Phelps Loses Motivation to Win Another Medal?

10 Jul 2009

Michael Phelps yet again captured the crowd with his world record time in the 100 meter butterfly at U.S. National Championship. Phelps combines an enormous amount of god-given talent and a dedication to training only equaled by Tiger and Jordan but his career has not always gone smoothly. Phelps has had a career full of peaks and valleys, ranging from his eight gold medals in Beijing to the infamous picture of him ripping a bong at a party, but he has always showed resilience and remains a national hero. But in a very odd move, Phelps pulled out of the 100 meter freestyle event because he had a sore neck. Keep in mind he had just set a world record with that same sore neck, so maybe something else happened that would have caused him to lose motivation to win another race.  Or was he actually injured? A combination of the both?

Must have been the mid-event bong rip that hurt his neck. Notice the tension in the back of the neck.