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Does Dolphin Kick really win races ?

Seemingly yes, Phelps has shown it when swimming freestyle he always stayed underwater longer than any of his competitors, but the question really is, did we learn it from Phelps or did he learn it from its history and perfect it, to take advantage of FINA’s rules governing the underwater portion of the race? so what’s all this sudden buzz about dolphin kick ?

IIT Kanpur alum and George Washington University researcher Rajat Mittal has spent the past five years studying Phelps and his dolphin kick - also known as the ‘Berkoff Blastoff’ after the Harvard backstroker who used it the first time at the Olympics 20 years ago.

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Here is my hero Michael Phelps gracing the latest cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, posing with the record eight gold medals he won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The photo was inspired by former Olympic swimming champ Mark Spitz, who showed off the seven golds he won at the 1972 Munich Games. Besides Mark showing off one gold less he somehow had convinced the International Olympic Committee back then to give him his medals on gold chains

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I know I have been spending a little too much time on Micheal Phelps, but I just can’t seem to get over him, give me a week or so before his larger than life persona wanes from my subconscious self.

The ties between hip-hop music and competitive swimming at its highest level aren’t as tenuous as one might expect. But Michael Phelps has let it be known that he habitually listened to hip-hop while psyching himself up to race

Thirty years ago, after all, the original smash rap single, “Rapper’s Delight”, referenced water sports in the lyric, “After school I take a dip in the pool’.

According to a recent New York Times profile: “The music transforms him. His goofy grin dissolves into a glower, his eyes turn cold as ice. The hip-hop beats have a hypnotic effect on Phelps, who sometimes, after a race, is unable to recall the songs that locked him into his groove.”

Phelps has referenced the Miami-based rapper Rick Ross and New York’s preeminent hip-hop artist Jay-Z as two of the artists he prefers for motivation.Also Outkast, Young Jeezy and Lil’ Wayne are on heavy rotation on Phelps’ iPod as well.

The playlist that Phelps provided to Yahoo.com during his historic Olympic turn reads as follows.

1. “Overnight Celebrity” - Twista

2. “Burn” - Usher

3. “Roses” - Outkast

4. “Till I Collapse” - Eminem

5. “Smile” - G Unit

6. “A Milli” - Lil’ Wayne

7. “Hustlin” - Rick Ross

8. “Hello Brooklyn 2.0” - Jay-Z (featuring Lil Wayne)

9. “I Got What It Takes” - Young Jeezy

Once again, have fun Mike, enjoy that hip-hop music, texting with your buddies and wearing your cap backward

And there he does it finally, he surpassed the Olympic record holders Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi, for the ‘most single sportsman golds’. Phelps broke the record Spitz set in Munich in 1972, and which was once thought to be unassailable

Michael Phelps made history today by winning eight gold medals in one Olympics while Australia claimed silver in the men’s medley relay.

The 23-year-old Phelps took a nasty stumble last October that imperiled his pursuit of Mark Spitz’s single Games record of seven gold medals. He slipped on a patch of ice and fell while climbing into a friend’s car in Michigan and broke his right wrist.

Phelps got a standing ovation in Beijing from the packed 17,000 capacity stadium as he acknowledged his historic win.

“The Beijing Olympics has witnessed the greatest Olympian of all time — Michael Phelps of the USA,” the announcer said

Phelps won five individual gold medals and was part of three winning relays. The most nerve-racking relay race was the 400 freestyle relay Monday, when anchor Jason Lezak caught France’s Alain Bernard in the final 10 meters and out-touched him at the wall.

The most gut-churning individual race for Phelps was Saturday’s 100 butterfly victory by one-hundredth of a second.

He has without any doubt proved to be one of the greatest Olympic sportsperson. You are the Supreme Olympian

Here I would like to quote Mark Spitz once again:

“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. He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.

You did it Mike, now go have fun, enjoy that hip-hop music, texting with your buddies and wearing your cap backward
 

12 hours ago, I put my second blog on Michael Phelps winning his 6th gold and there he is my man winning his 7th Gold. With this 7th gold, Michael Phelps swam into Olympic history with a magnificent finish Saturday, his arms soaring through the water one last time to get a hand on the wall to match Mark Spitz’s performance in the 1972 Munich Games.

