by Tim Anderson

Created on: August 18, 2008

The swimming phenom from Baltimore has done the impossible. This year, he has done what no other athlete as ever done in the Modern Olympics. Michael Fred Phelps went perfect in Beijing winning eight gold medals. He not only broke the record for most gold's won in an Olympics previously held by Mark Spitz; he also broke the record for most gold's in an Olympic career held by Carl Lewis and three others. He provided the world with unforgettable moments and picturesque moments. The narrow escape of the one-hundred meter butterfly final, the cardiac ending of the four by one-hundred meter relay, and him finally raising his arms in triumph after winning his eighth gold medals will be moments played over and over again for years to come. The Baltimore Bullet didn't just shatter Olympic records, but he also single-handedly took the sports spotlight away from cheating and gambling in the more popular sports.

Lets all reflect back a moment to this year in professional sports. We had plenty of cheating, gambling, and law-breaking acts all around sports. Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was accused, convicted, and currently serving time for betting on and fixing NBA games in which he officiated. Michael Vick was also accused, convicted, and is serving time for another crime - dog fighting. The Patriots who went perfect in the regular season in the NFL were caught taping signs of other teams. Governor George Mitchell gathered concrete evidence on steroids in baseball and wrote a lengthy report on these cheaters in America's pastime. Players like Miguel Tejada, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Eric Gagne were proven to have purchased shipments of performance enhancing drugs from various suppliers. Roger Clemens got himself into even more trouble when it surfaced that he had relations with an underage girl. Michael Phelps made us forget about all of that in a total of nine days.

You didn't have to look much further than the Olympics itself to see controversy at its best in sports. When it was first announced that the 2008 Summer Olympics would be held in Beijing, China; there was much controversy. The heavily polluted air in China was said would damage the athletes. It would not allow them to perform at their best. There then was "Anti-China" protests along the route of the torch march. It was so bad that they had to cancel a leg of the march that was scheduled to go through Paris, France. When the Olympics finally started on 8/8/08 in China, there was even controversy over

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>