From the Wall Street Journal, “Now Phelps Chases Gold on Land” by Christopher Rhoads According to this story, Michael Phelps’ haul of eight gold medals may be worth nine figures. Given the physical torment and mental ennui involved with swimming great lengths, the kid has earned every penny he makes:
Just prior to the Olympics, I had a piece in the magazine that documented some of the moral abominations associated with the grandiosely titled Olympic Movement. Because of space constraints, I didn’t have room to get into how stupid such non-sports like synchronized diving and curling are. (Regarding curling, I think the Summer Games should have shuffleboard as its equivalent. If I were running the US Olympic Committee, I would insist that the American Shuffleboard team be composed exclusively of retirees based in Delray Beach, Florida.) Anyway, in spite of my hostility towards the games, Phelps’ greatness was fun to watch. And yes, I watched. While we’re on the subject of the Olympics, is there any cosmic difference between winning an Olympic silver medal and an Olympic bronze medal? Let’s say you went to work for a company and the guy two cubicles over had won an Olympic bronze medal, That’s a great achievement; would you be any less impressed than if he had won the silver? I doubt it. One last Olympic related deep thought – has there ever been a more perversely entertaining expert commentator than Bela Karolyi? His presence almost makes the gymnastics events tolerable. I said almost.
