Michael Phelps is the single most dominant athlete on the planet, bar none

[Irvine511]

Lots of ego driven athletes say "I'm gonna smash my opponent and win" (Muhammad Ali, for one).

absolutely.

yet, you think Phelps is an "ass" when he celebrates a thrilling, come-from-behind win?

i do want to say, however, after reading through some of the comments on various websites that the amount of anti-French comments -- nation of chokers/cheese-eating surrender monkeys -- are inappropriate. the French swam a tremendous race.

they were beaten, but by a team that outswam them. it wasn't "luck" that Lezak drafted on the first lap, nor was it "luck" that Bernard went out too fast the first lap (which Lezak knew, and didn't panic, and knew Bernard would tie up the last 25 meters). there's no question that Bernard's wake pulled Lezak along the first lap, though by the second lap Bernard was clearly in the middle of the pool.

if you are an experienced swimmer who has competed at the international level for 8 years like Lezak, you know how much strategy goes into these races, and you know that if you are behind you need to use the wake, just like if you are behind at the turn, especially if you are behind the field at the turn, you need to stay under water a little bit longer so you don't hit a wall of water.

all these swimmers *know* what they are doing, just like Duncan Armstrong knew what he was doing when he surfed off Matt Biondi in 1988 to win the 200 free.

there's very little luck here at all.

 

[U2girl]

and you can bet that if France won, they'd be every bit as obnoxious, just like the (admittedly hot) south africans were in 2004.

Very true, obnoxious posts would also follow had France won.

 

[U2girl]

absolutely.

yet, you think Phelps is an "ass" when he celebrates a thrilling, come-from-behind win?

i do want to say, however, after reading through some of the comments on various websites that the amount of anti-French comments -- nation of chokers/cheese-eating surrender monkeys -- are inappropriate. the French swam a tremendous race.

I think that particular face expression is bizzare and looks silly, yes. I've seen other comment on it too.

 

[Dalton]

cheese-eating surrender monkeys

I had to check ...

God bless google images.

 

[Irvine511]

South Africa in 2004:

the US in 2004:

 

[Sicy]

Oh Hai U2girl!!! You make a lot of really great points in this thread!!!!!!

And, of course the win was lucky. The United States cannot win anything, anywhere, without a major amount of luck. When you're a nation of perpetual fuck-ups, luck is reallly your only ally. Thanks for crystallizing this for us all!

I might start a petition asking the US gold medal winners from last night to return their medals. That's really the only honorable thing to do, since the win was based on luck and luck only. I always ask myself WWFD (What Would France Do?), and in this instance, I know the French would give their medals to whomever got robbed of the Gold.

U2girl, will you sign my petition?

Wow. I never thought we'd have a world record holder right here on interference, but I checked with the judges and that was in fact the dumbest post in the history of posts.

Lets not be rude please.

 

[U2girl]

they were beaten, but by a team that outswam them. it wasn't "luck" that Lezak drafted on the first lap, nor was it "luck" that Bernard went out too fast the first lap (which Lezak knew, and didn't panic, and knew Bernard would tie up the last 25 meters). there's no question that Bernard's wake pulled Lezak along the first lap, though by the second lap Bernard was clearly in the middle of the pool.

if you are an experienced swimmer who has competed at the international level for 8 years like Lezak, you know how much strategy goes into these races, and you know that if you are behind you need to use the wake, just like if you are behind at the turn, especially if you are behind the field at the turn, you need to stay under water a little bit longer so you don't hit a wall of water.

all these swimmers *know* what they are doing, just like Duncan Armstrong knew what he was doing when he surfed off Matt Biondi in 1988 to win the 200 free.

there's very little luck here at all.

Barnard had I think 0.8 lead which as I read is huge on that distance, and this from a World record holder. It's true Barnard slowed in the end, but that still doesn't exclude the fact Lezak had a fantastic swim (fastest 100 meter split in the history of games), on that day, in that race, which ultimately won the race. Luck is a part of sports.

Lezak lifts U.S. in 'best ever' relay - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/be...edal/post/Did-the-French-choke-?urn=oly,99807

 

[Dalton]

Lets not be rude please.

If we can't call out bad posts/posters can we get a button (akin to the report a post) that can be clicked to notify the mods of "logic detrimental to the community"?

I don't want the monkeys (cheese-eating or otherwise) to run the asylum, but this kind on nonsense has got to stop. Passive aggressive posters should not be allowed to hide behind the report a post button forever.

 

[Dalton]

Irvine, what do/did you swim?

 

[Irvine511]

Barnard had I think 0.8 lead which as I read is huge on that distance, and this from a World record holder. It's true Barnard slowed in the end, but that still doesn't exclude the fact Lezak had a fantastic swim (fastest 100 meter split in the history of games), on that day, in that race, which ultimately won the race. Luck is a part of sports.

