Swimming champ Michael Phelps has lost his first race since 2005. Let’s just say he’s forgotten how to suffer defeat with grace.
German swimmer Paul Biedermann beat him in the 200-meter freestyle yesterday, and before the two competitors had a chance to dry off, the coaches started battling over the results.
Mainly, the issue is that Biedermann wore a new kind of (perfectly legal) polyurethane swimsuit that Phelps’s coach Bob Bowman thinks should be banned.
“The (polyurethane) suits make you go out with … much less energy cost, so at the end you have a punch,” the coach said. “Michael had to work so hard to stay with him for 150, then it’s just not there at the end. That’s what the suits do. The energy cost is reduced going out, so you finish a lot better.”
Phelps sure looked out of place on the medal podium.
After bending over to accept a medal he wanted no part of, then listening to another swimmer’s national anthem, Phelps tried to make his getaway.
Bowman’s also threatened to pull Phelps from all future races unless the suits are outlawed immediately.
You might be wondering why Phelps doesn’t just wear a polyurethane swimsuit of his own. It’s because he’s paid a bundle to endorse Speedo, which doesn’t make them. Instead he wears the Speedo LZR, a suit that generated its own controversy when it was released last year for the competitive edge it gave him. Some coaches in the sport called for its banning. Phelps and Bowman gave them the proverbial finger.
Which is exactly what Biedermann should be doing now. Or, rather two of them. As in: “Being No. 2 stinks, doesn’t it?”
Related posts:
- Biggest Loser Trainer Jillian Michaels Hawks Diet Pills There are few things that get my goat worse than...
- Michael Lohan Never Knows When to Stop Talking I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Shut...
- Jon Gosselin and Michael Lohan Are BFFs 4EVA Bad news, everyone: The Gosselin divorce just got pulled into...
- Michael Bay Takes the High Road With a Pantload The crew that worked on the set of Transformers: Revenge...
- PETA Wants A Piece Of Michael Jackson Everyone is still abuzz about Michael Jackson’s death and finding...
It’s all fun and games ’til someeonee loses a Speedo.
Sounds like the coach is a loser and Phelps is taking the cues from him. BTW, did anyone see the peep show Phelps teammate gave the crowd after his own suit came apart in the back. Made watching swimming that much more entertaining.
AAW, the “ICK” factor come into play on this one. Dude got pounded with the “ugly forest”.
I can’t read item because I keep looking at those ginormous feet.
Ln, those are paddles.
I can’t point to any one thing that gave me this impression, but I keep thinking Phelps is really rather a d*ck. Apparently his coach is too.
You know what they say about big feet. Big… shoes.
If there was a sport I couldn’t possibly care less about it would be swimming. And this whiny mongoloid isn’t helping.
Why do I think of this guy every time I see Michael Phelps?
http://rachelmaude.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sloth-goonies.jpg
I have a daughter who swims- we have met Phelps and Bowman a few times now – all before the Olympics. Bob can be a bit of a dick but Michael has always been nice. Very self deprecating.
Of Beidermann’s swim Michael said… “I was beaten by the swimmer,he took it to it to a different level with that swim. He split that race pretty much perfectly. He closed really, really well and had the better race tonight. He’s had two great swims, and he’s having a great meet.”
(Michael set a record in the 200 fly today by the way.)
As for the suits – The Genie is out of the bottle. We were just at a meet where there were a lot of young swimmers (14yrs and under) wearing some pretty expensive swim suits – relay teams were all in lazers. For the record my daughter is in a Speedo sponsored club and wears a Fastskin Pro knee suit for certain events/meets. We have talked about how it is not the suit but what is in it – she knows that but has said she feels especially fast in her knee suits.
For a true sore loser: LeBron James
Prima Donnas, as long as they win they are happy and content, but a true measure of a sportsman comes when he loses. Guess we know where they stand now.
As a former swimmer who has kept up on the recent news I have to say I don’t see Phelps as a sore loser, Bowman is.
FINA has already sought to ban the all polyurethane suits but the ban does not go into effect until 2010. While FINA has said records set right now will stand, who would want to be “that guy”? I wouldn’t want to hold a world record with an asterisk next to my name.
“All those suits are on the way out, to be banned by the sport’s governing body starting in 2010″
Does that mean Phelps will also be losing his trunks? Metaphorically speaking, of course.
There’s something to be said for a high-tech suit, especially since many swim races are won or lost in under less than a second. Although I don’t consider Phelps a sore loser, I do consider his coach one. The coach wants to pull Phelps from the sport until the problem is fixed: http://www.newsy.com/videos/suited_up_for_controversy
They should all swim naked. Problem solved.
