'Dude, how many times a day do I have to see your ugly face?'
Caught plenty of Olympics action on TV since it started more than a week ago, courtesy of Mediacorp's Channel 5 and Channel U, which had been beaming live actions of different disciplines for more than 12 hours/day.
Perhaps the greatest action on all was set on the stage of Water Cube, the much acclaimed Aquatics center that was specially built for the Olympics 2008. It was here that one of, if not the most, greatest triumph of all time would be staged. A certain Michael Phelps, the water creature that is cleverly disguised as a human, has won 6 gold and 2 bronze medals in the Athens Olympics as a 19 year old, and is bidding for the unprecedented feat of 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.
The media had hyped up his target so much that it was impossible to miss the daily report of his condition leading to the Games. His home country, USA, had been in full anticipation of his potential achievement and requested the swimming events to be held in the morning, when usually it is always held in the evening in all swimming competitions, so as to accomodate the USA evening viewing time because of the time difference.
Perhaps what was not known was the many rivals that Phelps would have in his bid as he would be swimming in different styles & distance. He's unmatched in personal freestyle & medley, shattering his own world record by more than 2 seconds each and lead the field easily. To get to his target of 8 gold medal however, he had to swim in 3 relay events, and those were linked to the abilities of his US teammates as much as his own. The US team was very strong in the freestyle event and remained one of the top teams in the other styles, even though competition remained very keen from the other teams as well.
It was in the medley relay event that Phelps almost lost his bid shortly after his personal medley win. If not for the heroics of his teammate Lczak, who clawed back half a body length distance from the impressive French in the last 5 metres of the race and ended up winning by 0.06 sec, Phelps would have been thwarted in his bid on only the 2nd day of the competition.
The greatest drama was left on the 2nd last day of his swim events, when he competed in the 100m personal butterfly. At the turn, Phelps was not among the top 3 and he started powering through only in the last 20 metres. The Serbian Cavic was leading throughout, and looked odds-on to clinch the gold medal. Phelps had other idea obviously, and finally brought home the 7th gold medal by the slimmest margin: 0.01 second! Replay showed that Cavic already had his hand stretched out for the wall while Phelps was still in his last stroke about 1 metre away. Owing to the length of his hand (which was reported to be close to 2 metres from one fingertips to the other when he's fully stretched out), he managed to touch home and won his 7th medal!
I've got to admit I've shed quite a few tears and my heart must have skipped a few beat everytime there was serious action in every sports, especially when Phelps was on the TV screen. Each time I witnessed how he tried his best, albeit looking effortless in breaking world records that were painstakingly set by himself or other great swimmers, tears always started to well up before I realised it. It was with great effort that I manage to stop it from streaming down each time, only to have the process repeated in the next event. I guess it is because I could identify & understand the struggle and the competition that it takes to become the world's greatest, although obviously I was never even close to that stage.
He had already been anointed the greatest Olympian of all time on day 4 as he had managed to accumulate 13 gold & 2 bronze medals from 2 Olympics, easily surpassing the 9 gold medals record owned by only 4 0ther Olympians. However, the true test of his greatness would come tomorrow, and this time he would need the assistance of his teammates once more for the relay event. They had blitzed the world record in freestyle relay, cutting more than 3 sec off the clock. Would they be able to win gold no.8 for Phelps, and in the process help him to become THE ONLY Olympian to win 8 gold medals in ONE OLYMPICS? The world awaits.....
Update: Phelps, with the help of his teammates, won the 4x100 medley relay in the last swimming race in the Water Cube, confirming his status as the Olympian who has won the most gold medals in a single Olympics! His achievement is unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon, with the previous record of 7 gold medals held by Mark Spitz standing for 30+ years before it is shattered by Phelps. The fact that he's only 23 years old and that he possibly still has 2 more Olympics left in him makes the prospect even scarier. For now, bravo to the phenomenal Phelps, and looking forward to the London Olympics in 2012 to once again witness his greatness!
Perhaps the greatest action on all was set on the stage of Water Cube, the much acclaimed Aquatics center that was specially built for the Olympics 2008. It was here that one of, if not the most, greatest triumph of all time would be staged. A certain Michael Phelps, the water creature that is cleverly disguised as a human, has won 6 gold and 2 bronze medals in the Athens Olympics as a 19 year old, and is bidding for the unprecedented feat of 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.
The media had hyped up his target so much that it was impossible to miss the daily report of his condition leading to the Games. His home country, USA, had been in full anticipation of his potential achievement and requested the swimming events to be held in the morning, when usually it is always held in the evening in all swimming competitions, so as to accomodate the USA evening viewing time because of the time difference.
Perhaps what was not known was the many rivals that Phelps would have in his bid as he would be swimming in different styles & distance. He's unmatched in personal freestyle & medley, shattering his own world record by more than 2 seconds each and lead the field easily. To get to his target of 8 gold medal however, he had to swim in 3 relay events, and those were linked to the abilities of his US teammates as much as his own. The US team was very strong in the freestyle event and remained one of the top teams in the other styles, even though competition remained very keen from the other teams as well.
It was in the medley relay event that Phelps almost lost his bid shortly after his personal medley win. If not for the heroics of his teammate Lczak, who clawed back half a body length distance from the impressive French in the last 5 metres of the race and ended up winning by 0.06 sec, Phelps would have been thwarted in his bid on only the 2nd day of the competition.
The greatest drama was left on the 2nd last day of his swim events, when he competed in the 100m personal butterfly. At the turn, Phelps was not among the top 3 and he started powering through only in the last 20 metres. The Serbian Cavic was leading throughout, and looked odds-on to clinch the gold medal. Phelps had other idea obviously, and finally brought home the 7th gold medal by the slimmest margin: 0.01 second! Replay showed that Cavic already had his hand stretched out for the wall while Phelps was still in his last stroke about 1 metre away. Owing to the length of his hand (which was reported to be close to 2 metres from one fingertips to the other when he's fully stretched out), he managed to touch home and won his 7th medal!
I've got to admit I've shed quite a few tears and my heart must have skipped a few beat everytime there was serious action in every sports, especially when Phelps was on the TV screen. Each time I witnessed how he tried his best, albeit looking effortless in breaking world records that were painstakingly set by himself or other great swimmers, tears always started to well up before I realised it. It was with great effort that I manage to stop it from streaming down each time, only to have the process repeated in the next event. I guess it is because I could identify & understand the struggle and the competition that it takes to become the world's greatest, although obviously I was never even close to that stage.
He had already been anointed the greatest Olympian of all time on day 4 as he had managed to accumulate 13 gold & 2 bronze medals from 2 Olympics, easily surpassing the 9 gold medals record owned by only 4 0ther Olympians. However, the true test of his greatness would come tomorrow, and this time he would need the assistance of his teammates once more for the relay event. They had blitzed the world record in freestyle relay, cutting more than 3 sec off the clock. Would they be able to win gold no.8 for Phelps, and in the process help him to become THE ONLY Olympian to win 8 gold medals in ONE OLYMPICS? The world awaits.....
Update: Phelps, with the help of his teammates, won the 4x100 medley relay in the last swimming race in the Water Cube, confirming his status as the Olympian who has won the most gold medals in a single Olympics! His achievement is unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon, with the previous record of 7 gold medals held by Mark Spitz standing for 30+ years before it is shattered by Phelps. The fact that he's only 23 years old and that he possibly still has 2 more Olympics left in him makes the prospect even scarier. For now, bravo to the phenomenal Phelps, and looking forward to the London Olympics in 2012 to once again witness his greatness!
posted by leonhart @ 2:34 AM
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