I tried getting into competitive swimming when I was in high school, but just couldn't put in the time or get my technique down to make the swim team, but I can certainly appreciate what goes into making that happen.
What Michael Phelps is doing at the pool in Beijing is working his way to an epic performance for all time. He's within striking range of being in possession of the most medals by any athlete ever (12 - currently owned by American Jenny Thompson). He now shares the record for most gold medals at nine (along with Spitz, and several other athletes).
However, what drives him most is beating Mark Spitz's seven gold medals from the 1972 Olympics. Right now, he's got three golds, and five more events to go.
His toughest events are behind him, and the 4 x 100 relay was the one event that put a scare into everyone as the French nearly pulled out an amazing world record swim but for the closing leg by Jason Lezak, who put his own emphatic stamp on the world record by putting in the fastest time in the 100 relay leg in history. Lezak just barely touched the wall ahead of the French competitor, world record holder Alain Bernard, overtaking him in the final half lap so that Phelps record chase remained fully intact. Lezak's exploits in the pool will quickly become the stuff of legend, especially if Phelps does make his medal count because it wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of Lezak.
Still, things may still not fall Phelps' way - a surprise effort by any number of swimmers along the way could disrupt his quest including his teammates such as Ian Crocker, or even Phelps having an off day. However, he appears to be as fully concentrating on the task at hand - winning gold medals.
And setting world records to boot. Each of his gold medal performances were in world record time, obliterating the prior records at that.
Right now, he's the master of his domain.
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