Move Over Mark Spitz

WASHINGTON, DC (Inside Catholic) - I don't eagerly await the Olympics, but once they begin, I enjoy tuning in. The talent and abilities of so many people around the world are simply amazing. You even get to see muscle groups that you forgot human beings have.

The past few evenings, while vegging in front of the television and nursing a bad cold, I watched Baltimore's Michael Phelps win gold in every race he swam. That would be 11 as of last night, I believe.

Have you seen Phelps? The 23 year-old is a swimming machine. He keeps breaking world records and makes it look easy. I love the quote at the end of this section from an AP article today:

"Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals - and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games.

A day after etching his name alongside Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis with gold No. 9, Phelps set a standard all his own when he won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday morning. An hour later, he swam the leadoff of a runaway victory by the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team, which shattered the old world mark by more than four seconds.

"He is just another person, but maybe from a different planet," said Alexander Sukhorukov, who swam the anchor leg for the second-place Russians."

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