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Another Perspective
You Didn’t Win That
Michael Phelps has a thing or two to learn about Olympic fairness.
Swimmer Michael Phelps won his twentieth Olympic medal last night when he defeated fellow American Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter medley. And his Olympics haven’t yet ended. Should he qualify, Phelps could extend his medal record in the 100-meter butterfly later today and the 4x100-meter medley relay on Saturday.
“I thanked [my teammates] for being able to allow me to have this moment,” Phelps explained after his 200-meter relay victory earlier this week broke the all-time Olympic medal-record of eighteen. “It has been a pretty amazing career but we still have a couple of races left.”
Despite verbal graciousness toward teammates and all the “we” talk, Michael’s message is loud and clear: I accomplished all this.
The 29 “individual” world records that the swimmer holds all feature the name “Michael Phelps” and no one else’s in the books. For the ten “individual” Olympic gold medals won, Phelps stood alone atop the podium. And 2008’s Sportsman of the Year camera-hogged the cover of Sports Illustrated, appearing with hands on hips and eight shiny gold medals hanging around his gloating head.
If Michael Phelps has been successful, he didn’t get there on his own. I’m always struck by Olympians who think, ‘Well, it must be because I was just so athletic.’ There are a lot of athletic people out there! ‘It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.’ Let me tell you something: there are a whole bunch of hardworking athletes out there!
If you were successful at swimming, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great coach somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to pay for your swimming lessons that have allowed you to thrive. Somebody built the pool. If you’ve got a medal — you didn’t win that. Somebody else made that happen.
A modest proposal to counteract Olympic arrogance: share the gold.
When you spread medals around, it is good for everybody. There are enough grains of gold to go around. It isn’t fair that Phelps was born with an 80-inch wingspan, size fourteen flippers, and the ability to metabolize 12,000 calories daily and still look like an Abercrombie & Fitch model. Nature endows him with gifts; man further endows him with awards. The Olympics is an elitist affront to egalitarianism.
In the Olympics, the rich get richer. The haves feast on the have-nots. Unfettered competition leaves the “1%” with all the silver and gold and the “99%” with nothing. Rampant discrimination against the obese, no head starts for underprivileged athletes, and a hierarchical winners-losers dichotomy characterize the London games. Occupy the Olympics.
To bring a relic of 8th-century B.C. Athens into the 21st century global village, everyone, as some enlightened soccer leagues in the northeastern part of the United States understand, should get trophies, or, in the case of the Olympics, medals. The elitist practice of placing “winners” on pedestals should be immediately abolished. We all stand as one on the planet pedestal. And competition, which brings out the worst in people, should be replaced with cooperation. If a strongman can’t clean-and-jerk 500 pounds, how about another athlete lends him a hand?
Snobs might say that abolishing victory’s incentives, and compelling athletes to work together, will inevitably bring slower times. But we will place burdens on the most advantaged for the purposes of fairness. When everybody wins, we all win.
Because Michael Phelps is so extraordinary, swimming requires extraordinary measures to maintain social justice against the scourge of individual “accomplishment.” Throwing a life preserver to the trailing swimmers, or pooling resources in the pool, simply won’t cut it. The Baltimore Bullet’s gaudy gold too conspicuously flashes his sins against equality, fairness, and all that is good.
Tying fifty-pound dumbbells to each limb should achieve the desired results in the pool. This may have the effect of forcing Phelps underwater, putting him out of the swimming business forever, and literally drowning him with an excess of rules. But at least the summer games would be fair.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (52) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 8.3.12 @ 6:34AM
Well, he did stand on the shoulders of giants who helped him to develop his skills to their highest pitch; in that sense he didn't get there alone. But the idea that winners should carry legions of leeches onto the victory podium is certainly un-American.
Little Gabby who won the gymnastics gold medals has no hesitation in giving God the glory for her victories. Neither did she get there alone. When she stands on the victory podium, we are all with her in spirit.
Jacob McCandles| 8.3.12 @ 8:39AM
Go back and listen to Obama's speech after the killing of Bin Laden. "I authorized.." "I made the decision.." I I I me me me. This operation, we now know, was blocked three times by Obama before he agreed to it. It was the result of brave men risking their lives and careers, months and years of planning and preparation. He finally gives the go ahead, which was a no brainer, and all of the sudden "Obama got Bin Laden!"
