17 Aug 2008

Focus

On Michael Phelps:

In his seven-day-a-week training routines, which start with a 5 a.m. alarm-clock call, and can include up to 15 kilometres of repetitive lengths and sprints each day, he is not so different from the hundreds of elite swimmers left in the wake of his double-jointed dolphin kicks. Where he manages to outdistance his rivals, according to expert observers, is in the blending of his body's rare gifts with the intensity of his planning and concentration.

"It's his physical ability, it's his ability to race," says USA swim coach Mark Schubert, rhyming off Phelps's clear advantages, "it's his ability to get excited when he needs to and to come down when he needs to come down."

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