Olympic: Phelps
For years, my interest in the Olympics has been tangential: I’ve been excited to hear about world records and great achievements, but haven’t actually been interested in watching the Games themselves.
This year, I’m completely entranced by the Olympics in Beijing.
I’m not quite sure what caused this shift, but rarely have I been so enthralled by a major sporting event that wasn’t the Super Bowl or the World Cup. Since yesterday, I’ve been looking at some of the things that really caught my eye at the Olympics in 2008.
Next up: Michael Phelps.
Oh, we all know he’s more fish than human, but even that can’t explain the remarkable feat of Michael Phelps.
Phelps’ real achievement isn’t winning eight gold medals in one Olympic games — though that is amazing — but instead making millions of people across the world care about swimming again.
For a lot of people, swimming is something you do at the beach, or those classes you take when you’re young. Competitive swimming isn’t heavily televised in North America, and it surely doesn’t dominate water-cooler conversations like the Brett Favre trade.
Michael Phelps made competitive swimming cool; Phelps’ medal hunt made it normal for swimming-related headlines to dominate news broadcasts and talk shows. Swimming now isn’t just something that is done by guys that shave their legs — it is the pinnacle of athleticism.
I doubt the interest will linger, and I’m sure swimming will be relegated to its niche relatively soon, but I’m glad Phelps was able to make a whole nation — heck, the whole world — rally around an athlete that wears Speedos more often than Levi’s.
Do you think Phelps’ remarkable Olympic results will invigorate long-term public interest in swimming?