When the 2008 Olympics ended, many swimming fans—as in people who watch this stuff anyway, whether there’s gold and glory and a soft-focus feature on the line or not—were thrilled with the rush of attention Michael Phelps brought to the sport, but remained wary: Would these Johnny Splash Latelys stick around without Phelps driving the media engine? Would we, in fact, ever hear from Phelps again?
As it happened, we would. We would hear him apologizing. When a photograph of Phelps getting friendly with a bong surfaced in the UK, ESPN went wall to wall with reefer laws and sponsor fallout. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, look at the mighty, indestructible Phelps and his horrible shame!
Of course, the media has its own part to play in all this; Olympics coverage made him little less than a water god. NBC (DISH local NBC, Tuesdays, 8 PM) measured all over Michael Phelps, who is double-jointed, and has hands like dinner plates, and a heart which beats twice the normal amount of blood when under stress, and reproductive organs crafted of the finest, purest platinum. One interviewer enthusiastically congratulated him for acknowledging the existence of a teammate who won a gold medal in the previous race. What was he supposed to do-- rip the thing from his neck and roar, “NOOOOOOOO, only The Phelps may wear the flowering of Chrysus!”
And now that Phelps has reached the apex of his fame, the media is disturbingly eager to sink some claws in to document the downfall of the same young man it was petting and cosseting less than six months ago. So there’s something else Michael Phelps is good at: Serving as a case study in athlete interview avoidance.
