WOW Is All I Can Say

Was anybody else fortunate enough to see Michael Phelps in the 100 meter butterfly tonight? That has got to be the most exciting 50 seconds of sports I have ever seen. In 7th place after half of the race, Phelps somehow found a way to win, not passing the previous leader until the last moment before touching the wall. In the end, only one-hundredth of a second separated Phelps from his Serbian adversary. While Cavic (silver medalist) decided to coast in for the last meter or so, Phelps decided to slam into the wall by adding an additional stroke just before hitting the wall. The great part of watching the event was that I sympathized with Phelps. Just after I saw what appeared to be a tie, I waited for the results to be posted. And when I finally saw his winning time, I shouted for joy, although not as raucously as Phelps. So now Phelps has 7 gold medals, and might I add in only 7 events. So he's tied Mark Spitz for the all time record of medals won at a single Olympics. On August 17th, Phelps will be a part of the 4x100 meter medley relay team, and have a chance to win a record 8th gold medal. Phelps is by far the best athlete in the Olympics games (but if you disagree, please feel free to share). So I support him all the way and think USA has a great chance of winning the gold on Sunday.

Michael Phelps: You Can't Touch This

Looks like the only one who can break Phelp's world records is Phelps himself. In the finals of 400-meter individual medley, supposedly one of his most difficult events, Michael Phelps not only crushed the competition but also smashed his own world record with a time of 4 minutes and 3.84 seconds, giving the United States its 2nd Olympic gold this summer. This will be his 9th Olympic career gold and his 1st of possibly 8 in Beijing. The competition was pretty close at times. Ryan Lochte of the U.S., as predicted, made a move during the breathstroke, his strongest and Phelp's weakest stroke, but it wasn't enough. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took silver while Lochte made it to the podium with a bronze. Phelp's nearly flawless race could spell trouble for the competition. How do you beat a guy with seemingly no weaknesses? You don't. Cseh said, "Maybe sometime we can catch [Phelps], but not now."

picture and quotation source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sports/olympics/11vecsey.html?hp