Translated material
Olympic icon
Winner of eight gold medals, Michael Phelps became the main hero of the 2008 Games long before their completion.
American swimmer Michael Phelps, whom IOC President Jacques Rogge called “the icon of the current Olympics,” became its main hero. The goal that the 23-year-old athlete set for himself - to win eight gold medals at one Olympics - was completed yesterday after the Stars and Stripes won the 4x100m medley relay.Phelps broke the record of his compatriot, the legendary swimmer Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 36 years later, Phelps became a 14-time Olympic champion, adding eight more to the six already existing top awards (they were won in Athens 2004). If we compare with athletes of some other sports, where only one set of awards is awarded at the Olympics, then to achieve a similar result it would take them not four years, like Phelps, but 52 - in fact, a whole life.
The American's press conference after the competition was crowded. Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman waited for more than an hour as the swimmer underwent a doping test. When Phelps entered the hall, he was not at all surprised by such a large number of journalists, he took it for granted. He said that he was very pleased with his performance in Beijing, that his mother, all his relatives and friends cried after he won the eighth medal, and he could not calm them down for a long time. That, unlike the last Olympics in Athens, which he didn’t really remember, on the eve of the current one he promised himself that he would try to capture in his memory all the victorious moments as a whole and each individually. That these Olympic Games were perhaps the most difficult in his sports career. He told me how at times in Beijing he was angry with the coach, who constantly grumbled and pointed out mistakes. That before the last final - the medley relay - he swam almost to the limit of his capabilities, because he was tired after the semi-final and thought that he no longer had the strength, but managed to recover. How? I came to my room in the Olympic Village, sat on the sofa and began to watch my favorite films. Then I went for a massage. This helped me to take my mind off unnecessary thoughts, mainly to forget about swimming. That he lived with other athletes in the Olympic Village, where he met tennis players Nadal and Federer. That he really likes Rafael Nadal and is glad that he was able to talk to him. That after the Olympics, Phelps would return home to Michigan. He will have a good rest, and next season he will definitely participate in the World Championship and the US qualifying championship, because he promised this to his mother. “And she really wants to go to the competition,” said the obedient son.
Of the 25 world records that were rewritten at these Olympic Games, four, not counting the relays, belong to Phelps. The swimmer improved his seconds in the 200m freestyle and butterfly, as well as in the 200m and 400m medley. After winning the 400m medley, the final of which took place in the early days of the Olympics, Phelps said that he swam it for the last time. That even before the start they agreed with the coach that if the ward wins the 400 m and sets a world record, then he will no longer compete in this event. Whether this means that Phelps will eventually try out the sprints, the swimmer's coach said he believes the student is a better swimmer over long distances, so that remains an open question.
Be that as it may, at this Olympics, eight of the 12 gold medals of the American team were won by Phelps or with the participation of Phelps. True, initially the calculation was made for 20 first places, but the inexpressive performance of their athletes, as well as the failure in the men's breaststroke, did not allow them to reach the bar that the Americans set for themselves. Nevertheless, overseas swimmers have earned the most medals than any of the countries participating in the Olympic swimming competitions.
As for European swimmers, which include the Russians, at these Games they corrected more than 30 Old World records in women's and men's swimming. Russian swimmers rewrote eight such and 29 national ones. We won three medals - one silver and two bronze. Our team had the same number of awards at the two previous Olympics in Sydney and Athens.
The Russian-style miniature of Phelps was Arkady Vyatchanin. The swimmer from Taganrog won two bronze medals in the 100 and 200 m backstroke, as well as a silver medal in the relay. It was Vyatchanin who the coaches hoped for on the last day, in the medley relay, which drew a line under the swimmers’ performances at the Beijing Aquatic Center. However, our men's relay quartet, as well as Yuri Prilukov in the 1500 m earlier, finished fourth. Prilukov was again left without Olympic medals, as in Athens. Our women's combined four showed the fifth result. By the way, both of these relay races ended in world records.
Having put a Validol tablet under his tongue, the head coach of Russian swimmers, Alexander Klokov, agreed to comment on the results of the team’s performance. He said that all the guys at this Olympics worked honestly and coped with the task. And the task was this - to improve personal records. For example, Prilukov managed to update his own achievement by 7 seconds. The same can be said about other athletes. Klokov recalled that when four years ago he agreed to the offer to lead the team, he was sure that we were hopelessly behind world swimming, but this turned out to be the wrong message. That at the next Olympics the team will have other goals. “You don’t have to plan for points and goals, but the results are higher than world records,” he said. Klokov considered it a pointless exercise to talk about the mistakes and blunders of Russian swimmers. “If you set the bar at a height of 2.6 m, but are really ready to take 2.1 m, then you won’t be able to jump over,” he concluded. But there is no reason for despair: “We must move forward along the laid rails.”
All the “gold” of Michael Phelps at the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing
| August 10 | 400 m individual medley | 4.03.84 | World and Olympic |
| August 11 | 4x100m freestyle relay | 3.08.24 | World and Olympic |
| August 12 | 200 m freestyle | 1.42.96 | World and Olympic |
| August 13 | 200 m butterfly | 1.52.03 | World and Olympic |
| August 13 | 4x200m freestyle relay | 6.58.56 | World and Olympic |
| August 15 | 200m medley | 1.54.23 | World and Olympic |
| August 16 | 100 m butterfly | 50.58 | Olympic |
| August 17 | 4x100m medley relay | 3.29.34 | World and Olympic |