JUST LOOK AT Michael Phelps.
Magnificent, isn’t he?
He doesn’t look human.
He barely looks like a mammal. More like some majestic soaring bird of prey or graphic novel superhero swooping in to save the day.
The most successful Olympian ever has generated all kinds of theories and speculation around his genetic make-up. As medal after medal found its way to his collection of 22, a new explanation is funneled out: ‘his heart pumps twice as much blood as the average man,’ they say.
Those big size 13s reportedly bend 15 degrees further to his ankle than normal. His 203 cm wingspan would better suit a man who is 6′ 8″ — and even the short legs that take him back down to 6’4″ are advantageous apparently.
Then there’s the food. Oh, the mouthwatering mountains of food! We all enjoy wolfing down big portions after a little spell in the water so we were all taken in by the hardcore food porn of the Phelps’ 12,000 calorie all-you-can-eat buffet diet in Beijing, according to the New York Post. He debunked that one himself, calling it ‘a myth’ and ‘too much’ food.
There’s no such thing as double-jointed either. Phelps may be blessed with some incredible flexibility, but the comparisons are usually drawn against regular people rather than his fellow Olympians record-setting swimmers who have battled him down to the hundredth of a second for gold.
You see, the Baltimore Bullet is in fact human. Too often too human, it’s turned out, and too flawed in so many respects outside of the chlorine-stinking arenas he has made his name in.
There was the curious incident of the bong at the house party. Two years later he was arrested and fortunate to avoid jail time for a DUI. Both are difficult offences to ignore. The first because his entire legacy should be built on being clean and drug free, the second because it puts more lives than his own in danger.
Lower down the scale of criminality, he’s done that infuriating athlete trick of retiring, hanging up his Speedos and swapping the starting blocks for a yacht only to saunter back out to the centre lane.
Almost two months after his 31st birthday though, Rio 2016 will be Phelps’ last Olympic Games. We say that with much more confidence than in 2012, because he’s human and he’s slowing down.
In this opening week in Jacarepaguá you won’t find Phelps wearing down the soles of his flip-flops to get to the blocks for heats, semis and finals of the 200m free, butterfly, individual medley, the 100 butterfly and the 400 m individual medley… before lending a freakishly large hand to up to three US relay teams.
Starting tomorrow, Phelps’ workload will be halved from eight to just three events: the 200m IM, 100m and 200m butterfly and he’s one of eight men named on the 4 x 100m medley.
Of course, he still owns the bodysuit-era world record in the two butterfly events and he holds the second-fastest time this year in the 100m, but the Olympic legend is sixth in the list of 200m racers this year, almost a full two seconds behind Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh.
US swimming coach Mark Schubert used to talk about how well Phelps seemed to instinctively knew how much effort was just enough effort, when wading his way through the mountain of work in a week-long swim meet:
“He swims well in the prelims but not outstanding, he swims a little bit better in the semis – usually always good enough to get one of the centre lanes – and then it’s show time.”
First and foremost he is an incredible athlete, but his mindset and lust for victories are what put him on the the pedestal as the greatest Olympian ever seen.
The Baltimore Bullet is one of the best examples of modern athletes reaching for the ‘trust the process’, ‘one race at a time’ maxim rather than revealing how much he craved the incredible haul of goldwear since reaching the 200m butterfly final at the age of just 15 at the Sydney Olympics.
16 years on, he might just have to take in some extra practice lengths to keep his body occupied and building towards ‘show-time’. Just to keep his brain from reminding him that he’s human too.
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