Phelps!!!

Well,He represents the human beings of the world, he represents the human spirit, he represents the limits of human endurance,he has become more than a competitor,he has become bigger than a game,he has become bigger than olympics!

I had heard about him a lot before the olympics had begun,all thanks to the american media hype which the americans are really good at! I discarded him as another really good athlete who would win some gold medals! I really didnt think he would make the 7 gold medals of Mark Spitz.But all that changed in the course of the last 8 days. I have been really closely following the olympic games which runs at a very convenient time of evenings in USA.

Olympics is all about human spirit!! Appu once had said to me ' I am fascinated with the idea of betting everything on something and the outcome is either an all or nothing',somehow his sentence seemed to ring a bell when watching the olympics. People have trained all their lives for that one coveted medal,the gold!To be the best in the world!You can see the agony and despair on the faces of the people who have won the silver or bronze.You can see the limits of human endurance both mentally and physically in these events.The one who conquers all emerges the winner,there is no room for mistakes,you make one single mistake your entire life efforts is just thrown away and your dreams shattered,you have to wait 4 more years to try again,very rarely you get a chance to make a comeback after a mistake in an arena of supreme men and women who have reached their peaks of perfection and are testing their perfections against each other.

Somehow Phelps seemed to have conquered all! Intially I was an impassive audience to his swimming,after his first two golds with world record times,he caught my attention,after the third and fourth with world record times,I was in a frenzy, I really wanted him to reach that 8 gold medals.After his 5th and 6th golds again in world record times, I realised that the entire world along with me was rooting for him to break that 7 gold medals. I felt that I was not rooting for him, I felt as if I am rooting for the entire human race.It was like rooting for Superman in a mega battle against an intergalactic villain all set to destroy Earth and Superman was the only man who could stop him and our only hope.Superman's victory would mean what the earthlings were capable of,that we could endure anything,anything thrown against us!(though technically he is not a earth-man) Phelps 8 gold medals would be a testimonial of something like that!

When he swum for the 7th gold medal, I was at a religious party at a friend's relative's place.I was nervously looking at the clock while all the ceremonies were taking place,I didn't want to miss the swim! I saw it was time for the race and went in search for a TV and luckily there was a TV which someone fortunately had tuned to the olympics,but it was on mute,I quietly went and settled myself in a corner. The 100 meter fly was just about to start and I could feel the excitement. The race started and I saw phelps hadn't had a great start, he was 7th at the end of the 50M mark, I could feel the agony seeping through,Oh!! He can't make it! Oh! He can't make it! But somehow in the last 25 meters he overtook the field and was in second! But second is not enough! He came neck to neck with the first place guy but still a palm length behind and was running out of yards, I knew he would finish second! Despair took over me,
I knew he had finished second! But the results immediately popped up and Phelps was first!I couldn't believe my eyes!! I let out a whoop!! I forgot where I was, I forgot it was a religious party, I see Phelps shouting, I am also shouting!! The TV was on mute all the time and people around are suddenly surprised! I am all excited and jumping around!He made it! He made it!

Then I compose myself, am a bit embarrassed,but heck,who cares!I don't even know these people.'Always be yourself because the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter don't mind' is something i believe in!

I really feel for Milorad Cavic who lost the gold by a mere 0.01 seconds,it was as if the fates were with phelps!

Here is something i read in the internet about this win

'The finish was so close the Serbs filed a protest. Swimming's governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second, and the Serb delegation finally conceded that Phelps won.'

This is what Mark Spitz had to say about phelps after he won the seventh gold medal..

"It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time," Spitz said in a telephone interview from Detroit. "He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet."

Now I really hope he makes the 8th gold medal!


Go Phelps! Go!! Show what the human spirit is capable of!


After writing all this, I am right now in a contemplative and introspective mood. I am trying to analyse myself as to why I am rooting for him,why am 'I' excited about 'his' achievements. What is fan-dom all about?

It is probably a deep desire to reach those levels one-self!When you see others doing what you deeply desire to be yourself you feel a great respect for the other person and sincerely hope he succeeds!


Book reading: Understanding exposure - Bryan Peterson
Song listening : While my guitar gently weeps - Beatles.