Phelps swam the best 200-meter freestyle of his life, of any American's life, Monday, and won a bronze medal. So that's a gold and two bronzes so far, and Mark Spitz's record seven golds in 1972 is safe.
It's been safe all along, but that idea wouldn't have sold a lot of magazines.
Phelps is obviously a major talent, but he's only 19. However he ends up at these games, it's going to be fun to see what he can do in four years if he stays healthy and interested and comes back for more at 23. Thorpe is 21. Van den Hoogenband is 26. I don't want to say he's old but he swims entire races with his turn signal on.
Phelps has done a nice job of trying to deflect the hype with a not entirely convincing claim that his goal in Athens was one gold medal, not eight. But it's a strange world we live in where a 19-year-old kid with a gold and two bronzes seems like a failure.
That's the problem with the big hype, which NBC and others engaged in because they need American audiences to have American heroes to get interested in for the Games to pull in the big numbers: If the hypee doesn't live up to it, he seems kind of tarnished. Phelps has good instincts with this "I just wanted one" business, but he's waving a broom at the tide.
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Shoot 'em up [PERMALINK]
A few thoughts on watching the women's trap shooting final, won by Australian Suzanne Balogh.
Thought 1: One of the contestants was 53. I think any sport in which you can compete at 53 without it being a jaw-dropping thing -- in that way that 47-year-old tennis player Martina Navratilova just makes you shake your head in wonder -- shouldn't be in the Olympics.
Thought 2: Why is there men's and women's shooting? Is there some reason why men and women couldn't compete together in this event? Do the superior size and strength of men come into play somehow?
Thought 3: Trap shooting isn't the world's most exciting sport, but at least there are moving parts. In the air rifle and pistol shooting events, what you have is a person standing stock still, then imperceptibly moving one finger to squeeze a trigger, at which point a dot appears on a target. Compared to the other shooting events, trap shooting is like naked flaming supermodel olive oil wrestling. On motorcycles.
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Hench-items [PERMALINK]
I've always found synchronized swimming to be kind of silly, an Esther Williams movie with judges, but at least it can be argued that what the participants are doing requires a unique, athletic skill. Synchronized divers are doing the same thing regular divers do, only they're doing it in pairs, and they're not doing it as well as the regular divers do it.
I've spent a good deal of the last two decades complaining about U.S. Olympics TV coverage not showing enough events, but here's a classic case of be careful what you wish for. I don't remember synchronized diving even existing in past Olympics (it did), but now that NBC and its hench-networks are dutifully showing more events this time than ever before, we're lousy with synchronized diving. The Greek men winning the gold was a nice moment, though.
"Bob, Natalie Coughlin turns 22 next Monday, which is really only significant because, if you know anything about her, you'd have sworn she's an Aquarius."
Even though Coughlin, who would soon win gold in the 100-meter backstroke, is my homegirl, a sturdy Golden Bear, I can't tell you what the rest of the BDAOC was all about because I shot my TV.
Previous column: Men's hoops, more
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King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. Visit his column archive.
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