katie rocks

I know the majority of people may not share my enthusiasm, but I for one am super excited the Olympics have finally arrived. I love seeing the world's best compete, and I especially love the swimming portions. I guess it's because I was basically raised in a pool, but there is something about that sport that gets me going every time. Needless to say, I have been waiting with baited breath to finally see what Michael Phelps can do with all of the swimming world watching, and while swimming agains a phantom (i.e Spitz' 7 gold medals). No matter how amazing this 19 year old KID from Baltimore swims, it is true, that most people will think he's a failure if he doesn't capture all 8 medals. Most people seem to forget that there is a reason it's been 30-something years since Mark Spitz was able to do that; because it's a really REALLY hard thing to do. I also think that it's interesting to note, that Spitz swam in the Olympics 4 years before his spectacular showing, he showed up, talked a lot of shit, and didn't medal once. It was only after 4 more years of training, and some major pride swallowing that he was able to come back and turn the swimming world upside down. So perhaps Michael will have a similar experience. Though no one could possibly call this kid arrogent, maybe this will be his time to get his feet wet so in 4 years he can come back and rock out even more. After all, the average age of the mens Olympic swimming team is 23; the same age Phelps will be in the 2008 Olympics. Personally, I can't wait.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm certainly not counting Michael out now. He is going up against Ian Thorpe later today and I think it will certainly go down as one of the greatest match-ups in all of sports history. One swimmer put it like this,
“It will be the race of the century,” said Bertrand Bristol, a little-known swimmer from the Seychelle Islands.
Now, maybe it's just me, but seeing as how it's only 2004, doesn't it seem like that just might be the understatement of the century??