There has been a lot of talk about Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos. When I first heard the story of Le Clos meeting his hero Phelps in the London Olympics, I thought that was really cool. Not only did he meet his idol, but he also competed against him and won! Everything was great, that is until he started acting like a sore winner. Calm down young blood, Phelps had 18 medals while you only had one. And it showed. You know how you can tell someone is not used to winning? When they talk too much afterwards. One of my soccer coaches always used to tell my team "there are pretty ways to lose and ugly ways to win."
Look guys, we're the new generation it's inevitable that we want to be better than those before us. Le Clos thinking he is now better than Phelps is fine, but the goading vocalization of it is not. The only thing he did is present it in a way that Phelps can only take as an insult.
We all know we think that we're better than the next, but if you don't say anything, then there is nothing to answer back to. Phelps is just trying to retire and Le Clos had to poke the sleeping bear with a stick. But despite how much I disapproved of Le Clos' conduct, I do think he's a great kid. And I do appreciate what his actions brought out in Phelps. Now, if he retires after these Olympic Games, this is the Michael Phelps I will remember. He even said that he hasn't felt this fire for a long time. In the wise words of Lady Leshurr, "I'm grown, so what? Respect your elders have some manners. Cause I'm sure age ain't got nothing to do with talent".
But for all the good that this situation has done for Phelps, I am genuinely concerned about Le Clos. I can acknowledge talent when I see it. Therefore, when I see talent, I like to see it grow. Le Clos is no exception. Even when this infamous race was only in the making in the preliminaries, I expected Phelps in first place and Le Clos in second. Instead, it was as if Le Clos realized he wasn't going to beat Phelps so he just gave up. Le Clos didn't even medal. It is good to have a rival because they push you to do better, but it is not good to make them your only focal point. All I'm hoping for is that when Phelps retires, Le Clos does not go chasing after his ghost. Run your own race.
I think chasing ghosts is something that happens to a lot of us, if not all of us. We're always chasing after ideals, following concepts and ideas created by someone else. However, we need to start nurturing our own ideas and concepts. Michael Phelps invented Michael Phelps and the technique you see today. Katie Ledecky, a female U.S.A. Olympic swimmer, was told by her coach to adopt Phelps' more aggressive swimming style. Instead, she took it as a baseline and created her own style, which made her even faster than she ever could've been by simply fitting a mold. We never truly want what the next person has; we want something similar but never exactly the same. This is because we will never be the same. Take what you want and adapt it to suit what you need.
