The US swimmer has been a tabloid fixture but is now swimming close to his best again
What does a man do after winning eight gold medals at one Olympic games? He parties, he turns up on the front page of the News of the World, he loses sponsorship, he rails against the "unfair" advances wrought by technology, he loses his form, he finds it again, he wins five world championship gold medals, he loses his form again, he turns in the worst performances of his career and, finally, he is apparently re-born as the untouchable athlete he was before all of the above took place.
Welcome to the last two and a half years in the life of Michael Phelps, which have been about as predictable as they have been dull; which is to say, not in the slightest.
At least the story has, to this point at least, taken an upturn. Two weeks ago, 25-year-old Phelps looked back to his best - or at least somewhere approaching it - when he won five gold medals at the Indianapolis Grand Prix meeting, the most significant of which came in the 200m individual medley against his team-mate and rival Ryan Lotche, who had supplanted him in 2010 as the world's most dominant swimmer.
"It feels good to be able to race again and race at good speed," Phelps said after setting the world's best time of the year in what is seen as a barometer event. Lotche, who holds the world record in the 200 individual medley, was gracious in defeat. "He's back, there's no doubt about it," he said. "I don't think he's ever not there, no matter what he says. I feel like he can step up and race any time."
Really? That wasn't the prevailing view in January, when Phelps, by his own judgment, swam appallingly, falling into the "B" finals in a couple of events and losing to Lotche in the 200 medley. After Phelps' relatively unproductive 2010 season, people were beginning to wonder again about his dedication to the craft and appetite for competition. It has been a recurring theme since August 2008
Such doubts first surfaced in the aftermath of Beijing when Phelps, at the peak of his fame, was photographed at a student party in Richland, South Carolina, smoking from a "bong". He subsequently apologised for his behaviour, without detailing what his behavior actually was, and then settled back into the life of relative anonymity. In the hierarchy of American sporting obsessions swimming barely climbs on to the bottom rung, especially in non-Olympics years. Even an athlete of Phelps' talent and success has difficulty breaking through this cloud of indifference.
When he has appeared in the public eye, it has usually been for the "wrong" reasons - he might occasionally pop up in one of the supermarket tabloids photographed in the company of a new girlfriend. In August 2009, a few days after winning five gold medals at the world championships in Rome (and threatening to withdraw in protest over "unfair" swimming suits worn by some of rivals) he was involved in a minor car crash in his home town of Baltimore.
In the life of a wealthy, successful, 25-year-old athlete such (minor) scrapes might be expected - by comparison with, say, the average NFL star, Phelps is a saint - but they paint a picture that is at variance with the life dedicated Olympians are expected to lead. And when Phelps performs badly in the pool, as he did at Austin in January, people begin to wonder.
After Indianapolis, they are wondering a little less.
"It was a joke,'' Phelps said of his performance in Texas. "I literally didn't feel like I got one good thing out of that besides swimming slow and realising that I was out of shape."
He spent the three weeks training in Colorado Springs, where he worked on some "technical issues" - to good effect, clearly. "A team-mate told me 'you're actually enjoying yourself, and you can see it. You're happy, you're swimming well, and you're having a good time', " Phelps said in Indianapolis. "That's a part of it that's changed since Austin."
Phelps' next appearance in the pool will be in May, when he is scheduled to compete in the Charlotte UltraSwim meeting, and after that will turn his attention to the July's world championships in Shanghai. "There are a lot of new people out there,'' he said of his return to China. "A lot of the Europeans are swimming really well, Ryan is swimming really well. It's going to be fun this summer to head over to Shanghai and be able to swim with some new faces."
As for his plans for the 2012 Olympics, he and his long-time coach Bob Bowman have given little away, beyond saying he would not compete in the gruelling 400m individual medley. Phelps has mused publicly about competing in the shorter, sprint race but Bowman is having none of it. In all likelihood he will compete in seven events in London
"There are still a lot of goals I have and things I want to achieve before I retire from the sport," he said in Indianapolis, declining to explain what those goals are. "Everybody wants to know that, but no one will know. Bob has them, and I have them, and we'll work together and try to reach them."
Children Liberal-Conservative coalition Nepal Insects Tottenham Hotspur Savings
No comments:
Post a Comment