Truly absurd. It just baffles me.
Purp| 8.3.12 @ 9:39AM
You people never quit. Bush "Mission Accomplished", remember? As if HE invaded Iraq.
But Presidents get the credit for making the decision to go - or the blame. That's how the American System works, right?
Moreover, the military gave him a 60/40 chance of success. It was a gutsy decision by a strong leader. Can you not be proud that we finally got Bin Laden at least?
squalis| 8.3.12 @ 10:01AM
Bush was not patting himself on the back when he said "Mission Accomplished." He was thanking the military for their corageous work.
obadiah| 8.3.12 @ 10:50AM
bush was one-upping his father, who only stroke through Congress to celebrate his victory. bush was puerile. obama is an adult, even if he is a zero.
Drunken Sailor| 8.3.12 @ 11:23AM
Ignore the troll. He can't even be bothered to do the basic reserch that many ships put a "Mission accomplished" banner on their towers when "THE SHIPS MISSION IS ACCOMPLISHED". In the famous words of Obama, it has been taken out of context.
Jacob McCandles| 8.3.12 @ 12:25PM
Agree DS. For those who are interested, here is a comparison of the Bush/Saddam speech vs. Obama/Bin Laden. For those who will scream "taken out of context!"....the entire speeches are available also. It's just more of the same. Bush was not a great president, but he's a good man. Obama is a disaster of a president, and a classless, spoiled, devious liar
.http://savingcommonsense.blogspot.com/2011/05/contrasting-speeches-of-bush-on-saddam.html
Purp| 8.3.12 @ 11:35AM
Right. He donned the flak jacket to "thank" the military and not take the spotlight himself. Tell that to a 5 year old - no wait, he'd even know better.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 10:24AM
Obamaboy purpie
"As if He invaded Iraq." You are the clown that daily posts that Obama killed Osama. As if He killed Osama.
What is so gutsy about giving the order to kill Osama?
Maybe to your lefties it is gutsy since your boy Bubba refused the multiple offers to have Osama delivered to us.
Purp| 8.3.12 @ 11:42AM
Yep, he did. Bush didn't get the bastard.
If you weren't so dumb, you would realize that had the mission failed, you people would be all over Obama. THAT is why it was so gutsy. There wouldn't be a re-election of Obama, IF he had failed. You wouldn't blame the Navy Seals for failure, you would blame Obama. And, so you must give him credit. Of course, he didn't shoot Bin Laden himself, duh. But without his order, no dead Bin Laden, period.
You blame Obama for the economy, right? 1/2 the Senate (Republicans) and most of the House (Republicans) haven't a THING to do with it, right? See how your mind works?
You're tied up in knots because he succeeded by careful planning and confidence in his orders and the people who carried them out, and Bush-Cheney failed to complete the mission. He's ended the ill-conceived Iraq war and ending Afghanistan War too. Drones are taking out Al-Qaeda left and right, no matter where they are. No invasion, just success.
He's a better Commander-in-Chief than Bush ever could be and far better than Mitt the Twit could even dream to be.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 11:58AM
Obamaboy purpie
You are more incoherent than usual. Signs of desperation.
So the decision to kill Osama was gutsy only because it affected O's re-election? That should have had nothing to do with the decision.
Hey, idiot, by blaming Bush and now Cheney for not getting Osama, you are blaming the military for not finding Osama. Are you stupid enough to believe Bush and Cheney were personally looking for Osama? Or they instructed the military to forget about Osama, as your boy Bubba did in the 1990's?
If Bubba had done his job when Osama was offered to us there would have been no 9/11, moron.
You are getting desperate, purpie.
MK48| 8.3.12 @ 10:27AM
Purp..........the TAS "tick".
PolishKnight| 8.3.12 @ 10:07AM
Hello Appleby,
What makes America somewhat unique (I think only a few other countries do this) is that our Olympic athletes are largely "amateurs" and privately funded usually by their families. So when the athletes do scale the podium, for an individual medal, Obama's bureaucratic minions can't take any credit whatsoever. None.