And I’m with Hurricanes.
ANY athlete is going to use whatever legal equipment he/she can afford or be given to improve his/her performance. Not going to touch on the illegal things, I’m just talking about what is allowed here. So far as the suits are allowed there is nothing no one can do to stop the use of them.
I do think its wrong that they are going to allow the new records to stand….it isn’t fair to present competitors nor to future ones.
Rocko, don’t get your hopes up about the naked swimming. Certain…appendages would create too much drag.
I am too lazy to look it up, but I believe that Speedo said that its sponsored swimmers could wear the new suits in the World Games as they had not released an equivalent. However, I may be mixing this up with a similar stance at the Olympics (regarding the LZR and a competing suit said to be better). Regardless, one could argue that the records set with “fast suits” are less valid than when swimmers all wore the same type/style of swimwear. Swim caps and shaving all body hair has only become a technique within the last few decades. I would love to know how Mark Spitz and other past greats would have done with the advantages available now. That might answer how much is from the suit and how much is from the swimmer.
On the records being allowed to stand: Considering that medal standings from the Cold War era have been allowed to stand, despite athletes and coaches admitting they doped (hello, Eastern Bloc), is anyone really surprised that these results are being let alone? I actually believe that Paul Biedermann could have beaten Phelps, but some of the record-breaking swimmers are less credible, especially when one looks at their times without the suits and in the recent past.
Don’t be too sure about drag. The water could bee cold.
McMom – some of us have drag greater then others
I agree, AllyKat. Cheating is cheating no matter how its done. I think they are overlooking it because they (the sports’ governing ruling body) simply does not want to deal with it. So just slap a cutoff date on it and let it hang there.
There was also the point that at last years’ Olympics the pool had an influence, it made the swimming speeds faster to a certain degree. Something to do with how the water baffle thingies that separated the lanes making the water more calmer, and how the water was recycled back into the pool, too.
Naked swimming…it’d depend on who was doing it. Some danglies I don’t think we’d want to see…LOL
We’ll see what Phelps is made of now. If he is a true Athlete, competitor and champion, this loss will only make him strive harder to win.
I think the coach is the screwball.
Starting about 20 years ago, the sport of triathlon allowed the use of wet suits, or partial-length suits. They were thicker than these Lazers et.al., but the primary purpose was for temperature control. Some of these lake swims were early in the year, and swimming a mile in 65 degree water would make you one fast swimmer, if you didn’t freeze first. When the water temps got above a certain temp, the various rule books disallowed them, and that’s pretty much the practice now. I eventually bought a half-suit, and I timed the difference in the pool — at least 5 seconds faster every 100 meters, which is quite an immediate improvement, especially if you’re swimming 1/2 mile or further. I bought it because I got tired of being behind people for reasons other than they were naturally faster than me.
I would have preferred that no wet suits were allowed.
In general, I think these kind of athletic events (swimming, track) should be who’s the fastest, and not who is the fastest with extra speed-enhancing equipment.
The only reason supersuits were allowed for in-pool competition was to “make swimming more exciting” by creating faster times. Someone in some governing body decided swimming needed a boost – I guess to increase revenue by increasing the number of spectators? Why else? Without the new suits the swimmers would still improve and make new records, or at least get new personal bests, until their age caught up with them. I don’t think the swimmers were behind this. What “real” glory is there in beating someone who is normally close to being your equal in time, when all you did was wear a different suit? And so what if a record hasn’t been broken in 2 years ?
I think the same rational was used to change the rules for backstroke turns and breaststroke several years ago — to lower times. At least that didn’t involve non-natural equipment. I’ve really loved swimming competitively since 1969, but if people don’t have a yearning to watch swimming, then speeding everyone up a notch isn’t the solution, because as soon as everyone starts wearing the same suit, the playing field will be level again. You want more spectators (= more income!!) ? Make the traditional suits transparent. Or release a gator at the appropriate moment. Other than that, I’ll admit it’s hard to get excited about swimming unless you’re competing, or used to. What I like about it is it’s a team sport, but totally up to the individual – and who is fastest – period. No judging to speak of.
The only suits allowed, especially in pool competition, should be the traditional racing suit – the thing the size of fruit-o-the-loom underwear. Of course, women also have to wear something above the waist, so they’ve been wearing some kind of a full suit forever — just not ones made of super-material.
That sounds to me to be the only fair way to determine who is really the fastest. Same as running in a race. Doesn’t matter how much your shoes cost, if you are a slower runner, its because you ARE slower.
Brrrr..with the water that cold I’d never make it as a triathlon athlete….lol
Dude, you release a gator into the pool, and even I could set a new record.