I was going to tie this post in with Joseph Campbell's A Hero's Journey, but instead I'm just going to talk about an American Hero.
Have you been following the World Swimming Championships in Rome? If so, you've probably heard of the controversy over the polyurethane suits that will be outlawed at the end of the year, as well as the news that Milorad Cavic has been trash talkin' our hero, winner of 8 Gold medals at the 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps. As we all remember, Phelps beat Cavic by one one hundredth of a second in the 100m fly in Beijing. 'Fantastic Finish' took on new meaning after that race. Cavic has been claiming that he won in Beijing, even though Serbia dropped their protest after reviewing film footage that clearly showed Phelps touched first.
At the Worlds in Rome this last week, Cavic didn't hold back with the predictions of beating Phelps and feared "when" he beat Phelps, people would say it was due to the suit, rather than his swimming, so he offered Phelps a similar suit.
Phelps declined.
Though Cavic wore the soon-to-be-prohibited suit, believed to provide an unfair advantage to swimmers (consider the 43 (!) world records set in Rome) Phelps chose to stick with the suit provided by his sponser, Speedo.
Michael's response to all of Cavic's lip-flappin? "I do my talking in the pool."
Well, in the best tradition of heros, Michael Phelps did do his talking in the pool by beating Milorad Cavic again without the aid of the controversial suit, without any question and by setting a new world record in his Speedo. If you didn't see it - watch it here because Michael Phelps is an American hero that will make you proud.
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