Not to panic anybody, but I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with Michael Phelps.
Sure, that 4X100 Monday morning (Sunday evening, Chicago time) was one of those special Olympics moments. Two teams smashing a world record, trash-talking, a U.S. victory by less than one-tenth of a second over France.
He has two golds in two events, so maybe it's a little weird to think he might have a problem.
But he said that before his race a day earlier, the 400-meter individual medley, he had inexplicably gotten the chills.
``I was not that comfortable in the first 200.''
No one cared.
On Monday, he finished third in a semifinal race for the
200-meter freestyle. It was good enough to qualify for the final, and the
assumption was that he had just dialed it down, saving energy and accomplishing
all he needed to.
No one cared.
But in the amazing race Monday, 11 of the 32 swimmers had better
times than Phelps.
I mean, what was the reason for that?
He had only the third best time on his own team, with teammate Jason Lezak responsible for the gold.
And when it was over, Phelps spoke for a minute with NBC, but then never went to the post-race press conference that all three of his teammates went
to.
Maybe it's nothing. But chills one day followed by an iffy
performance the next. Is there something to worry about?
