With the Summer Olympics on the horizon, there is a definite buzz in the air, especially in respect to Olympic medalist Michael Phelps.
According to the athletic stud, he’s in top form and ready to "reach for the gold” once again.
“I’ve been lifting weights and bulking up,” the handsome swimmer beamed in one interview on the talk-show circuit this past week.
But, things have not always been hunkie-dorie since Phelp’s glory days in Beijing in 2008.
“For a while, I found it difficult to crawl out of bed. I stayed at home a lot”, he fessed up, when probed about those seemingly endless foggy days below the radar.
“There was a time when Michael missed six weeks of training,” his trainer recalled with disdain.
The only place where the celebrated sports figure would dip his toe in the water was poolside in glitzy Las Vegas.
And, who could forget that nasty run-in with the law, which shook up his once “squeaky-clean” image and caused an uproar in the ranks.
After a publicity still caught Michael in a stupor sucking on a “bomb”, his mother’s knee-jerk reaction was typical of most parents.
“What were you thinking, Michael?”
Then, one fine morning, he snapped out of the deep funk out-of-the-blue ready to train for the Summer Olympics slated for 2012.
At this juncture, Phelps slyly refuses to acknowlege for the record how many races he will compete in (or which ones he has his sights on winning).
He has been candid about the potential outcome, though.
It’s doubtful he will duplicate his remarkable performance in Beijing, he has conceded in so many words, to all within earshot.
Some are astounded that Phelps has bounced back.
One sports writer put it this way:
‘He’s hovering in the stratosphere right now.”
An unknown quantity?
Evem still, NBC will be there for the winning streak – if and when – it surfaces once again.
Indeed!
For the first time ever, the Network intends to cover every event that Phelps competes in, once the Olympics start up June 25th in London.
The sports writers – and odds-makers in Vegas – are whispering that the troubled Gold Medalist faces two potential threats at the meet.
Of course, they are referring to Ryan Lochte, and rivals on the Australian team who are fast and sure (and determined to glide to the finish line first).
Meanwhile, Phelps is grounded in reality as the big event approaches.
“I can only prepare myself,” he quietly concludes.
Avoid the “buds”, “booze”, and “broads”, too, Michael.
Betcha 10-to-1 that the kid can, folks!
