When your days are as free and easy as mine nowadays, you wake up to immediate lethargy and restlessness, with the full day of scheduled appointments and events being "optional" and in reality, "tentative". But this morning, I had timed my cable set-top box on the Olympic Men's Swimming event results. Immediately, I felt the adrenaline rush and my heart racing. Who needs nitric oxide to feel pumped when right before my eyes human sporting history was simply being made.
The amazing feat that has been accomplished by that phenomenal fish called Phelps is - as the BBC and US media say - beyond all available adjectives in the thesaurus - for "great". I was genuinely inspired. Like Thrope before him (see my earlier blogs), any human fish would be secretly admiring this "Great One". We would quietly be observing every underwater film on him which might yield any secret which would "shave seconds" off our poor technique. As if. Well, I think it is just how sports can inspire and these Great Ones do just that without any additional effort - they inspire. Phelps is just terrific to watch underwater. He is extremely lithe and streamline underwater, and those size 14 feet just make me want my size 11.5 US to grow... But poor things, Phelps we aren't. Which is why he is so fascinating to watch. The mystique around his training and development is another factor. Trade or national secrets. The FBI might be spying who's asking.But Singapore has yet to find out own. I was just very proud still to see compatriot Bryan Tay (namesakes!) do his bit. It was not as great as his own personal best, but a champion like our other national swimmers, too. They are great to watch, but regrettably, we don't have a strong local sports media that is run like PBS to build up the audience and public interest. Instead, the dearth of commercial appeal is the reason why we don't get to watch top Singapore sporting stars "doing their thing" on a daily basis. Perhaps that's for the the future to make better.
Anyway, I found myself at the Mountbatten Pool to do laps in the late afternoon after my short 
work out at California Fitness (Orchard Building) this afternoon. It was great to see so many little children jumping in to the deep pool doing freestyle laps under the watchful eyes of their swim coaches. Swimming is something Singapore should invest even more in. I don't understand why the Sports Council and public works designers don't realise that we need more lane pools. The wading and children's pools are simply under utilised, and wasted being empty. I think twin lane pools are needed to encourage more lap training - which triathletes and other swimming enthusiasts can attest is much needed. Instead, every day, at any one time, there are disruptive activities at these deep pools because of swim school activities, children playing and so forth. These future Phelp-fishes aren't interested in the shallow water pools.
work out at California Fitness (Orchard Building) this afternoon. It was great to see so many little children jumping in to the deep pool doing freestyle laps under the watchful eyes of their swim coaches. Swimming is something Singapore should invest even more in. I don't understand why the Sports Council and public works designers don't realise that we need more lane pools. The wading and children's pools are simply under utilised, and wasted being empty. I think twin lane pools are needed to encourage more lap training - which triathletes and other swimming enthusiasts can attest is much needed. Instead, every day, at any one time, there are disruptive activities at these deep pools because of swim school activities, children playing and so forth. These future Phelp-fishes aren't interested in the shallow water pools.It is a problem that needs to be fixed, but like all things in centrally governed and engineered Singapore, you just have to wait until the Politburo sees the "light of day" and suddenly (perhaps in my decimated old age by then) things will change and we will have more deep lane pools.
Until then, serious swim training is a privilege for the elite who have access to private club pools where the water is sumptuously pristine, and available at pre-dawn hours to these talented ones. But I lament as a leisure athlete and longtime phish-Phelps-Thorpe fan who was once called "Fish" by my pals because of my ability to swim endlessly. For now, we don't just battle the schedules and lethargy for opportunity; when it comes, we battle those little ones and others who have no idea what lane swimming is, and even as swimmers, they just hijack your lane and swim right into you. But as swimming coaches know, these are usually those freestylists who have yet to get their twist and balance right.
But the whole point is to celebrate the incredible feat of one Michael Phelps, who today - with 11 Gold Medals tucked and three events more to go, is already the Greatest Olympian ever. Oh, I guess the million fans who prayed like me for his success may have had something to do with it, too! What a HERO this guy is!
No comments:
Post a Comment