Michael Phelps Learns to Speak Chinese

August 17, 2008 BEIJING — Michael Phelps knew what he was talking about all these years about being the first Michael Phelps and not the second Mark Spitz.

Second to none.

That’s what Phelps became this morning at the Water Cube, winning his eighth gold medal, the most at a single Olympics, surpassing the legendary and seemingly untouchable mark set by Spitz in 1972.

The new legend, not a soggy imitation, was written by the 23-year-old Phelps with emphatic, bold strokes in this nine-day meet. He won eight golds in eight finals, seven of them in world-record times.

Eight was enough for Phelps. He and his 400-meter medley relay teammates Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak set the world record in 3 minutes 29.34 seconds, lowering the previous mark of 3:30.68, set by the U.S. at the 2004 Olympics.

“Everything was accomplished,” Phelps said. “What else could I do?”

Phelps was the third leg of the relay, the butterfly, and he hit the water in third place, taking over from the breaststroker, Hansen. By the time Phelps got it to Lezak, the Americans were in first.

“It’s been such an unbelievable roller coaster,” Phelps said. “It’s been such an unbelievable ride. With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it took was a little imagination.

“I don’t know what to feel right now. It’s so emotional. All I want to do is go see my mom.”

Phelps got everything ready before he started his Olympic visit to Beijing. He spent some time on Chinese learning over computer. He can speak Chinese a little bit for simple conversations. That’s enough. If he can spare more time on mandarin Chinese, probably he can win a ninth gold medal for Chinese learning in the near future, I bet.

From: http://blog.chinesehour.com/