My teammate, John Quinn, sent this article which actually states: "... But he is wearing Speedo’s LZR Racer, which some people say is the swimming equivalent of a jockey racing with extra weight. ..."Bowman includes his own rants and subtly degrades Paul Biedermann's talent by alluding to his suit as a result of his new found talent. At least that is how I read it.
But what caught my attention was this Phelps quote:
In the Washington Post he was quoted as saying:“.. What’d he go?” Phelps asked.
A German reporter relayed Biedermann’s time.
“A 1:43?” Phelps asked.
His jaw tightened. In the 200 freestyle final at the Beijing Olympics last year, Phelps lowered his world record to 1:42.96; Biedermann finished fifth in 1:46.00. “He’s dropped a lot of time,” Phelps said edgily. “He’s having a good meet, a good year. Tomorrow’s going to be a good race. ...”
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[...] "What did he go?" Phelps, officially distracted, asked eagerly. "He go 1:43?"
"He just dropped a lot of time," Phelps volunteered, almost talking to himself. "You usually don't see a six-second drop in the 400 free in a year. In the 200 free, he dropped about three seconds in a year. . . . It will get me more excited, more ready for tomorrow. I'm going to have to, I guess, really prepare myself. ..."
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Why the disparity? We go from "His jaw tightened" to "Phelps, officially distracted, asked eagerly. "He go 1:43?..."
The NY Times adds resentment, the Washington Post adds competitive spirit. Take your pick as to what Michael Phelps really thought.
5 comments:
The meet is in Italy so its probably just a difference in translation from the original Italian.
Karen is an American with the NY Times. Amy is an American too.
I think it is the media creating a soap opera. Do you think they are rewriting stuff from Italian German? It's possible.
Actually I was trying to be funny. I'm pretty sure that Phelps is speaking english, and that there is a transcript prepared of his remarks--and official transalations into other FINA languages. The comments about his demeanor are subjective comments by the reporters which is why they differ.
Reporters probably asked him the same question at different times, or used his responses to other questions to fill in the rest of the gaps. Stuff like that is more common than one would think.
I imagine he felt both resentful AND fired up, the reporters just chose to recognize different sides.
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