Phelps 4th and 5th..

So, he got his 4th and 5th gold with world records.. wow...........
3 more to go.....and i will be praying for him. :)
I just felt we need excellent sport achievement to be set as a legendary then a lot of people will upgrade into that level..... mm..

and i gotta read this......... wow, this is from the invisible background thing.. mm.. the life of phelps.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3508530

Some highlights to remind myself to learn from him:
1.) -His ability to focus and refusal to acknowledge exhaustion are legendary. "He starts doing everything really precise," says teammate Erik Vendt, "and that just builds up until the event."

-Even Phelps battled mood swings in Athens, once bickering with Bowman about how quickly he needed to board the shuttle to the pool. Later, after he won gold, Phelps was so overwhelmed that Bowman had to drag him to the warmdown pool. No matter how experienced Phelps may be, he still can be overwhelmed by the mental stimulation of the Olympics.
(i personally felt he has a very good coach.)
2.) In Athens, Bowman didn't sleep the night before the 100 butterfly, worried the frenzy had caught up with his star. It seems the media onslaught, the wait for the shuttle and a random drug test forced him off his schedule. But Phelps won anyway, even after trailing with 25 meters left. Others become distracted when their routines are thrown off. Concentration blown, they race opponents or fear or expectations. Phelps' greatest gift is his ability to compartmentalize, to focus on what he's doing and race only himself.
(this is something that i wish i could have done better each time. I find it hard to separate emotion to things i should focus. When i break up, i screw up in my work too... when i am unhappy, my work sucks, my relationship sucks... everythiing gone down to drain..errr....... Focus, Compartmentalize. mmm.. and race only myself)

3.) He loves doubt. Craves it. Phelps scours newspapers for challenges he can cut out and paste on his wall. Before Athens, he hung a poster of Ian Crocker above his bed so he could stare into his rival's eyes every night. When retired Aussie legend Ian Thorpe said he didn't think anyone could win eight races at a single Olympics, Phelps memorized the quote to motivate him for Beijing. His target times for these Games are scribbled on a piece of paper that he won't show even his mom. "I want to do something that's never been done," he says. "That's what's on that paper."
(mm, i am giving this a thought, write down the things you want to achieve in a paper and just keep it to yourself.I agree at times that if we shared, we will tend to get support.. however, there are times too that it is better to just to keep to ourselves.. mmm, a lot of cold blanket out there... READy to kill your dreams..... put on the armor! )

4.)Phelps will make errors. During trials, he took a double breath in one race, had a substandard turn in a second and struggled through the first lap in a third. But he won anyway. That's the thing about Phelps: He always finds a way to touch first. In the past four years, he's won every major race except the 200 free in Athens, where he finished third to Ian Thorpe. In 2007, he broke Thorpe's world record. Bowman likes to quote a saying: "When the time to perform has come, time to prepare has passed." And nobody prepares like Phelps.

:) Must learn the good things from him. :)
Pray he will win all the 8 golds. :D Legendary Swimmer!