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Tired of Michael Phelps Coverage
By spokesman | August 18, 2008
I’m tired of the Michael Phelps coverage at the Olympics. There is no question that Michael Phelps is a great athlete and his achievement of winning 8 gold medals at the Olympics is amazing. However there is so much media coverage focused on him that other sports and athletes are being neglected. In particular, Bob Costas is obsessed with Phelps and keeps raising the question - Is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of all time? The media focus on the number of gold medals diminishes the achievement of other Olympic athletes - both those who win a medal (gold, silver or bronze) and those who just get the opportunity to compete at the highest level of their sport. It is important to remember the following points when judging these Olympic athletes.
- Measuring greatness based on the number of gold medals is flawed. - Many other sports don’t have the same number of competitions as swimming. Road Cycling has two - a road race and a time trial. A marathoner will only enter 1 event. As a result, athletes in certain sports will have less opportunities to win medals. Pity the poor decathlon entrant - he needs to compete in 10 events just to win 1 medal. Perhaps when comparing athletes, the decathlon medal should count as 10 medals.
- Gold is good, but so are silver and bronze. Just being an Olympic athlete is a tremendous achievement. Winning any medal at the Olympics is often the defining moment of an athlete’s career and the result of a lifetime of training. Levi Leiphimer, who won the Bronze Medal in the Olympic Cycling Time Trail summed it up best in the following quote.
“You work your whole life, you sacrifice so much and you then have these fleeting moments of glory, you really have to appreciate it and take that mental photo and really save it”. I’ve worked my whole life for this. And that feeling of standing up there on the podium, it’s indescribable. It’s a lifelong dream.” - Levi Leiphimer
Levi gets it. Bob Costas does not.
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Topics: Flotsam, Professional Racing |
August 19th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Thanks for the read … The NBC commentators in particular just need to be put on ‘mute.’ I am sure if Michael Phelps was non-American, he would not be getting much coverage.
If Phelps had lost that seventh gold race by 0.01 instead of winning it by 0.01, would it have made him less great than he is? The medal obsession is crazy.
I also have access to the Korean and Mandarin Olympic channels, that not surprisingly, focus on their own respective athletes and those that are not privileged enough to have access to multiple sources, miss out on great feats by non-American athletes.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Hey Man
I am the writer of the article about Phelps; http://whatgloom.wordpress.com/; that you posted this link on.
I completely agree with Levi’s quote and I don’t mean to take anything away from any Olympian because you are right, just being there is an amazing accomplishment that required unbelievable sacrifice and dedication.
But what Michael Phelps accomplished is a once in a lifetime feat, the media would be doing a disservice to the public if it did not cover these events with absolute scrunity. Also,I don’t see any problem with Costas asking the completely logical question “is Phelps the best Olympian ever?” That question is warranted by the events.
I understand your inherent Phelps fatigue and you are right that not all sports have as many events, but we live in a world were champions are lauded and the greatest Olympic performance in modern memory deserves the praise he is receiving.
The mentality that everybody is great because they are here may work for little league, but this is the pinnacle of athletics and to ignore somebody doing something that has never been done is wrong. The idea that we should respect all these athletes is correct, but if one athlete rises above the rest, how can one not take notice and how can the media not cover the story?
September 7th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
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