This is not the case with China which has been caught engaging in shenanigans similar to East Germany during the Soviet era: doping, putting thousands of children into Olympic training camps that look less like noble sports training and more like concentration camps. At least during Soviet times, when someone won a medal, they got a nice apartment and usually a cushy job for life. It's hard to even see the Chinese medal winners as athletes rather than as serfs.
And that, folks, is the model the left has for the nation. It's not really about sharing the wealth. It's just replacing, or even forming alliances, with new and existing cronies while saying they'll share the wealth from the rich but they send their goons to some trailer park or village to deal with the "privileged" peasants. That's right: They starved people to death on small farms because they were "privileged".
MTB| 8.3.12 @ 1:38PM
Yes, yes, we all know that athletes have coaches to help them hone and improve their skills, but when they are out there, it is the ATHLETE'S efforts alone that win or lose competitions. And it was individual effort, talents, skills and abilities that got them through the beginning stages to the Olympic level and coaching in the first place.
THKrupp| 8.3.12 @ 6:52AM
Not that I believe in Obama's "you didnt build that" ideals but I hope that the backlash to it doesnt start a trend of people of using "I" in relationship to their accomplishments. Ive been around enough self promoters to last me a lifetime. It seems that people who often use the pronoun "I" all the time also tend to exhibit incredibly high levels of duchebaggery. Yes you indeed are wonderful now let me get back to work to make sure that your steady stream of personal triumphs doesnt end....sorry, I apologize to everyone that does get stuff done on their own and manages to do it without constantly blowing their own horn.
Von Mises Jr| 8.3.12 @ 7:23AM
You mean using "I," "me," and "mine" excessively like Obama? He is living proof that equality of outcome is impossible.
He was handed everything throughout his life and still somehow turned out to be the worst president in U.S. history.
THKrupp| 8.3.12 @ 7:53AM
Exactly
Von Mises Jr| 8.3.12 @ 9:57AM
I wonder how much Perp makes per obnoxious comment. If paid for performance, he would starve.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 12:04PM
Von
Not more than $10 and hour. I know several persond that did similar work for WorkingAmerica as canvassers.
Purp| 8.3.12 @ 9:40AM
You don't like Obama, I take it? Too bad for you he's going to have 4 more years.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 10:30AM
Obamaboy purpie
Romney by a landslide.
Does Obama still listen to the Rev Wright sermons?
How and why did the Chicago felon Rezko pay for Obama's house?
How and why did Michele get a raise from $100,000 to $350,000 per year as a "community relations lawyer" from the Chicago hospital that got a million dollar earmark from Senator Obama?
Sounds like we paid Michele $250,000 per year for what?
Is this the Chicago culture Rahm brags about?
Drunken Sailor| 8.3.12 @ 11:26AM
CJW,
You fogot to mention that for Obama to win again he would have to beat 4 historical predictors of Presidential races.
The four predictors often cited by political scientists, pollsters and presidential historians:
If unemployment at the time of the election is above 7 percent, incumbents supposedly don’t win.
If presidents’ job approval numbers are below 50 percent, one term is a good bet.
If Americans’ personal incomes are declining at the time they fill out their ballots, they vote their wallets, which is bad news for the current office holders.
And when a majority of the electorate believes the country is headed in the wrong direction, sitting presidents don’t prosper on Election Day.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 11:36AM
DS
Good points.
You can see the desperation by the cheap shot attacks from Reid, DebbieWS, the MSN, about tax returns, Ann Romney's horses, etc. They have nothing to offer the country. Only the hard core brain dead Dem lefties are buying the Obama song and dance.
Purp| 8.3.12 @ 11:49AM
If it's a sure thing, why does Mitty need billions to win?
If it's a sure thing, why doesn't Mitty discuss his plans openly?
If it's a sure thing, why doesn't Mitty show us his tax returns to get rid of the issue?
If it's a sure thing, why isn't Mitty far ahead of the President?
I don't think so. This is more like FDR during the Great Depression. This will break the conventional wisdom and President Obama remains President.
Now, on the other hand, throwing a lot of the House TeaPublicans out on their do-nothing ears sounds likely.
