INSIDE THE OLYMPICS - SWIMMING
Born to swim
Michael Phelps has the body and the attitude to be the best ever.
By SHARON GINN, Times Correspondent
Published August 14, 2004
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MICHAEL PHELPS will attempt to tie or surpass Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals, set during the 1972 Games. The 400 IM is Phelps’ first event. Here’s the rest of his schedule (finals only):
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Sunday: 4x100 free relay
Monday: 200 free
Tuesday: 200 fly, 4x200 free relay
Thursday: 200 IM
Friday: 100 fly
Aug. 21: 4x100 medley relay |
WATCH PHELPS SWIM
What: Men’s 400 IM.
When: Today – heats, 3 a.m.; final, 12:30 p.m.
TV: Ch. 8 noon-6 and 8 p.m.-midnight slots. |
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Born to swim
Michael Phelps has the body and the attitude to be the best ever
He has the long, lean lines of a natural swimmer, and the casual swagger of a 19-year-old who knows no fear. Michael Phelps doesn't have to be in the water to look like a champion.
Then he actually starts swimming, and when the race really matters, another record falls. Phelps makes it look almost effortless.
Most assuredly, it isn't.
Phelps might well be the world's greatest swimmer, but it is a distinction he has earned. How to tell? Take a look at his signature event, the 400-meter individual medley. It is arguably the hardest race to master. And there has been no one better. No one even close.
It might not be as grueling as, say, the 1,500 freestyle, but the 400 IM is considered by many to be the most difficult race. Individual medley swimmers -- or IMers as they are known -- must be proficient in all four strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle). And it is tougher to compete in the 400 IM than the 200 IM, because 400 meters is considered more of an endurance distance.
"There's a lot of sacrifice that's involved in the IM," said NBC swimming analyst and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines. "It takes a lot more time. You have to work smarter, you have to work longer, you have to work harder. You can't do one without the others. They intertwine so much together that an IMer is a different breed for sure."
Great 400 IM swimmers spend a lot of time perfecting technique in each of the four strokes. They must spend enough time shifting from one stroke to the next so the transitions become automatic and mistake-free. They must train enough so their bodies can swim not just fast but correctly, for well over four minutes.
Few understand the requirements as much as Rick Curl. Curl coached Tom Dolan, who held the 400 IM world record for eight years and won Olympic gold in 1996 and 2000.
Dolan lowered his world record at the 2000 Olympics to 4 minutes, 11.76 seconds, a time that seemed rather astonishing four years ago, and not just because of Dolan's grit in working through his struggles with asthma.
And Phelps? He surpassed Dolan's mark two years ago at 17. At the Olympic Trials, he brought it down to 4:08.41.
"I read the other day that (Phelps has) had 10 days off the last four years," Curl said. "The guy is clearly out training everybody else. It's no wonder he's the best athlete in the world."
Like Phelps, Dolan was well known for his work ethic and fighting spirit.
But, Gaines said, Phelps is more physically gifted.
"Michael's turns are a lot more explosive," Gaines said. "He's a lot stronger off the wall. And I think he covers more water with each stroke that he takes. His distance per stroke is better than Tom's, which is hard to believe, because Tom was 6-6. He's just more efficient in the water."
The key is in what Gaines calls Phelps' "magic hands."
"His hands are so efficient and so fascinating once they enter the water," Gaines said. "He catches no air bubbles whatsoever. He's like a butter knife. He creates no turbulence in front of him -- he catches the water and swims through clean water. His opponents end up fighting his chop and their own chop in front of them."
In swimming all four strokes, Phelps is unmatched; he has crushed the world records in both IM events. But he also ranks as perhaps the world's best butterflier (depending on the distance) and among the top three in the freestyle and backstroke at the 200-meter distance.
The only event where Dolan was clearly better is breaststroke. But, Curl said, the secret to the IM is to train your worst stroke the hardest, and that's what Phelps has done.
"Usually, the best IMers are great breaststrokers," Gaines said. "That's what's so unusual about Michael ... although his weakness is debatable. It's his weakest stroke, yes, but he could probably final at the Olympic Trials in the 200 breast.
"The scary thing is, he's not even reached his peak. That's the sad part of it. He's only 19 years old. We've never had a kid do anything like this in history."
[Last modified August 13, 2004, 23:23:25]
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