Michael Phelps spent the winter wondering whether to bother. He then made up his mind: he would stick with it, swimming being what he loved, being what he did best. It showed at the US trials in Indianapolis tonight as the winner of 14 Olympic gold medals cracked Ian Crocker's world 100m 'fly mark with a 50.22 storm.
The standard, which had stood to Crocker since he clocked 50.40 to beat Phelps for the last time, back in 2005 at the world championships in Montreal, was one that had eluded Phelps since he had held it for a day back in 2003 at world titles in Barcelona. With his latest mark, Phelps drew level with Mark Spitz on world-record count - 33 total - and pulled one clear on solo count, on 27 - 42 years almost to the week after Spitz set the first of his 33 world records, including 7 relays for the USA.
Any monument built in honour of Phelps in the years ahead will surely include a plaque that nods to coach Bob Bowman's explanation of his pupil:
"One of the things I call Michael is the motivation machine. Bad moods, good moods, he channels everything for gain. He's motivated by success, he loves to swim fast and when he does that he goes back and trains better. He's motivated by failure, by money, by people saying things about him ... just anything that comes along he turns into a reason to train harder, swim better. Channelling his energy is one of his greatest attributes." - Bowman.
If that was not obvious before, it is now: Phelps took a big break after Beijing, he partied, he was snapped with a bong to his mouth during his down time, he apologised, he almost quit he resolved not too, he surfed the suits crisis and opted to stick with what his sponsor provided and avoid going further down the stream of suiting up to enhance his performance. Crocker wore briefs and jammers for much of his career - and textile too. Phelps wore a full body LZR (as he did in the 200 free in Beijing). Many will struggle to get back to best on the clock if such conditions return in 2010, Phelps will be among those who rides the new wave just as effectively.
In that new era, it will become patently apparent how much was the swimmer and how much was the suit and the infantile notion that "the suit can't swim" will be wiped away for what it is: pure nonsense. Like "I can jump 3m50"; yes, but you were wearing springs; yes, but it was still me jumping, right? Mmm. So, take the springs off and show us what you can do? Not brave enough? Right. Don't blame you. But best get ready for the next kind of wave in the race pool, one that doesn't help one swimmer more than the next, one that doesn't skew the result sheet.
No-one has ever suggested that swimmers are not working hard and trying to get their heads round the suits. Indeed, some have even worked hard at getting their heads round the suits. At the same time, swimmers have gone with what FINA has delivered and have donned suits that are enhancing performance and rendering boneless the vast wave of record-breaking that will come back to haunt some in the not-too-distant future. Mind over matter will be critical.
"It really shows anything can happen if you put your mind to it," Phelps said. "It feels good to get a best time." His best in a full body had brought him close last month, on 50.48.
"Everything I've done is something I've wanted to do and something I've dreamed of," Phelps said. "I will say, I would have liked to have gone eight-for-eight in Beijing, but it feels good to have that one. Looking back at some of the things I've done, it's just been incredible."
Phelps referred to the pain for the past four months, during which there has been a greater focus on weights training.
"It kills my body. It's killed me over the last few months," Phelps is quoted as saying in the paper that has watched the swimmer on a weekly basis for years, The Baltimore Sun. "There are days when I can't pick anything up, I'm so dead from doing it. But I guess some of it is working."
Phelps has worked for years on the core strength that helps to make him so special and provide him with an angle of buoyancy where nature meets honing, long-term honing, not the instant delivery of a suit that binds and lifts the body.
Might he taken down that 50sec barrier in Rome. "I'm hoping with a couple more weeks, he'll get faster," Bowman said. "He needs to hit the turn better. He kind of messed up the turn, and if he hits that, he can go a really good time."
In Indy, wearing the LZR that started the suits crisis, he fell a fingernail shy of Crocker's pace at 50m but a 0.03sec deficit at half-way meant that the 100m mark was facing extinction as the last 100m 'fly record of the textile suits era.
