’t see the likes of for many years to come.
It crossed my mind that Michael would probably make an excellent SEAL if he was so disposed. Just thinkin.’
My wife (who used to work with MP’s mother in the local school system – both were principals) tells me that swimming saved MP who, as a learning disabled kid, had great difficulty in school and life before that.
Hmm, must mention that to my autie-aspie Web acquaintances, along with mentioning that some of my female Web acquaintances have fantasized about bearing his children. I’m talking about YOU, Rachl Lukis!