CJW| 8.3.12 @ 12:03PM
Obamaboy purpie
Speaking of brain dead, hard core lefties, Purpie responds like a trained lowly paid troll with desperate incoherent ramblings.
Romney by a landslide. Time to find a real job, purp.
junkyard infidel| 8.3.12 @ 1:27PM
The perp-a-traitor drinks the koolaid, purges, then re-drinks it to make sure and get the full effect. He also swallows the lies and deceit put out by the propagandists just to regurgitate them like he's some kind of genius. Just the other day the perp called Thomas Sowell stupid and a liar. I wonder if it's painful to be that pathetic and ignorant !
Drunken Sailor| 8.3.12 @ 12:16PM
If it's a sure thing, why does Obama need billions to win?
If it's a sure thing, why doesn't Obama discuss his plans openly?
If it's a sure thing, why doesn't Obama show us his college grades to get rid of the issue?
If it's a sure thing, why isn't Obama far ahead of the Romney?
SCPOret| 8.4.12 @ 10:02AM
You forgot to mention the hospital abolished the position created for Moochele after she left.
Stuart Koehl| 8.3.12 @ 7:29AM
Were this not in the American Spectator, it would be difficult to discern that it was parody. Put it in the New Republic, or Mother Jones, or even the mouth of Barack Obama (when he forgets himself or thinks nobody is listening), and it would be in deadly earnest, without a hint of irony.
Truncheon| 8.3.12 @ 8:53AM
Half the readers of Mother Jones or New Republic would embrace it instinctively, and begin to parrot it as the daily talking point.
C. Vernon Crisler | 8.3.12 @ 10:50AM
Believe me there are plenty of people out there who cannot distinguish satire from serious commentary. One almost has to put a warning label on satire so the products of our public school system can understand it.
Appleby| 8.3.12 @ 9:51AM
I actually heard Jay Leno point out, after quoting from the "You didn't build that" speech, "Oh, and P.S., Obama, YOU DIDN'T KILL BIN LADEN."
Minuteman78| 8.3.12 @ 1:01PM
Bravo, Mr. Flynn! Excellent satire. You must have read and remembered "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. What's sad is that Obama IS basically the character of Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers. A must read for everyone.
Peter Lyden| 8.3.12 @ 1:39PM
Here 'tis:
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
MTB| 8.3.12 @ 1:43PM
Exceptional compare and contrast to highlight Obama's Marxist/Communist philosophy, Mr. Flynn.
Frank Drackman| 8.3.12 @ 1:44PM
Jeee-Zus, why don't you just marry him if you love him so much???
Seriously, last time I saw so much Man-on-Man-love was well, never.
So he can swim fast, I can jerk off fast, ain't nobody giving me medals...
And is this the role model we want for today's youths? Smoke the marriage-juana and work dor 1 week every 4 years?
Umm sounds pretty good actually,
Whatever happened to the Heroes of MY generation?, 2 fisted drinkers/druggers like Jim Morrison/Bon Scott and my favorite,
Ladies and Gentlemen, #1,
Billy Mar-tin.............................!!!!!!!!
that game where he yanked Regie Jackson out of right field for loafing after a ground ball...
Frank
Kwan| 8.3.12 @ 2:02PM
"You" didn't do this or that is a leftist attempt to eradicate the concept of the individual "I" and replace it with the collectivist "We". Obama and the Democrat Party are attempting to recreate the BORG collective within the borders of the United States. Once we are all connected to the "hive mind" of the state, we will become hapless automatons at the mercy of whatever dictates are issued from Obama's Throne Room.
Petronius| 8.3.12 @ 7:06PM
The IOC cannot do to athletes with timing what they did to Jordyn Wieber keeping her off the podium with their PC selection rule. I expect that the next Olympics we will see nets spring up in front of the record holders during the finals and if that doesn't stop the next Phelps limpit mines will.
