Michael Phelps. Some say he’s the greatest swimmer, ever. Many say there is a very good chance he will be in the 2012 Olympics. He won 6 Olympic gold medals in Athens (and two bronze), which tied him for the record of most medals at a single Olympic games. He has been World and American Swimmer of the Year so many times, I bet even he has lost count.
The record for Gold medals at a single Olympics is held by Mark Spitz, with 7 (a record that has stood for 36 years), and the record for most lifetime Olympic Gold medals is 9: Larissa Latynina (USSR), Paavo Nurmi (Finland), Mark Spitz (USA), and Carl Lewis (USA).
Michael has two in Beijing, so far. He is scheduled to race a total of 8 races. Qualifying for that many is a huge accomplishment on its own, and he probably could have qualified for 10 races, but to win all 8? That would put his Gold medal total to 14, and make him the single most prolific gold medalist in Olympic history.
Can he do it? Many people thought it wasn’t possible. Many people call him the “Next Mark Spitz”, and to this, Michael says: “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I want to be the first Michael Phelps, not the second Mark Spitz”. Spitz himself has gone on record with the press, saying he would enjoy seeing Michael break his record, and he believes Michael has what it takes to make a new record for Gold medals in a single Olympics.
In Athens, his main rival was Ian Thorpe, who has since retired from competitive swimming. Thorpe doesn’t think Michael has what it takes to win 8 Gold medals. Scathingly, Thorpe has said to reporters, “He won’t do it,” he said of Phelps. “Why not? Because of this thing called competition.” Phelps used that quote to make him work harder.
The main area the analysts agreed Phelps could lose that goal was in the 4×100 meter relay, because he would be counting on three others, and it wasn’t all up to him. The U.S. team was the underdog, to be sure, and the favorite, France, had been mouthing off in the days prior to the race, saying they would “smash” the American team. Without that team Gold medal, Michael would not be able to make the goal of 8.
Well, last night was one for the record books. Literally. Smashing not only the Olympic, and World records, the American team fought the whole way, with Michael leading off, in the end, the oldest member of the team, Jason Lezak came from nearly a full body length behind at the final turn, to overtake the French at the last second. Literally. The American team won by a mere .08 seconds. They also “smashed” the records, by nearly 4 full seconds. 3:08.24 is the new record.
What a race. Wow. And that was Michael’s second Gold medal of these games. The analysts are now saying nothing can stop him from getting all 8, and I bet Ian Thorpe just might be eating his words pretty soon.
We will see.