Poseidon's childhood: ADHD can't bury swimming talent.
According to Thorpe's logic, Phelps must be an out-and-out "alien", but Phelps's mother Debbie will definitely disagree with this inference. As a divorced mother, Debbie will tell you how difficult it is for her to raise her children alone. People who know Phelps' childhood will never doubt Debbie's hardships.
When Phelps was 9 years old, his father, a policeman, and his mother, a teacher, broke up and divorced. Also in that year, Phelps was finally diagnosed as "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD for short).
For Debbie, remembering that painful past is a nightmare. Kindergarten teachers often complain to her: Michael (Phelps) can't be quiet between classes; He can't sit still in class, let alone control his hands. He elbowed the other children. Or giggle loudly ... "The kindergarten teacher told me that he couldn't sit still and concentrate," Debbie recalled. "I told the teacher that maybe he was bored." But the kindergarten aunt gave Debbie no face at all. She simply announced, "He has no talent ..."
Debbie's loss and sadness can be imagined. In desperation, when Phelps was 9 years old, Debbie finally made up her mind to take her son to see her family doctor, Charles Walker. ADHD! This is the final answer given by Dr. Walker, and Phelps had to start taking medicine. During that time, his parents' marriage was desperate and he had ADHD, so it was a terrible past for Phelps. "That time was really Michael's hardest time." Debbie recalled guiltily that the rift in the family forced young children to find new shelters. "When we leave home, we don't need to hear their quarrels and shouts." Phelps' sister Whitney recalled, "It was an escape, and we could only vent more anger in the swimming pool." Whitney is five years older than Phelps. She is also a member of the American swimming team. Later, she had to leave because of injury. Like his sister, Phelps is trying to escape the misfortune of his family. He said, "I feel more at home in the water. Melting in the swimming pool, that is my own real territory. "
1 1 years old, Phelps' misfortune finally won the favor of fate. At that time, he met Phelps' current coach Bob Baumann. Bowman was a swimming coach at the North Baltimore Water Club. When he first saw Phelps "making waves" in the swimming pool, Bowman immediately surprised Phelps. Bowman said to Debbie, "He will take part in the Olympic Games in 2000, win an Olympic medal in 2004 and set a world record in 2008 ..."
Poseidon teenager: 16 years old, gradually shocking the world swimming world.
If we use an old China story as an analogy, 12 years ago, Bowman was like a Bole who knew a swift horse. But the only difference is that Bowman, who was born in Bole, is somewhat conservative. In 2000, Phelps did enter the Olympic Games. At the age of 15 that year, he became the youngest athlete in the star-studded American Olympic swimming team. In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Phelps won eight Olympic medals instead of 1, and the number of gold medals even reached an astonishing six! Bowman's prediction that Phelps "can set a world record in 2008" came true five years ahead of schedule.
As early as 200 1, Phelps set a new world record for the 200m butterfly. That year, he was only 16 years old and became the youngest world record holder on earth! If we say that the first champion of the Fukuoka World Championships seven years ago was just Phelps' small attempt, that year he set off a storm in the world swimming world: in the Pan-Pacific Championships in 2002, Phelps won the gold medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley and the 4x 100 medley relay in one fell swoop, and broke the 1 world record. At the same time, he also won the runner-up in the 200m butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay, and the world began to know an American boy named Phelps.
At the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Phelps, who was only 18 years old, broke the world record five times and reached the highest podium four times. The whole world began to exclaim that the "water monster" Phelps had finally arrived. In the history of swimming world championships, Phelps is second only to Australian swimming genius Thorpe. At the 200 1 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Australia's "flying fish" once surprisingly won six gold medals!
At that time, Phelps left Thorpe with a little gap in the number of gold medals in a single World Championship, but the American's all-around performance and his 18 age still made everyone on the earth full of expectations for him. ...
In fact, Phelps didn't keep the world waiting too long. At the Athens Olympic Games a year later, Phelps really staged a myth in Poseidon's hometown: he monopolized the Olympic Games with 6 gold and 2 copper, and began to throw Thorpe away with 2 gold 1 silver 1 copper.