This kind of thing happens when weenies and losers control institutional authority. Ignorant, indolent, incompetent people covet power to denigrate the accomplishments of their betters since they can't compel them to be inadequate. Case in point; the N Y Times berating people who want to become successful on their front page. And the rejection of maturity and self discipline success requires has now been accepted by the IOC to the detriment of every athlete in any sport which can be handicapped due to all the losers who have control over our culture; or what used to be Our culture. Look at Costas and his ilk turn their profile stories into pity parades and his shameless patronage of Gabrielle Douglas who couldn't be a beneficiary of Title IX because she's too young. She's got the goods, and complexion has nothing to do with Her Earning gold medals. "The first African American gymnast..." is his personal affront to white suburbanites he loathes. To him and the liberals who shafted Jordyn Wieber, athletics is just another patch of turf for them to dominate and pick the winners based on their social attitudes and to Hell with who is really the best.
threeleafclover| 8.3.12 @ 9:12PM
In November Obama can say, "Mitt, you think you won that election? You didn't win it. Clint Eastwood helped you win it. Ray Gaster, the Savannah lumber guy who invited me to kiss his ass helped you win it. . .Hell, I helped you win it!"
Well, consider this, Barry, you think you won that election in 2008? You didn't win it. An asleep-at-the-switch electorate helped you. ACORN registered fraudulent voters. UAW supported you with union dues from members who didn't even vote for you. John McCain helped you win it.
Sitting at the poker table, Romney can say, "You got a George Clooney? OK, I'll see your Clooney and raise you an Eastwood. And then he can slide a mountain of chips on the board.
You gotta know when to fold 'em. Dems.
threeleafclover| 8.3.12 @ 9:38PM
For all who still doggedly cling to the notion that Bush had anything to do with the Mission Accomplished banner on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln read a little history.
The Lincoln was headed back to homeport San Diego from an already long deployment when ordered to return to action.
I recall it was first deployed in July of 2002 for Operation Enduring Freedom finally ending in May 2003, extended from January 2003. LONG TIME AT SEA - and Long time no see family. I read somewhere it was at the time the longest time at sea - Their mission, with 16,500 sorties flown and some 1.6 million pounds of ordnance used , was accomplished.
Purp, you wouldn't understand this - you probably think I spelled ordnance wrong, as you are in awe of the president who says CORPSE man.
And Purpletwerp - what Bush wore was not a flak jacket - it was what everyone in the cockpit of that a/c wears - even Greta Van Sustern when she went up with Blue Angel pilot. Bush wasn't sitting in First Class. Did you expect him to jump out of the plane in a Brook Bros. suit or maybe mom jeans like Obama wears to throw a baseball - underhanded, like he does everything else?
Alej| 8.5.12 @ 4:52PM
3leaf, good post, but wasting your time on a wimp like purpletwerp... his understanding of things military is as lacking as his concept of the pride many take in the name "American."
cyrano| 8.3.12 @ 10:43PM
What about our president?Shouldn't he have been more fair to John McCain?Didn't John help get him where he is today?
dob502| 8.4.12 @ 9:20AM
A great piece of satire!
But as an aging athlete, and having raised a number of children, some of whom were excellent athletes, it is clear to me (and to all) that even if the pool had been filled contestants who all had the same physical attributes as Phelps did, it would be the one single athlete who managed to put out that small amount of extra INDIVIDUAL EFFORT, that would win the Gold by a fraction of a second.
And we need to remember that our nation was founded by individuals who were willing to venture into a strange land, usually devoid of any kind of government service, and settle it.
And even if such individuals recognized that there were some tasks that could not be accomplished solely by individual effort, they were willing to pay taxes (collective pooling of individual assets earned by individual effort).
So no, the government didn't do that!
BackToBasics| 8.4.12 @ 12:52PM
The article is correct. "You didn't build that" is just another way of saying, "It's not fair that you built that and I couldn't."
If Obam wins in November he will try to implement higher taxes which is another way of saying, "You didn't earn that."
Marie| 8.5.12 @ 12:46PM
Dear Michael Phelps,
Please redistribute your winnings to all those 57 states because, in fact, you did not win that Olympic Gold Medal. Don't get complacent and join the Obama Choom Gang when you get back to Amerika because you have proven yourself a very good earner and redistributor of wealth for the Communist Party USA.
Kwan| 8.5.12 @ 1:27PM
Resistance is futile. Phelps will be assimilated.
PsychoDad| 8.6.12 @ 1:52PM
Mr Phelps, you would be NOTHING without the WATER which buoys you up!