| Michael Phelps: Born Special |
Tanvir Khan
If Michael Phelps were a country, he would be standing tenth in the medals tally at the Beijing Olympics 2008; 40 above India. With eight gold medals in as many events, it seems there is no real competition to the Baltimore Bullet. Smashing seven world records in the eight races he participated in, the Aqua Gladiator stamped his legacy at the Olympics.
Mark Spitz, whose record of seven gold medals at a single Games Phelps broke, said, “It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he`s maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He`s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.”
There were unsupported rumours that Phelps’ exploits at the Games were ‘too good to be true’, indirectly hinting towards the intake of performance enhancing drugs. Michael, however, had a very polite way of answering the media. He noted that he had signed up for Project Believe, a project by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in which US Olympians can volunteer to be tested in excess of the World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines. He was tested nine times in Beijing. He cleared them all to leave the big mouths wondering. Now, all of us have been wandering with our mouths wide open that, Is this man miraculous or is he miraculous… We have no option but to accept that he is indeed the greatest Olympian ever, or if we go by Mark Spitz, the greatest athlete ever. Let’s see what differentiates Michael ‘Great’ Phelps from his opposite numbers.
His physical assets are custom made for swimming; he has paddle-like hands, no body fat, possesses nuclear calves and is uniquely flexible. Even his heart is something of an enigma and the pressure that his body can take due to the better cardio functioning is beyond even the fittest of athletes.
Generally, the wing span of humans is equal to their height. But since Michael Phelps does not fall in the general category, his wing span is 3 inches more than his height. This makes his hands like act like a paddle and provides perfect levers for him to pull himself through the water. With such large hands, his size 14 feet only provides him with all the equipments to swim super fast. His huge feet provide the effect of flippers and his ankles, which are hypermobile (double jointedness), enable him to lash like a dolphin’s fins for maximum thrust inside the pool.
We have to agree that all swimmers look more or less the same with their swimming gears on. However, it’s a close analysis that will leave many gasping for breath. If we tried to guess the height of the greatest Olympian ever just by looking at his legs, we would fall well short of his actual 6 ft 4 in. Switch your gaze to his freakishly long torso and you would say he is somewhere around 6 ft 9 in. This disproportion gives Phelps an edge over his opponents. The logic is that, in swimming, the legs drag through the water with the torso doing the main task. Phelps’ anomalously long upper body and shorter legs reduce this drag for maximum motion forward.
The recovery time of the American Shark after a race is also mind boggling. He can be ready for the next race in half the time as compared to his competitors- the reason being the lesser lactic acid production in his body. Let’s make it simpler with an example. In the gym, our joints tire after a few repetitions and the body needs some rest before it can be ready for the next set of exercise. Now if we would need a 10 minute break, for example, Phelps would be ready for the next set in say, 2 minutes. His body can replenish him faster than any other professional swimmer. The lactic acid build up is extremely low and he is the only known swimmer to have had a 5.6 oxygen starvation level after a race!
His amazing feats in the pool are a result of not just intensive training; he pushes himself to the edge. One major factor that sets him apart is his swimming style; he keeps his head down and doesn’t lift it at all while he is in the race. His head stays down even when he is approaching a turn or finish or even while inhaling!
This Amphibian has no fixed diet charts. He says that he does only three things in life- swim, eat and sleep. He knows nothing else and doesn’t even want to. After a swimming session or probably a race, one can generally see what Phelps had for breakfast! That’s how low the fat content in his body is. Even though the American consumes 12,000 calories a day (approx 6 times that of a normal adult male, including fat rich dishes like pasta), the body fat is just about 4%. That is because he burns all the calories in the pool. He swims 16-18 kilometres everyday as a part of his practise sessions. The low fat content improves the power-to-weight ratio which enables him to convert his efforts into sheer speed.
Summing it up, this does not mean that the other swimmers are not up to international standards. It is just that Phelps is ‘above’ the international yardstick. Every athlete at this level is remarkable but the slightest of difference in the body structure can give anyone a ‘natural’ edge over others.
It is apt to say that God’s bounty is equal for all mortals to share but it is the ‘Hero’ who immortalizes himself by utilizing the bounty to the fullest using his grit and determination.
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