The splits compared:
- Phelps: 23.83; 26.39; 50.22
- Crocker: 23.80; 26.60; 50.40
Behind Phelps were Tyler McGill, on 51.06 and Aaron Peirsol, on 51.30 at the podium end of the fastest 100m 'fly race ever seen in domestic competition and one that rivalled the very best ever:
- Fastest fields:
- Beijing 2008 - 50.58 - 51.86
- Melbourne 2007: 50.77 - 52.70
- Athens 2004: 51.25 - 52.56
- Indy 2009: 50.22 - 52.99
If Phelps belongs to a class apart, what followed him belonged chiefly to the era of fast suits. The Indy race, with 2008 best in brackets):
- Phelps 50.22 26.39
- McGill 51.06 (52.20)
- Peirsol 51.30 (53.28)
- Tarwater 51.95 (52.32)
- Berens 51.98 (52.68)
- Anderson 52.65 (53.76)
- Dylla 52.80 (53.71)
- Bubolz 52.99 (52.97)
The US top 10 pre-trials:
- 50.40 Crocker
- 50.48 Phelps
- 51.86 Stovall
- 52.10 Grevers
- 52.20 McGill
- 52.31 Wildman-Tobriner
- 52.32 Tarwater
- 52.35 Brady
- 52.57 Bollier
- 52.65 Verhoef
The new-look US top 10:
- 50.20 Phelps
- 50.40 Crocker
- 51.06 McGill
- 51.30 Peirsol
- 51.86 Stovall
- 51.95 Tarwater
- 51.98 Berens
- 52.10 Grevers
- 52.31 Wildman-Tobriner
- 52.35 Brady
The all-time world top 10, January 2008:
- 50.40 Crocker USA
- 50.77 Phelps USA
- 51.36 Serdinov UKR
- 51.70 Cavic SRB
- 51.81 Subirats VEN
- 51.81 Skvortsov RUS
- 51.85 Dunford KEN
- 51.90 Ferns RSA
The new-look all-time top 10:
- 50.22 Phekps USA
- 50.40 Crocker USA 2005
- 50.46 Munoz ESP
- 50.59 Cavic SRB
- 50.85 Dunford KEN - a victory at world university games that will have Kenya dancing this week
- 50.93 Lauterstein AUS
- 51.06 McGill USA
- 51.10 Serdinov UKR
- 51.21 Mangabeira BRA
- 51.24 Mankoc SLO
The 51.25 in which Phelps claimed his first Olympic 100m 'fly crown is now outside the best 35 performances ever.
Phelps told reporters in Indy: "Crock had a ton more first 50 speed than I did. That's something I've really been working on. I've always been able to come home pretty strong. I finally got the front half a little bit faster. If I can get that even faster, I'll be in better shape."
Phelps is the most versatile swimmer the world has ever seen. He holds world marks over 200m free, 100m and 200m 'fly, 200m and 400m medley, as well as having been a member of relays that set global marks in all three relays: 4x100m free and medley and 4x200m free.
His latest blast takes to 27 the number of world records he has to his name alone since he set the 200m 'fly mark back in 2001. Mark Spitz held the world record on records at 33 (including 5 different solo events, compared to 5 for Phelps) since 1972.
World record count:
Total: 33
Individual
- 2: 200m freestyle
- 2: 100m butterfly
- 7: 200m butterfly
- 8: 200m medley
- 8: 400m medley
- 2: 4x100m freestyle
- 2: 4x200m freestyle
- 2: 4x100m medley
"They've all been absolutely incredible," he told reporters. "To finally be able to get it tonight means a lot." Looking back to Montreal in 2005, Bowman said: "That is the worst Michael has ever gotten beat."
"It was big, it was something I really, really wanted," Phelps told reporters. "I've wanted that record ever since he took it at the '03 worlds. He just smashed me in the 100 at the '05 worlds, I remember saying then, 'I never want to get beaten that bad again'. That was a wake up call for me."
Bowman added: "I think he sensed he was in condition to break the record. He was really fired up to do it. I think it means a lot to him because in the race when Ian broke that record (in 2005), that was the worst Michael has ever been beaten. That was an amazing record, that's why it stood the test of time."
Crocker, whose pre-Beijing scribblings were the most interesting and well-written among any penned by athletes around the world, has moved but his eye is on the pool still. Phelps said: "Crock actually texted me after and wished me all the luck and telling me that was my record. That meant a lot, from a competitor and a friend and a classy guy. We had amazing battles back and forth. Those are something I definitely miss."
After the 100m, the 200m 'fly mark must now surely be under threat, the world record of 1:52.03 set while Phelps struggled like a novice with water in his goggles back in Beijing. Having had his goggles trampled on and cracked by Bowman in his boyhood to teach him how to cope in difficult circumstances, Phelps was more than up to the job. But there is unfinished business on the clock.
"We've been trying to get his stroke a little flatter and with maybe a slightly higher tempo," Bowman said. "He sensed he was in condition to break the record." The coach had thought that 2009 might be the first season in eight in which Phelps was unable to break a world record. But the 24-year-old has made the surprising unsurprising but none the less thrilling each time he has stood for the challenge.
