Why We Love Michael Phelps

By Chad Klassen
Love of Sports Correspondent

For me, swimming at the Olympics has always been the event that brings the highest degree of drama. How can you not love the overwhelming excitement that evolves as races come down to the last micro-second?

Then there’s the anticipated wall-touch, followed by screams from the ever-enthusiastic TV broadcaster, all culminating in the announcement of a winner. 

Thanks to the Olympic emergence of swimming phenom Michael Phelps, the 2004 Summer Games in Athens saw that compelling drama and excitement rise to another level.

Despite the fact he fell one gold medal short of matching Mark Spitz’s seven victories during the 1972 Munich Olympics, there are critics who thought he didn’t quite live up to the hype in 2004. Perhaps he’ll have them in the back of his mind as he heads to Beijing ready to stun the world.

Given this is his second crack to conquer the record under the Olympic spotlight, Phelps will be facing similar pressure and higher expectations than in Athens.

In case you haven’t heard, he’s trying to win gold in each of the eight events he’s competing in. The goal leaves absolutely no room for error in the pool, meaning the pressure is arguably greater than what Tiger Woods encounters as he tries to track down Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors.

I can’t imagine what’s going through his head as the world pencils him in for a gold medal sweep, but these are supposedly the moments top athletes relish.

Everyone, including myself, is eagerly anticipating that he’ll win eight gold medals and finally break Spitz’s once unbeatable feat, a task Phelps was expected to achieve four years ago.

The Baltimore native had the chance to break the now 36-year record, competing in eight events, but missed out with “only” six gold medals and two bronze in 2004. In one of the best races in recent memory, he touched the wall in third in the 200-meter freestyle to the “Thorpedo,” rival Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe who took gold in the event. Phelps also lost out on gold as the 4x100 freestyle team failed to deliver and took home the bronze.

But entering the Olympics this time around, he won’t disappoint. A year ago, at the 2007 World Championships, he won seven events and broke world records in five of those races, which indicates he’s been slowly gearing up since Athens for a historic run in Beijing. 

There’ll always be doubters, of course, including the retired Thorpe, who feels there are too many great swimmers for Phelps to pull of the sweep. The argument is a completely fair one to make, as someone could have a career-best performance while Phelps has a rare off-day. With that said, I strongly believe he’ll capture the eight gold medals, thus taking over Spitz as the greatest swimmer ever to grace the water.

However, before I make the biggest guarantee since Joe Namath, everything hinges on how his fellow American swimmers perform in the relay events. As we saw in 2004, regardless of how great Phelps is, overcoming a deficit that was caused by his teamates is nearly impossible. I have no doubt he’ll sweep his five individual races, but the relay portion of the Summer Games will make or break his chance at history.

Look, we all know Spitz was a freak of nature for his time, but the competition in the pool was watered down (no pun intended). Nothing against what Spitz did in Munich, because it was an absolutely tremendous feat, but like the evolution of every sport, today’s swimmers are stronger and faster in the water.

This has made Phelps’ accomplishments to this point in his career more impressive and unprecedented than the splash made by Spitz in 1972. There are a number of incredible swimmers, including my Canadian hopeful Brent Hayden, who’ll be looking to steal the headlines and spoil Phelps’ pool party.

Even if Phelps doesn’t live up to my expectations and fails to win all eight events, it shouldn’t rain on his parade or dampen his Olympic legacy. However, if he pulls off the unbelievable and awes the world in Beijing, the conquest will etch his name in Olympic swimming lore!