Phelps & Bolt make it a great weekend in China
Wow…what a weekend… Michael Phelps breaks the Olympic record held previously by Mark Spitz and now has 8 gold medals from 8 events. The fact that he shattered 7 world records is something of a footnote but the manner of his win in the butterfly will go down in history as a defining moment if you admire champions.
I have absolutely no idea how he managed to pull that win off in the butterfly but the length of a fingernail was the difference between history being created and history being matched. Such are the fine lines in sport… and in life. One of my favorite quotes of all times is “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success” and that last stroke that Phelps made is the greatest example of why you should never ever give up no matter what happens.
And then we had the men’s 100M… and all I can say is “Wow” again. Just study this picture:
Anyone would think this was a much longer race but it wasn’t… it was the 100M and Usain Bolt literally destroyed the field with a new world record time of 9.69 seconds. One can only imagine what time he would have set if he hadn’t eased up at the 80 meter mark! One of the truly outstanding performances of all time.
