Is Michael Phelps a Cry Baby?

P

Padre

Milforum Chaplain
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article6732613.ece

I'm a purist when it comes to sport and I think athletes and sportsmen should achieve wins in their sport on natural ability and merits without performance enhancements - especially illegal ones.

In that regard I agree with Michael Phelp's (USA) protest at the new bodysuit being worn at the current World Championships in Rome by some swimmers who admit that it is the suit that is allowing them to break world records, including Phelp's 200m record broken by Paul Biedermann (Germany) who wore a new full body swimsuit that Fina will ban next year but not this year. So I appreciate the Phelp's protest and the bizzare contradiction by FINA is saying something is illegal in 2010 but not in 2009??? - weird!!!

However I also think that there is a case of Phelp's doth protest too much in that he achieved his swim records wearing performance enhancing leggings that were not available to swimmers in the 1980's or 1930's for that matter. Indeed today, athletes have footwear, dietary suppliments, etc that enhance their performance at Olympics, etc that Olympians did not have decades or centuries ago and so it makes it hard to compare true physical ability and performance between the generations.

I just wonder if Phelp's is being a little bit of a spoil sport in that PE clothing beat him in the 200m swim and beat his record, and he's crying foul and threatening a boycott of the remainder of the WC, but didn't he have his performance enhanced by special swim leggings which didn't but could have brought protests from the swimmers who simply wore the traditional speedo's. :-|
 
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I have to agree as well.... It's not like a performance enhancing body suit is going to go unnoticed, and to take the higher road and lose gracefully is supposed to be an attribute of all the "greats."


And before anyone comments on the ability of a suit to dramatically alter performance...


The man knocked six whole seconds off his 200 free by switching to that suit.... No one gets THAT much better in one year. NO ONE.
 
*chuckle* I wouldn't be surprised. I agree, to an extent. I think speedos are just about the only way to show the athletes true ability. Those leggings and body suits aren't the swimmer.
 
I agree with Henderson... Sky might like a return to the Olympics being held in the nude but I for one will not be tuning in to watch Greco-Roman wrestling if they lose the singlets.:sick:
 
In all honesty Chief... 6 seconds off a time is NOT just an increased workout regimen. OBVIOUSLY the suit helped the swimmer, as the officials are BANNING the suit next season... Crybaby is a bit much... But he SHOULD tone it down a bit... He's making a donkey out of himself.


bulldogg said:
I agree with Henderson... Sky might like a return to the Olympics being held in the nude but I for one will not be tuning in to watch Greco-Roman wrestling if they lose the singlets.:sick:
Click to expand...


*shivers*
 
nun_ruler.jpg


sorry to interrupt, but can we focus on the morality of performance enhancement gear and not what's in them!

Next thing you know someone will be posting something about dissolving bikini's.
 
Padre said:
sorry to interrupt, but can we focus on the morality of performance enhancement gear and not what's in them!

Next thing you know someone will be posting something about dissolving bikini's.
Click to expand...


Ok...will do padre!!!....I sort'of got carried away, hehehehehe....:mrgreen:
 
It’s getting ridiculous

Swimming sinks into farce

Friday, July 31, 2009 - 12:53 PM
Source: BigPond Sport

For those fans who are yet to be convinced that the current fast-suits, being worn by most swimmers at the World Swimming Championships in Rome, are damaging the integrity of the sport and turning the event into a total farce, we present the argument for condemnation of FINA; a whopping 29 world records broken in five days.
This ridiculous number of world records can not be justified by simply arguing that everyone is wearing the suits, so the competition remains fair.
Michael Phelps is not wearing one. He is arguably the greatest swimmer the world has seen and he's getting beat.
Not that we want to get into this debate, because no-one wants to devalue Paul Biedermann's efforts nor those of the other world champions.
However you can't help but feel that any individual 'legitimate' world record breaking swim will now be devalued as solely a product of the suits rather than the athlete's efforts.
The more damning evidence lies in the almost instant removal of the level playing field that allows the only viable comparison between past and present.
Swimming is a sport that values competing against history and a world record is something to truly be admired, so it's not good enough to say new technology must be embraced, when it makes a mockery of swimming's heritage.
The technological improvement to suits are doing nothing but lowering times and credibility. They do not add to the spectacle at all.
The suits will be banned after the World Swimming Championships, but this is a no win situation that should never have eventuated; either the records will stand making future competition against the times set in Rome a near impossibility or they will be scrubbed, condemning the event itself to notoriety and insignificance.
World records broken during first five days of Roma 09
Men:
200m Freestyle - Paul Biedermann 1:42.00
400m Freestyle - Paul Biedermann 3:40.07
800m Freestyle - Lin Zhang 7:32.12
50m Breaststroke - Cameron Van Der Burgh 26.74 (SF)
- Cameron Van Der Burgh 26.67 (F)
100m Breaststroke - Brenton Rickard 58.58
200m Butterfly - Michael Phelps 1:51.51
200m Breaststroke - Christian Sprenger 2:07.31 (SF)
100m Freestyle - Cesar Cielo Filho 46.91
200m IM - Ryan Lochte 1:54.10

Women:
100m Freestyle - Britta Steffen 52.22
200m Freestyle - Federica Pellegrini 1:53.67 (SF)
- Federica Pellegrini 1:52.98 (F)
400m Freestyle - Federica Pellegrini 3:59.15
50m Backstroke - Daniela Samulski 27.39 (SF)
- Anastasia Zueva 27.38 (F)
100m Backstroke - Anastasia Zueva 58.48 (SF)
- Gemma Spofforth 58.12 (F)
100m Breaststroke - Rebecca Soni 1:04.84
100m Butterfly - Sarah Sjostrom 56.44 (SF)
- Sarah Sjostrom 56.06 (F)
200m Butterfly - Mary Descenza 2:04.14 (SF)
- Jessicah Schipper 2:03.41 (F)
200m IM - Ariana Kukors 2:07.03 (SF)
- Ariana Kukors 2:06.15 (F)
4 x 100m Freestyle - Netherlands 3:31.72
4 x 200m Freestyle - China 7:42.08
200m Breaststroke - Annamay Pierse 2:20.12 (SF)
50m Backstroke - Zhao Jing 27.06
http://www.bigpondsport.com/news/ta...pinion-swimming-sinks-into-farce/default.aspx
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA i didnt mean it that way :p but i'm glad you like my idea ;)

@ padre, we are born naked , i dont think the good lord has something against naked people :p

thats one of my other motto's: i was born naked, i'll die naked! :p
 
Sour grapes ... level the field ....

Darn it ...
There is a very simple answer to this dilemma ... every swimmer wears the suit and the field is leveled again. Who cares how the records are broken ... the reality of the matter will be the fact that the record WAS broken on a level field.

So much for Phelps crybaby commentaries ... it was so much sour grapes - he was just po'd that he was beat and wasn't wearing one of those "winner' suits himself.
 
Because if he'd been wearing one of those suits, he probably wouldn't have lost the race... I didn't see Biedermann winning 8 gold medals at the Olympics..... It's not fair and you know it.


Now, on the subject of the suits themselves.... Anything short (or long) of a speedo is almost cheating in my book... It's not your swimming that's making you faster, it's your suit... That's not what swimming is. ESPECIALLY not at that level.
 
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