Phelps

[crawler]

It was always unrealistic for the media (I assume it was them not him?) talking of exceeding Spitz's gold tally. Let's face it if Phelps can't then
no-one can.

When all the talk is of him failing in his quest it seems to demean the achievements he has already made.

He could end up with what 5 or 6 golds and 2 bronzes I think - a tad respectable!

I appreciate that those in the know never felt it to be probable, but hasn't he raced well throughout - his bronze in the 200 FS being a good example.

[Top10ranking]

It was always unrealistic for the media (I assume it was them not him?) talking of exceeding Spitz's gold tally. Let's face it if Phelps can't then
no-one can.

When all the talk is of him failing in his quest it seems to demean the achievements he has already made.

He could end up with what 5 or 6 golds and 2 bronzes I think - a tad respectable!

I appreciate that those in the know never felt it to be probable, but hasn't he raced well throughout - his bronze in the 200 FS being a good example.

but didn't he break the american record? Or have i read it wrong?

[lane4]

I appreciate that those in the know never felt it to be probable, but hasn't he raced well throughout - his bronze in the 200 FS being a good example.
He has raced extremely well in my opinion. He remains on target for 8 medals. Has any swimmer ever won 8 medals in a single Olympics before? I don't recall one. If he wins 8 it would be a totally amazing achievement.

[Natasha]

I was thinking about this yesterday and how it was silly for the Media to come up with a story like breaking Spitz's gold medal record. Most people knew he could not do that, and so they say that Phelps was stupid for thinking he could. But it wasn't him at all who said he would - just a story the media came up with because it would sell well. But everytime you see Phelps interviewed, he says he's just going to try his best and any gold medal would be a great achievement. Like we've been saying here...he's still an outstanding swimmer and has done so well this Olympiad. But some people may think he hasn't performed as well because he isn't on track to break Spitz's record. Which is a shame because if that story had not been created the actual greatness of his swims would be recognised more.

[Dreama]

How can a story have been created totally independent of any decision by Phelps...the guy is supposed to be entered or swimming in 8 events and surely you can't tell me that he's not going for gold in them all, who wouldn't? He's hardly going to not try his very hardest in all 8 events for gold at the Olympics...it's not the place for warm-up swims or recording times is it! He must have had some kind of ambition to go for 8 golds and a belief that it was possible...

Fair play to him whatever he does but 7 gold's seems almost unreachable now to me with so many people so close in many events

Spitz will remain the king!

[glen_75]

Fair play to him whatever he does but 7 gold's seems almost unreachable now to me with so many people so close in many events

Spitz will remain the king!
7 for 7. 7 world records. I don't think that will ever be matched.

But Is Michael a more gifted swimmer than Mark? I think so.

[Natasha]

How can a story have been created totally independent of any decision by Phelps...the guy is supposed to be entered or swimming in 8 events and surely you can't tell me that he's not going for gold in them all, who wouldn't? He's hardly going to not try his very hardest in all 8 events for gold at the Olympics...it's not the place for warm-up swims or recording times is it! He must have had some kind of ambition to go for 8 golds and a belief that it was possible...

I agree with you in some senses that he would have been going for gold. But what I'm saying is that he probably had that in his head, but didn't say anything or much about it. Whereas the media obviously got hold of the idea of how talented he was and how many events he was entering and blew it all up into a hugs story that would make them money. And now that Phelps has 'failed' to break the record (although in my opinion he is still a completely outstanding swimmer) people will probably be blaming him and saying 'oh he could never have broken that record what gave him such an idea' yet is was never probably him that said it out loud publicly.

[mad4it]

Whatever happens on Sunday night Phelps will be remembered. He may not have broken the 7 Gold Record but nobody is going to forget about him. If Team USA win Gold tomorrow night in the 4x100 Medley he will be one of a very few athletes [don't know exact stats] to win 8 medals at one olympics, so what if they aren't all gold, that is a huge achievement in itself to simply be contesting 8 events and could have been 9. The guy is a true olympic champion and outstanding athlete and unless he disappears on Sunday forever we won't forget him and his AMAZING achievements.
He deserves that $1million anyway. [and will probably get it thru sponsorship/media etc]. What a great ambassador for our sport and we should be proud he is raising the profile of Swimming across the globe perhaps even more than Thorpe has in the last 4years.

:D :D :D

[Top10ranking]

he isnt doing the relay tomorrow he has let ian crocker do it instead

[mad4it]

Yeh just heard that, I reckon the reason he did the heats this morning was because he wasn't totally confident of winning the 100 Fly and now that he has he wants to give Crocker another opportunity as he knows he will get a medal (if they win obviously) because he swam the heats...he is quite a clever guy really!

[swimgurl]

Whatever happens on Sunday night Phelps will be remembered. He may not have broken the 7 Gold Record but nobody is going to forget about him. If Team USA win Gold tomorrow night in the 4x100 Medley he will be one of a very few athletes [don't know exact stats] to win 8 medals at one olympics, so what if they aren't all gold, that is a huge achievement in itself to simply be contesting 8 events and could have been 9. The guy is a true olympic champion and outstanding athlete and unless he disappears on Sunday forever we won't forget him and his AMAZING achievements.
He deserves that $1million anyway. [and will probably get it thru sponsorship/media etc]. What a great ambassador for our sport and we should be proud he is raising the profile of Swimming across the globe perhaps even more than Thorpe has in the last 4years.

:D :D :D

theres only ever been one other person that has got 8 medals at an olympic games and that was a male gymnast, cant tell u the games that was at though. :)