Lezak lifts U.S. in 'best ever' relay - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

how is Lezak's brilliant swim luck? he swam it tactically perfectly. and Bernard swam a 46.6 -- amazingly fast, probably the 2nd or 3rd fastest split in history (followed by the other Frenchman, Bousquet, who also split a 46.6 and that was why Rowdy Gains, the US commentator, really thought the French would win).

i suppose you could say that Phelps was lucky, because Lezak produced such a brilliant swim, and had he not, then Phelps would be out of the market for 8 golds.

Lezak made that swim happen out of guts and smarts. he's always been a brilliant relay swimmer, let's see if he can finally get it together for the individual event.

 

[Irvine511]

Irvine, what do/did you swim?

i swam fly, back, and the IMs. was better at the 200s and 400s than the sprints.

haven't swum seriously since college where i was a solid, mid-level D3 competitor. was never going to the olympics, or even senior nationals, but it was a huge part of my life as a child and i swam successfully at the state and regional level. i loved it, dearly, and still do.

i tried to pick up swimming again about a year ago, but it ended when i nearly died. see my journal if you want the full story.

 

[Dalton]

i swam fly, back, and the IMs. was better at the 200s and 400s than the sprints.

haven't swum seriously since college where i was a solid, mid-level D3 competitor. was never going to the olympics, or even senior nationals, but it was a huge part of my life as a child and i swam successfully at the state and regional level. i loved it, dearly, and still do.

i tried to pick up swimming again about a year ago, but it ended when i nearly died. see my journal if you want the full story.

I don't even need to look at your journal to know what happened. Those suits are WAY too tight. I'm shocked more guys don't die.

 

[Irvine511]

I don't even need to look at your journal to know what happened. Those suits are WAY too tight. I'm shocked more guys don't die.

some just do the "Silence of the Lambs" tuck.

 

[No spoken words]

Lets not be rude please.

Mine was sarcastic, really, as opposed to plain old rude. I deleted a lot of the rude comments, even though I knew U2girl would report my post due to thin skin.

I deal with ridiculousness poorly, my apologies.

 

[No spoken words]

i swam fly, back, and the IMs. was better at the 200s and 400s than the sprints.

haven't swum seriously since college where i was a solid, mid-level D3 competitor. was never going to the olympics, or even senior nationals, but it was a huge part of my life as a child and i swam successfully at the state and regional level. i loved it, dearly, and still do.

i tried to pick up swimming again about a year ago, but it ended when i nearly died. see my journal if you want the full story.

I read your journal as those events were unfolding and it freaked me out.....

 

[Dalton]

I can't find the journal entry you're talking about. What's the date on it?

 

[Irvine511]

I can't find the journal entry you're talking about. What's the date on it?

almost exactly a year ago.

 

[mdw3935]

I had the chinese disease of dragon ass this morning thanks to staying up watching that awesome race last night.

It was well worth it, what a race that was.

 

[Dalton]

Damn Irvine, that's really scary. I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

[Irvine511]

Damn Irvine, that's really scary. I'm sorry that happened to you.

ain't nothing a $50 inhaler every month won't fix.

 

[No spoken words]

ain't nothing a $50 inhaler every month won't fix.

It still was fucking scary.

 

[Dalton]

BTW Irving - I once swam through a yellow cloud in a pool too. Damn kids.

 

[anitram]

Mark Spitz is mad.

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.
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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."

 

[No spoken words]

BTW Irving - I once swam through a yellow cloud in a pool too. Damn kids.

Who the fuck is Irving? I have a deceased Uncle Irving.

 

[guill]

BTW Irving - I once swam through a yellow cloud in a pool too. Damn kids.

It seems you're still swimming in it, it's time to move away now.

 

[phanan]

I'm a little late, but I just wanted to say that there wasn't any "luck" involved in them winning that relay.

What a performance.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Wow, Mark Spitz. Way to make yourself look like a complete d-bag.

 

[Dalton]

Wow, Mark Spitz. Way to make yourself looks like a complete d-bag.

You're talking about the mustache aren't you?

 

[Irvine511]

it's interesting.

reading what i was posting 18 months ago, it seemed quite certain that his performance then in Melbourne was "the greatest individual performance in swimming history." and it was.

he's *significantly* better this week. so far.

that 200 free was almost insulting, it was so effortless.

 

[U2girl]

how is Lezak's brilliant swim luck? he swam it tactically perfectly. and Bernard swam a 46.6 -- amazingly fast, probably the 2nd or 3rd fastest split in history (followed by the other Frenchman, Bousquet, who also split a 46.6 and that was why Rowdy Gains, the US commentator, really thought the French would win).

i suppose you could say that Phelps was lucky, because Lezak produced such a brilliant swim, and had he not, then Phelps would be out of the market for 8 golds.

Lezak made that swim happen out of guts and smarts. he's always been a brilliant relay swimmer, let's see if he can finally get it together for the individual event.

Lezak exploded at the right place at the right time - you can't predict that. It's also particularly lucky for Phelps as he's still in the running for 8 golds.