But Phelps’ performance is just a wee bit unusual isn’t it? What if he was from Russia or Germany or even little New Zealand? Bet there’d be a few more voices wondering out loud then.

Certainly I make unprovable assertions, but I thought you’d appreciate knowiing what a lot of the rest of the world is thinking.

If there’s one country in the world that can keep ahead of drug testing regimes its the US. I’m afraid I haven’t trusted US Olympic athletes since Carl Lewis. Neither have I trusted Olympic officials since Evander Holyfield knocked out our guy in the Bronze Medal fight after the bell, got disqualified and still got awarded a Bronze medal.

BTW as for being a lefty one of my good Democrat friends in Colorado pegs me only slightly to the left of Genghis Khan

Anyway congrats to him. Quite a competitor.

Warning: non-American offers opinion:

At the risk of being both shouted down and kicked from pillar to post I must point out that you fellas have lost your objectivity:
the guy is obviously doped to his eyeballs!

Anyone seen how far ahead of the world records’ he’s been? In recent Olympics the US has had the ability to stay ahead of dope detection technology. Combine the stuff in the syringe and a naturally brilliant athlete and you have a guy who breaks world record after world receord day after day with apparent ease. Simple as that.

Liam1304 on August 18, 2008 at 12:46 AM

Liam, Phelps spent a lot of his time getting tested every single day. He could’ve been eating or sleeping, but he was submitting to voluntary drug testing so that his wins wouldn’t be marred by unfounded accusations like yours.

Yes, he blew away many world records – but so did quite a few of the other swimmers. If you watched the races, the WR green line would many times be right in the middle of the heat of swimmers. Meaning several of them were well ahead of it – not just Phelps. The Aussie swimmers were blowing WRs and ORs regularly, too. And a few folks have already mentioned the technology behind “faster pools” and swim suits.

Phelps is an amazing athlete and has been a prodigy since his youth. It’s not like he just all of a sudden showed up “doped to his eyeballs” to sweep the Olympic golds. He was outstanding since before Athens.

Sometimes the best is really The Best.

Paraphrasing:

There is no right or wrong. There are no behaviors that lead to success or failure. When someone is more successful than others, he simply must have cheated or “stolen” his success from the failures. “Social Justice” therefore requires the fruits of his success be taken from him and redistributed to his “victims”.

the guy is obviously doped to his eyeballs!

Anyone seen how far ahead of the world records’ he’s been? In recent Olympics the US has had the ability to stay ahead of dope detection technology. Combine the stuff in the syringe and a naturally brilliant athlete and you have a guy who breaks world record after world receord day after day with apparent ease. Simple as that.

Seems the most obvious explanation to the rest of the world anyway (flame suit on).
Your friend,
Liam1304

Liam1304 on August 18, 2008 at 12:46 AM

This has already been addressed. The Chinese pool is deeper than other pools used in Olympic events in the past, which means waves made by the swimmers don’t bounce off the floor as strongly, making for a smoother surface. Hence the broken records.

And Phelps does regular blood testing every day of the Olympics, so unless there’s some new undetectable drug out there that he’s taking, your accusation is baloney.

And you don’t have any proof anyway.

Jealous?

I was shown a list of “symptoms” of ADHD and practically everyone of the items on the list are things that normal children do. The major reason for most of the problems is lack of discipline.

It’s one thing to see the symptoms listed on paper, it’s another thing to see someone untreated who is suffering from it.

lug on August 17, 2008 at 6:55 PM
Uhh, yeeaahhh. No kids were ADHD until there were drugs to “cure” it

School officials and doctors who prescribe drugs to children for this so called desease, should be jailed. I was shown a list of “symptoms” of ADHD and practically everyone of the items on the list are things that normal children do. The major reason for most of the problems is lack of discipline.

Your friend,
Liam1304

Liam1304 on August 18, 2008 at 12:46 AM

Proof.

At the risk of being both shouted down and kicked from pillar to post I must point out that you fellas have lost your objectivity:
the guy is obviously doped to his eyeballs!

Anyone seen how far ahead of the world records’ he’s been? In recent Olympics the US has had the ability to stay ahead of dope detection technology. Combine the stuff in the syringe and a naturally brilliant athlete and you have a guy who breaks world record after world receord day after day with apparent ease. Simple as that.

Seems the most obvious explanation to the rest of the world anyway (flame suit on).
Your friend,
Liam1304

I love how NBC chooses to zoom that camera in on his nostrils every time he’s on the podium. I understand they want to make money, but really, couldn’t they just use a camera to catch the tear (that never came) and use that for their commercials rather than making us all stare at his nose hair?

Send_Me on August 17, 2008 at 1:07 PM

Might be because, you know, he’s, um…standing on a podium.

How long before someone whines about all the focus on “the White guy”?

Go, USA!

SouthernGent on August 17, 2008 at 7:06 PM

Costass may have already done it.

drjohn on August 17, 2008 at 10:58 PM

Roger that dr. . .Roger that.

He is thoughtful and humble.

A real role model.

Oh well. Congrats to Phelps.

Go, USA!

Great story… and he’s ADHD.

Uhh, yeeaahhh. No kids were ADHD until there were drugs to “cure” it. If we’d listened to one doctor, my son would be on those drugs now. Instead, we did our own research and found he had Sensory Integration Disorder. A few months of occupational therapy and he’s a regular kid – a regular kid who just made his little league all-star team and was accepted into a school for kids with freaky high IQs.

Don’t EVER take your doctor’s word when it comes to your child. If we had, he’d “have ADHD” and taking drugs that make you feel kinda stoned. (I know be because I wanted to see what they were doing to my nephew.)

My advice for Phelps is to ride the wave of endorsements for a few years and figure out what he wants to do after he can’t swim for a living anymore.

He seems like a genial kid, maybe he could be a sports commentator.

But yeah, he needs an education and some back-up plans. I’d hate for him to end up in a bad situation.

What does he do for an encore?

Posters are making light of this but it is a legitimate question. Early success in life can be a curse. Bruce Jenner was a magnificent Olympian, now he’s showing up on reality TV.

My advice for Phelps is to ride the wave of endorsements for a few years and figure out what he wants to do after he can’t swim for a living anymore.