Phelps Wins Eight

I'm sure you have heard by now what Micheal Phelps has done. He won Eight Gold medals in one Olympics, actually in 9 days of an Olympics. He broke the record of Mark Spitz from 1972 when he won 7. I might have bought into the NBC hype machine a little, but this was truly an incredible feat. I had the privilege to watch all of the events live, and I have never been that excited about a swimming race and I will probably never be that excited again. Now that he has Eight golds in one games and 14 overall, what's left. In all of the Olympics, all of the thousands of athletes who have competed he has accomplished something that no one else has. There have probably only been a handful of people who have even competed in that many events. But if the record is ever going to be touched it will probably have to be in swimming, unless there is just some phenomenal Judo/fencing/sprinting/rowing/shooting/archery/badminton star out there. There just aren't enough events in any one other discipline for someone to earn that amount of golds. Does that mean it won't happen - No, but someone will have to come with the determination, and a little luck, that Phelps has had in this Olympics. I have never heard another athlete talk about how much it meant to be an Olympian, but Phelps is truly happy and proud to be an Olympian, not just a swimmer at an international meet. He has pretty much sacrificed everything in his private life to reach this goal and it does show. I don't think he was prepared for the onslaught of interviews afterwards and I'm really not sure he would even care to do them. Other than saying thanks to the teammates that helped him win the relay golds, and telling people to never let anyone tell them they can't achieve their goals. I mean he had already tried this once and failed, if you can call winning 6 golds and 2 bronzes failure. But the way he trained and the 7 world records he set himself or helped set in the relays, just show how determined he was to meet this 8 gold goal. I am truly amazed and hopeful that he becomes a role model for a lot of kids. What a good guy (other than being a Ravens fan), Congratulations Mike.