Whaaaa! I’m Not Happy Enough Just Setting a World Record…

I have been enjoying watching the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on NBC, especially due to the displays of worthiness in synchronized diving, gymnastics, and swimming.  Many people would agree that Michael Phelps’ performances in these games have been particularly noteworthy, and I do as well.

But, I was very disappointed in Phelps’ attitude when he won the finals of the Men’s 200 meter butterfly last night.  He seemed to be disappointed in his performance, perhaps thinking that an even faster time was attainable.  No one has ever swam 200 meters of butterfly in a competition setting in a time faster than 1 minute, 52.03 seconds.  Most competitive swimmers won’t even come close to swimming the 200 fly in a time like that, let alone swim the 200 fly race, which is one of the most physically demanding of all!  Why can’t Phelps just be grateful for how well he obviously did and move on?

Phelps complained, saying, “I wanted to break the record. I wanted to go 1:51 or better, but for the circumstances I guess it’s not too bad.”  Let’s see.  Break the record, check.  1:51 or better, sorry.  Better luck next time!

1:51.99 is only four one-hundredths of a second faster than the time he posted last night, and based on his history of continually improving his own world records, I would not be surprised if he eventually achieves this goal.

So far, Phelps has won five gold medals, including in the two races where he only won a bronze in 2004.  The 100 fly, 200 IM, and 4X100 medley relay should not pose quite as much of a challenge to him.

Source for picture: USA Today

Men’s 4 x 100 Free Relay in the Olympics … WOW!

This is a screen shot of a video capture of last night’s 400 free relay final from the Olympics in Beijing (click the picture to enlarge).  The American team has just set a new world record by 3.99 seconds — just about 1 second per 100 meters faster than the previous world record, which I think is just unbelievable.  If you consider that the previous time of 3:12.23 is really 192.23 seconds and the new time is really 188.24 seconds, we are talking about better than a two percent improvement here.  This would be comparable to the track and field 100m dash world record changing from 9.68 to 9.49 seconds, which I really doubt will ever happen.

Look at the swimmers who will be placing second through fifth.  They’re all ahead of the green line, indicating a time faster than the previous world record.  I wonder how it feels to get a silver medal becuase your team broke the previous world record but not by as much as the first place competitors!

I hope the success of swimmers so far in this Olympics inspires more Americans to support the sport of swimming.  All over the world, swimmers of all ages and ability levels will be watching video clips from this Olympics with their coaches, who will be offering comments on the Olympians’ techniques to help their swimmers improve their personal best times.  Michael Phelps and our country’s other Olympic athletes ought to feel good about their contributions not only to US swimming and Olympics history but for their ability to provide a clear, definable source of inspiration for so many people at a tough time in our country’s economic history.