Olympics in London

In 2008 the world witnessed a phenom named Michael Phelps.

Poolside

The Bullet as he is referred to, captured an astounding, and by the way record breaking, eight gold medals in Beijing adding to the six gold and two bronze from the Athens Games. He has the cool, calm, laser-like focus of a surgeon as his sinewy body, chiseled in water and built on determination, hydroplanes through his aquatic domain and ricochets off each end while his decimated competition merely swims and touches. This is his world and nobody in history ever ruled it more thoroughly and absolutely than Michael Fred Phelps.

While Phelps reveled in his post Olympic celebrity he also stated that he had seen it all and done it all so his legacy would stand on its own merits. What left was there to be accomplished when you are the most decorated gold medalist in the history of the Modern Era? However there was that one thing. Yes, Phelps still needed two more medals to capture the title for most overall medals which has been held by a Soviet gymnast named Larisa Latynina who has had a stranglehold on the record since the 1960's.

Would the allure of breaking that record and getting one more opportunity to stand triumphant in front of the world be enough to coax him back into the pool and ultimately back on to the podium? You bet it was and Phelps splashed his way into the final heat of the men's 400 meter individual medley. However this 27-year-old version was not the same merman who blazed his way to glory and vanquished both the competition and the record books in Beijing. Alas, Poseidon was no longer ruling the waters and rewriting history, it was in fact a very mortal Michael Phelps who touched the wall a staggering four seconds after his teammate and newly minted gold medal winner Ryan Lochte. Fourth place finishers don't get medals and Phelps found that out the hard way as he looked stupefied fielding questions immediately after his disappointing finish.

But a medal was in Phelps's immediate future as he swam the second leg of the men's 4X100 freestyle relay and wound up with his first ever silver medal. It doesn't have the cache of a gold but it does lift his overall medal tally to 17, one shy of the record. Before the 2012 London Games are through, Phelps is likely to shatter the almost 50 year-old mark and officially become the most dominant athlete the Games have ever witnessed. So rather than compare his present day mortality with the heroics of his glorious past, let's not forget that Michael Phelps has dedicated a lifetime to honing his craft and thrilling the world as the most dominant swimmer in history. So when the Star Spangled Banner blares and Phelps stands tall with his 18^th medal dangling from around his neck remember that his accomplishments are his own but his pride as an American is something we can all share.

Change the Rule 

If you are old enough to read this then you certainly remember when trophies were only held by those who earned them. But if you have had children within the last dozen years or so who participate in organized sports then you know that every kid gets a trophy just for showing up at the end of the year. Sounds to me like the administrators of kids sports are mimicking our own government where everybody gets a piece even if they don't work at it.

The same could be said of Major League Baseball where every team has to have at least one representative even if that player is unworthy of a roster spot. At least I can see the business angle in that decision, placating the traditionally smaller market teams who cannot afford to pay the high priced superstars yet giving them a chance to bask in the All-Star glow right along with the greatest names in the game. It's a showcase for Major League Baseball and they not only want every team represented but they also want them making money on the merchandising which ultimately flows from an All-Star berth.

But the Olympics are not Little League Baseball nor are they a professional sports league. The Olympics are about the best athletes in the world competing against each other regardless from which country they hail. They don't give a sportsmanship award to Azerbaijan because their athletes didn't win any medals nor do they play the national anthem of Botswana because they tried really, really hard.

And so it goes that a rule is in place that no country can have more than two athletes in the women's gymnastics all-around final. Before 2004 it was a three per country rule which is only a little less absurd than the two per country rule. Jordyn Wieber, the reigning world champion, will not be going to the finals because her teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas locked up the two coveted spots by beating her by the thinnest of margins. The scoreboard said Jordyn Wieber had the 4^th best score in the preliminaries while Anastasia Grishina of Russia was 12^th, Jennifer Pinches of Great Britain 21^st and Yao Jinnan of China 22^nd. But none of these talented women will be in the final twenty four because of a rule that is both absurd and arrogant.

Does it make any sense whatsoever to deny an athlete what she has rightfully earned through years and years of dedication, devotion and training simply because her country does this one thing better than most? It's outrageous and it's wrong. If twenty four Chinese gymnasts placed higher than any of their competitors, including the Americans, then the world should see an all-around final that will be assured of having three of the best gymnasts in the world all wearing medals and who all happen to be Chinese.

But this year we will not be seeing all of the best female gymnasts in the world compete but only a portion because four young women were robbed of an opportunity by an Olympic Committee who is more concerned about being politically correct than being fair. Shameful.