Michael Phelps - Gold and more Gold

ocealdia · 08-12-2008, 09:50 AM

Yeah for Michael!

Phelps claimed the world record from Thorpe at the world championships in Melbourne last year and today took the event to a new level. No standard is safe when Superfish takes the plunge.

In the second semi-final of the 200m butterfly, Phelps did just enough to ensure progression - not only to the final but inlane 4. His time of 1:53.70 set an Olympic record. [b]Faster than his win in Athens 2004 [/B]and faster than any other man has ever swum. Only his own world record of 1:52.09 stretched ahead of him.

guest1234567 · 08-12-2008, 10:09 AM

Did you see this?

I have to agree it's very insulting to Mark Spitz.

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

Quote:

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub

by Polly Hui Aug 11, 2:23 am EDT

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HONG KONG (AFP) - US swim legend Mark Spitz won't be on hand in Beijing if Michael Phelps breaks his record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics—because, he says, no one bothered to invite him.

Spitz said the International Olympic Committee, a US television network or FINA—the international body that governs world swimming—should have brought him to the Games this year, with Phelps making a go at his record.

"I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am," Spitz told AFP in Hong Kong.

"I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost—it is."

Spitz became one of the most famous athletes in the world at the 1972 Munich Olympics, winning seven gold medals—with seven world records—in what many consider to be one of the greatest achievements in all of sport.

Phelps is aiming to better that mark in Beijing, hoping to bring home eight golds. And Spitz, now 58 and grey and without his trademark moustache, cannot understand why he wasn't asked along to see the show.

"They voted me one of the top five Olympians in all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."

Now a stockbroker and motivational speaker, Spitz also thinks he could have won eight golds himself in Munich if only he had had the chance.

"I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too," he said.

Spitz, whose brief stint in show business in the 1970s never quite matched his success in the pool, said he attended the Athens Olympics four years ago—when Phelps also tried to break the record.

"They did not once put my face on television," he recalled. "But as soon as the swimming was over, and Michael Phelps didn't break my record, every time I went to beach volley, they put my face on the volleyballs."

Spitz said it would have been a great idea if he could be the one presenting the gold medals to Phelps, who has for years been candid about his ambition to eclipse the mark of seven golds.

And Spitz thinks Phelps will succeed—for one very good reason.

"He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did," Spitz said. "He reminds me of myself."

ocealdia · 08-12-2008, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guest1234567

Did you see this?

I have to agree it's very insulting to Mark Spitz.

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

I heard this morning that every former gold medal winner is at the Olympics and he is the only one that is not. Now he's saying he's was not invited?? Kind of strange, but I guess it could be true. .

It would be great to see Spitz shake Michael's hand at the Olympics.

guest1234567 · 08-12-2008, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocealdia

It would be great to see Spitz shake Michael's hand at the Olympics.

Yep.

I'm going to get on a rant that I've been on for years now, as my daughter can testify to. I hate the rule changes in swimming that were designed to create faster times.

I'm specifically speaking to being able to turn over and do a flip turn during the backstoke, the being able to stay under water on backstroke starts and turns and do flutter kicks, and being able to do one flutter kick before the stroke and kick on the start and turns for the breast stroke.

These changes make it effectively impossible to compare Mark Spitz' times to Phelps' for the IM, or Aaron Peirsol to Gary Hall.

Back when I was swimming, following technical rules was part of the discipline. On backstroke turns, one had to touch the wall with some part of your body before even attempting to start your turn. (That body part hopefully would be your hand, but unfortunately it sometimes became your arm or your head

.) I was even disqualified once for putting my hand through a filter hole because I did not touch the wall, even though my hand broke the plane of the wall).

But I'm OK with swimming suit technology. That's always been going on since before even the switch from nylon to lycra.

MarkMiller · 08-13-2008, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocealdia

Yeah for Michael!

Phelps claimed the world record from Thorpe at the world championships in Melbourne last year and today took the event to a new level. No standard is safe when Superfish takes the plunge.

In the second semi-final of the 200m butterfly, Phelps did just enough to ensure progression - not only to the final but inlane 4. His time of 1:53.70 set an Olympic record. [b]Faster than his win in Athens 2004 [/B]and faster than any other man has ever swum. Only his own world record of 1:52.09 stretched ahead of him.

This man is one of my heros. Does anyone here have any idea how hard the butterfly relay is?

I did it once in competition.....dead last....and couldn't climb out of the pool. The last of five kids in my family to swim competively....and that was the last race for me. I thought I was going to die. My coach tried everything to keep me on the team. I knew it was only because he coached my 4 brother and sisters and he didn't want me to quit. I just couldn't stand the thought of dragging down the team, many good friends of mine. i know i let him down and felt awful after Coach Kenny died in an auto crash later that year. I went on to letter in music instead of sports. Oddly it turned out none of my siblings had as many letters because they stuck strickly to swimming.

But Olympic swimming always gets me to shut up about the politics of the Games and for the firsttime in my life....all 5 of us kids were together to watch last night.

Go Michael Phelps! The greatest Olypian in history........is a swimmer!

MarkMiller · 08-13-2008, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guest1234567

Yep.

I'm going to get on a rant that I've been on for years now, as my daughter can testify to. I hate the rule changes in swimming that were designed to create faster times.

I'm specifically speaking to being able to turn over and do a flip turn during the backstoke, the being able to stay under water on backstroke starts and turns and do flutter kicks, and being able to do one flutter kick before the stroke and kick on the start and turns for the breast stroke.

These changes make it effectively impossible to compare Mark Spitz' times to Phelps' for the IM, or Aaron Peirsol to Gary Hall.

Back when I was swimming, following technical rules was part of the discipline. On backstroke turns, one had to touch the wall with some part of your body before even attempting to start your turn. (That body part hopefully would be your hand, but unfortunately it sometimes became your arm or your head

.) I was even disqualified once for putting my hand through a filter hole because I did not touch the wall, even though my hand broke the plane of the wall).

But I'm OK with swimming suit technology. That's always been going on since before even the switch from nylon to lycra.

I am strongly against suit technology. In my day we would have seen it as cheating......but very much agree on the rule changes and comparing times. I agree that you can't compare adjusted rules with former rules.

MarkMiller · 08-13-2008, 12:36 AM

OK.....quest knows how hard the butterfly relay is!

disfigured · 08-13-2008, 07:49 AM

The entire time I've been watching any coverage of the swimming events I've been wonder that too.

What about Mark Spitz?

They keep throwing around stats and medal accumulations by athletes and not a single mention about him. Not only was he apparently not invited, but some how he's been stricken from the dialogue.

Unless I missed something, but every commentator I've heard has failed to mention who's record Phelps' is breaking.

Sucks trying to compare eras when there's been rule changes. It's hard enough factoring in technology, nutrition and conditioning.

Is there something the governing bodies of swimming know about him, that we don't? Is he a dick or something?

guest1234567 · 08-13-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkMiller

OK.....quest knows how hard the butterfly relay is!

The worst race I ever swam was the 200 Meter Fly. I nearly died, but I came in third.

ocealdia · 08-13-2008, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guest1234567

The worst race I ever swam was the 200 Meter Fly. I nearly died, but I came in third.

Cool. I love swimming, swim all summer - great exercise, but the butterfly is the bomb. It works your arms like no other stroke - it is a killer.

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