Saturday, August 16, 2008 Libre: Icon of the games By Mel Libre Seriously Now
IF the Olympics were to adopt a human face that could represent its essence--–that face would belong to Mark Spitz. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, the American swimmer torpedoed into the pool and claimed seven gold medals, making him one of the top Olympians of all time. It therefore does not come as a surprise that others want to break Spitz’s record.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps, an American swimmer, promised to rewrite sports history by going for eight gold medals in one Olympics. He is well on his way to his goal, and already he has snagged the most gold medals (11) in the Olympics (six in the Athens and five so far in Beijing).
Once Phelps achieves his eight-gold medal haul, he will be the Olympics’ new poster boy. Already International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has dubbed him "icon of the games."
How are champions made? Other than innate ability, Spitz trained hard. He once said: “The only side effect of too much training is that you get into better shape. There is nothing wrong with that.” He also had two things going for him: a supportive father and talented teammates.
He learned to swim as he began walking, and his father saw the potential of his son. Arnold Spitz took his son to the best coaches and even travelled 80 miles each way for his son’s training. He taught him the maxim: “Swimming isn’t everything; winning is.”
At 18, Mark Spitz competed in the 1968 Mexico Olympics boasting he would win six gold medals. He fell short of the target, winning two gold medals in team relay events, one silver, and a bronze. The experience taught him to change his demeanor from being proud to being cool and sociable. Not only did this make him closer to his teammates, it also inspired them to give their best.
In Munich, he won in all the events he participated in, raking four individual gold medals. He shared three gold medals with his teammates in relay races.
Michael Phelps, as a child, was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). When he was seven, he began swimming, thereby directing his restless energy to the sport. By age ten, he started collecting medals. When he was 15 years old, he competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and failed to earn any medal. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, he made a splash with six gold and two bronze medals.
Most influential in the rapid development of Phelps as a swimmer was Bob Bowman, his coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. In an article written in The Baltimore Sun, Phelps is described as "a solitary man" with a "rigid focus" at the pool prior to a race, but afterwards "a man incredibly invested in the success of the people he cares about."
When asked by The Chicago Tribune if winning the most golds makes him the greatest Olympian of all time, Phelps responded: "I have no idea. I just get in the water and swim. That's the only thing I think about." The secret that makes Phelps the winner is “focus” – whether in training, in competition, in winning.
And what does Spitz think of Phelps overtaking him in the medal race?
Spitz once said: “If he wins seven golds and ties what I did, then it would be like I was the first man on the moon and he became the second. If he wins more than seven, then he becomes the first man on Mars. We'd both be unique.”
More recently, he said: "He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did. He reminds me of myself.”
