Oh, I think I disagree, from everything I’ve seen and heard from him,and his mother, he loves nothing else BUT swimming, is the most competitive person since, oh, Michael Jordan. After the last Olympics, where he was merely human, he set his goals to do exactly what he did this time, something truly super human. I love the fact that he will be rewarded richly for what he did, for swimming no less, not exactly the richest sports. Nice to spread the endorsements to something other than golf & basketball. And I LOVED how the mens basketball team comported themselves this time. They left the ego’s home… thanks to Coack K

I started to answer but continued reading………….thank goodness. You saved me a lot of typing and thinking. Sam. I agree with you…………

Couldn’t disagree more Sam. Amateurism levels the playing field. Sponsorship has unbalanced the scales. My perspective comes from being an amateur athlete “back in the day” (oh my old creaking bones) when you did not have to be wealthy to rise to the top of your game. You don’t need that much equipment at all. You need time and good coaching. And coaches came free. The glory was in the striving. No one could be paid back when I competed, so we were all doing it for the love of the sport. Every athlete, rich or poor, had issues to deal with. But actually, the best athletes I knew were the poorest, and they were incredibly motivated. The problem, in my humble opinion, is that the money that has been injected into the games have enabled 24/7 support to special athletes. Poorer athletes from poorer nations (or states) are now at a disadvantage. It’s all corporate now. “Back in the day” I was able to train while attending college and working at a part time job. I trained in the morning, after college and at night. It was grueling, yes, but it was just what you did, for the love of the sport. I also had an hour long bus ride each way to the track every day. Weekends were meets. It was a lifestyle. It was a club atmosphere. (That was just before the running shoe and track suit manufacturers began “sponsoring” athletes. It was Aidas vs. Puma back then. They started by giving out free equipment to the top tier. Then slowly began paying for travel to meets. Then sneaking in per diems. One of my teammates, who was a world class athlete, was one of the first to get the gear, then travel money. She kept it very quiet but told me how much it played with her head. She now had to answer to this company. Her performance wasn’t just hers anymore, it was theirs because she was wearing their suits and shoes. She worried about not winning in a different way. It wasn’t about a personal best, there was a different pressure.) I don’t know… the system seemed to work better back then before professionalism was allowed in. There wasn’t a big problem with doping and you went pro after the Olympics. The Olympics were considered this pure thing, untainted by money. It was about excellence. About pushing your limits, not about commercial endeavors. Athletes were also older. You had time to mature and develop. If I can remember the statistics right, I believe the average age of a record holder was 27. Oh well, that’s all changed now. It’s all about how many medals a nation can get, and network ratings and sponsorship and super high tech equipment and bodysuits and blah de da dah. sigh. I miss the old amateur days. Professional means — business enterprise — work — accountability to a corporate entity. I miss the spirit of competition for merely the achievement without that element. So I am simply a purest about the competition that way.