Swimming is life

It’s Friday lunchtime at work and I am bored, so let’s have some STATS. I thought I’d take a look at individual national records in the post-shiny-suit era, and see who has *reeeeeally* progressed in the last Olympic cycle.

Athletes know to avoid high-fat foods, right? Nutritionists and coaches tell you to stay away from fatty burgers, fries and fried chicken. However, there are some high-fat foods that are good for you so no need to adopt a fat-free diet. Just be smart about fat. For those of you trying to gain weight, fat provides more than twice the calories of carbohydrate or protein, so try these healthy, high-fat foods to increase calories and make a part of your performance diet. 

Amazing news of the Aussie girls winning Gold at the Paralympics, including 13 y/o Madison Elliot for swimming! Wow what an inspiration to other tweens her age. Anyone else wish the media would highlight these type of achievements instead of Kim Kardashian doing another photo shoot etc etc?

Swimming: Men’s 50m Freestyle - S11

Bozun Tang (The People’s Republic of China)

Bradley Snyder (The United States of America)

We first saw Michael Phelps as a 15-year-old swimming the 200m butterfly to a fifth place finish in Sydney, and even if we knew he was special then, we’re not sure anyone could have predicted what we’ve seen the last twelve years. On Tuesday Phelps became the most decorated Olympian in history when he swam his team to gold as anchor of the 4x200m free for his record 19th career medal. He’s since added three, upping his total to 22. Here’s a few numbers that break down his incredible career:

18 – Career golds won by Phelps. Twice as many as Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, Mark Spitz, andCarl Lewis, who each won nine.

48 – Years Latynina held the record after winning No. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 at the 1964 Tokyo Games. 8 – Gold medals Phelps won at the 2008 Beijing Games, breaking Mark Spitz’s 40 year record of seven from the Munich Games. 29 – Times Phelps has broken a world record in an individual event.

37 – Times Phelps has broken a world record if you include relays. 2 – Career individual three-peats. Phelps won the 200m IM and 100m butterly in Athens, Beijing, and London. No other male swimmer has a single three-peat in an Olympic event.

22 – Medals Phelps officially ends his extraordinary career with. 0.05 – Combined time in which Phelps won his first two 100m butterfly golds. He beat Milorad Cavic by 0.01 in Beijing and beat teammate Ian Crocker by 0.04 in Athens. 0.23 – Time in which Phelps won the 100m butterfly Friday night after coming off the turn in seventh. 2 – Silver medals Phelps has won to go along with 15 gold and two bronze. Phelps didn’t finish second in any Olympics until Sunday’s 4x100m free relay and won another silver Tuesday night in the 200m fly. 6 – World Records Phelps currently holds in Olympic events, including the 100m fly, 200m fly, 400m IM, 4x100m free, 4x200m free, and 4x100m medley relay. 1 – Athlete who’s received a personal tweet of congratulations from President Obama during these Olympics: Michael Phelps.

0 – Equals.

Michael on Ryan: “Lochte is a good friend, one of my best friends in swimming. I call him Doggy. Doggy is a Florida surfer dude. Doggy’s idol is the rapper Lil Wayne. Doggy is a free spirit, a free spirit who is a hellacious competitor…”