Seems like the the Beijing Olympics bug has indeed bitten me hard.First it was Abhinav Bindra that stunned the 1 biliion(now even more) strong nation,and now to stun the whole world is this 6 feet 4 inches man,with an arms span of 6ft 7 inches,a man with a hunger of that of a monster,is none other than Michael Phelps. With the Beijing Olympics running up, this man creates the legend of being the most successful olympian on earth with a total of 11 Gold medals in his kitty and maybe more in the recent times to come because there are still 3 more events that are due for his participation. Truly,Michael Phelps is the man of the moment.Close two him is Mark Spitz,with 9 Gold medals,but he his History and the last he participated was in Munich in 1972,while Michael has many more years to go,his age being only 23 yrs at the moment.
If you google a little you shall get the list of all his wins. Surely this man swims like a butterfly in the water. but whats more interesting apar from his grand success at the Olympics is his past,which is something I would like to share with you all.
Born oon June 30,1985 ,eveerything was said to be abnormal about this wonder kid,for which he did really have a very tough childhood.At the time of his birth he was 9 pounds,6 ounces and 223 inches. Almost one and a half times the normal kids.Michael was a freak since his childhood and demonstrated tremendous physical attributes while equally dull in academics. his teachers used to hate him.He was even taken to psychiatrist for a check up and he was diagnosed with ADHD(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).His teachers complained he could not sit still,focus nor do well in academics and was always with Bs,Cs and Ds. he was also medicated with Ritalin, a drug to treat hyperactivity. He was 9 then. If that was not all, he grew like crazy with abnormal height and shape,with big arms and big ears. Surely, this seemes like a situation in the movie X-Men, where people were mutated to abnormality which was also actually their very strength,wait even more than that their super power.He was bullied by his friends in the school bus for this,and when he hit back and whacked one,he was suspended for a week from the school bus. His mother indeed had a tough time,and at that time she was enrolled in a course,was on the verge of divorce and had an abnormal kid.Wow, seriously, life is indeed stranger than fiction and of course even more thrilling.
But by 9, Michael was exposed to swimming,his sister almost made it to the swimming US national team but due to an injury she could not make it finally.Thus at 10,his swimming career started and he was already a national champion by then. Alot has to be contributed to his coach,Bob Bowman, who happens to still be his coach, who talked with his family and convinced them of Michael's super abilities.
Bby 15 he was at the Olympics,at 16 he had his first world record,and by 19,at the 2004 Olympics he had had his 8 medals,6 of them gold.
Michael once considered deformities prove to be his golden goose,his platform for success and his USP. LEt us have a more closer look at it:
THE MUTATED X-MAN:
Physical attributes:
6ft 4 inches tall
arms span:6ft 7 inches
His disproportionately long torso allows him to generate force from the body's core.Can shunt great volumes of water behind him,which allows him to save energy by using fewer strokes than others.
His amazing stamina is due to his unique physiological attributes. Under aerobic strain,he produces far less lactic acid than other atheletes. This acid,together with other metabolic products,interferes with a muscle contraction and leads into fatque.
After he set the 100m butterfly world record in 2003, Michael's blood lactate level was an absurdly low 5.6 millimoles/litre of blood,half or 1/3rd that of other top swimmers. He can also tolerate high levels of blood lactate and swim at full pace on levels that would make other athelets crawl.
Mental attributes:
Michael's mind is like a clock. He can go into the 200m butterfly knowing he needs to do first 50m in 24.6 to break the record and can put that time in his head and make his body do that 24.6 exactly.
Truly Michael is exceptional. And this characteristics of his has given him enough trouble in his childhood. Never the less due to his mother's love and his coaches guidance, he finally was able to chanellize his strength and achieve the victory which can only go on to make him a legend. In this days of nuclear weapon and automated weapons,it seems man's truest physcial and mental valour has been left in the sport's arena to be shown and indeed, Michael has shown what he is capable of.
His success also serves a lesson for all we normal homo sapians, that do not make fun of others, do not taunt and describe others absurdity as in a negative way. Especially the teachers,who ought to help the students in a certain way but instead they go after him like a witch who can only spit evil. these morons of the society need pay heed and look up to this man. So before you point your finger at some abnormal person that you think he might be, just remember he could be a mutated X-Man, and beware,for the day he unleashes his energy or his wrath,for the next would be a day in history either for the reasons of the holy or maybe evil.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
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2 comments:
Phelps has been an inspiration to many and his childhood reminds us of Einstein who too was shunned by all but became the greatest physicist of all times :)
Agreed Pankaj, never the less,this shunning business by the world tends to put us through an ordeal that can very much be called as life's way of taking test, most of the time people fall when this very world tends to knock you down,but those who stand the test of time and despite these knocks tend to move ahead,do one day become,Eienstein and Michael Phelps,indeed great and unique in their respective field,and give the world an achievement never matched by any and which shall(or maybe) never in the future
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