Poseidon is an adult: he has never been here and may never come again.
19 years old, Phelps staged myths and legends in Greece, but the American version of Poseidon did not stop. At the Pan-Pacific Championships in 2006, Phelps won five gold medals in the men's 400m individual medley, 4x200m freestyle relay, 200m butterfly, 4xkloc-0/00m freestyle relay and 200m individual medley again, and he also broke two world records.
In the 2007 World Swimming Championships, Phelps swam out of the "inhuman" record again. At the Melbourne World Championships, "American prodigy" Phelps won seven gold medals, breaking Thorpe's record of six gold medals in a single World Championships. At that time, in the men's 4× 100 meter medley relay race, if teammate Crocker didn't make a low-level jump mistake, Phelps would have completed "unprecedented" and must be the "next" in the World Championships. The whole world was stunned.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when Phelps won the fourth gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly, he had increased his total number of Olympic gold medals to 10, thus surpassing all his predecessors and becoming the person who won the most gold medals in Olympic history! Those who are surpassed by American "prodigies" are famous in Olympic history, that is, carl lewis, the king of track and field, mark spitz, the swimming superstar, Larissa Latinina, the gymnastics queen of the former Soviet Union, and Paavo nurmi, a famous Finnish track and field athlete.
When he won the sixth individual gold medal in the Beijing Olympic Games, that is, the 200-meter medley champion, Phelps once again set another almost unparalleled record-the first swimmer to defend in three individual events in Olympic history! With the emergence of the seventh gold medal in the 100 meter butterfly Olympic Games, the whole world will change its mind quickly: Phelps is now the first swimmer to defend his title in four individual events in Olympic history! With such a "non-human" record, it is hard to imagine what chance the earth people can catch up with. !
Before the dream of eight gold medals in Beijing Olympic Games came true, the record of seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games set by his compatriot Shpits was the only goal that Phelps needed to surpass. Now, everyone is left behind by him. ...
Poseidon danced alone in the world, and the whole world envied him.
The "Water Cube" in 2008, because of the American version of "Crossing the River" by Poseidon Phelps, has already become the stage for his solo dance. As early as Phelps won the 1 gold medal in Beijing, the title of Chicago Tribune was super forward-looking. Their front page title is: "1 in hand, 7 pieces are waiting". Phelps broke the world record in the fourth gold medal final of the 200-meter butterfly at the Beijing Olympic Games, with his glasses in the middle. The editors in The New York Times were immediately excited about a good headline they could think of: "He is so fast that he can win with his eyes closed! 》。
After Phelps won the fifth gold medal, AFP's comments were the boldest. They suggested in the article: If Phelps declares independence now (1August 3), he will rank fourth in the gold medal list! German media will please Americans and host China. Their headline is "Phelps is also from China". The content is that Phelps' gold absorption speed in the Olympic Games is as strong as that of the host China!
The American Sports Illustrated once published such an interesting story, saying that Phelps usually walks empty or falls down for no reason, but he can still float when he falls asleep in the swimming pool. Janet Schina, the technical director of the American swimming team, did not deny this. He revealed that Phelps has always been the worst in the ground physical fitness test. Phelps' physiotherapist Henry Ryan immediately stressed: "The test on land has no practical significance for Michael. He can walk, and he will do whatever you ask him to do. That's enough. Land is not Michael's world, his strength is in the water. " The definition of Phelps' coach Bowman is the most straightforward. He declared: "He (Phelps) is an aquatic creature!"
Spitz, an American swimming geek, must be very self-aware. When Phelps won his sixth gold medal in Beijing, the experienced swimmer quickly announced, "It's time to give it to someone else (referring to Phelps) ..." Kosuke Kitajima, the Japanese frog king, just defended his Olympic titles in the100m and 200m breaststroke in Beijing, but after watching Phelps' competition, he immediately said, "Say!
The world has long been fascinated by the wonderful performance of Poseidon Phelps. I believe Thorpe will be glad that he threw out the so-called "alien" theory at that time, because he added: "If anyone can do it, it must be Phelps!"