Michael Phelps remained on track to break an Olympic swim record — by a fingertip.

He got his hands on the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Cavic — a finish so close the Serbians filed a protest and swimming’s governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second.

Phelps’ time was 50.58 seconds, the only time in these Olympics that he won an event without breaking the world record.

Though Serbian coaches have asked for a review of the race and filed a formal, written protest. Swim officials broke down the video frame-by-frame to one ten-thousandths of a second and determined Phelps touched first.

This is what Mark Spitz had to say:

“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. He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.”

Isn’t this what I said in my earlier bog, exactly same words.

Michael Phelps celebrates after winning the men’s 100m butterfly swimming final during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Phelps said he had to take an extra half-stroke to reach the wall and admitted after that, “I thought I lost the race. But I guess that half-stroke — I mean, I’m really sort of at a loss for words.”

After seeing his name listed first on the scoreboard, Phelps yelled and did a few fist pumps, the most emotion he has shown after a win. He said he felt “relief, excitement — everything. … I had to take my goggles off first to make sure the 1 was next to my name. That’s when I sort of let out my roar.”

Cavic, actually a California native, led most of the race but took the loss gracefully.

“One one-hundreth of a second is the most difficult loss you can have, especially at the Olympics,” he said. “I did see the replays. But if you’re asking if I’m disappointed, it’s a complete miracle to me that I’m here. I retired a year and a half ago and came back to swimming thinking I was good enough to compete at this level. So I’m enjoying this.

“I wish I was the gold medalist. But I’ll take the silver medal and I’m very comfortable with this.”

Go Mike, we are waiting for the 8th one and we know you will do it. There never was and never will be a bigger sportsperson than you

One more down and two more to go, for a man who is on a mission this Olympics to bring home a record-setting eight golds, Michael Phelps notched another gold medal Friday, winning the 200-meter individual medley in a world-record time of 1:54.23.

Here is my earlier blog on Phelps ( Phelps wins 3rd gold, joins elite club record for the most gold medals over an Olympic career ), for those of you keeping track, that makes it six gold medals – and six world records – in Beijing. (Phelps also scored six golds and two bronzes four years ago, in Athens.).

Like Spitz, Phelps has set a world record in every final he’s raced in Beijing. He lowered his own world record in the 200 IM to 1 minute, 54.23 seconds to finish ahead of silver medalist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and U.S. teammate Ryan Lochte, who won bronze.

This is what Bob Bowman U.S. swimming coach had to say about his performance

“I think if it were all over today, he’d be the greatest Olympian who ever lived,” Bob Bowman.

About his 200-meter IM swim, Phelps said, “I just wanted to step on it in the first 50 [meters] a little bit and try and get out to an early lead …. I knew in the first half, if I got a big enough lead, I thought I could hang on and that’s all I wanted to do.”

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary placed second to Phelps – for the third time in Beijing. “I tried to do a harder start in the first 100 meters but Michael’s breaststroke is awesome,” Cseh said. “Michael is unbeatable.”

The bronze went to Phelps’s teammate – and friend – Ryan Lochte, who won the gold medal in 200-meter backstroke earlier in the day. (Two races in a single day is a “double” in swimmer parlance.)

He competes Saturday morning (Friday night EST) in the 100 butterfly finals. If he finishes ahead of teammate Ian Crocker in that race, he is expected to swim Sunday with the U.S. men in the 4×100 medley relay finals.

With victories in both, Phelps would eclipse Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics.

I am very confident in a day from now Phelps will win his ever eluding two more golds to be placed in the hall of fame as the best swimmer who ever walked planet Earth.

Good luck Mike, You will rise and shine, we are with you

The man has only one mission this Olympics bringing home a record-setting eight golds, Michael Phelps has already won three gold medals in Beijing, setting world records in all three events.

Phelps won 3rd gold, to join the elite club of Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina, each with nine share the record for the most gold medals over an Olympic career.

Thousands of spectators and journalists stood on their feet for minutes and applauded in every language one of the greatest moments in the history of swimming, as they held their heads in disbelief. Some commentators even went as far as saying it was the greatest sporting event of all time. Many of the journalists said it was the biggest Olympic moment since runner Michael Johnson’s record at Atlanta, no less

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