Michael Phelps Loses a Big Endorsement

I don't think I even posted the item on Phelps and his bong hits in South Carolina, but today Kellogg's decided they have better places to spend their advertising dollars:

PORTLAND, Ore. — Kellogg Co. said Thursday that it will drop its endorsement deal with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps following his acknowledgment he inhaled from a marijuana pipe.

The 23-year-old swimming star has apologized for his "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo appeared Sunday in the British tabloid News of the World that showed Phelps inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

Most of his major sponsors, such as Visa Inc., Speedo, luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega and sports beverage PureSport's maker Human Performance Labs, stood by the athlete following the news, even if they didn't condone his behavior.

But Battle Creek, Mich.-based cereal and snack maker Kellogg said Phelps's behavior is "not consistent with the image of Kellogg."

Because Kellogg's is so kid-oriented, I'm not surprised they're dumping Phelps. The image of him sucking on a bong full of dope is probably not one they want associated with their products.

He'll probably keep most of the endorsements from companies that manufacture products for adults or for the swimming crowd. They'll be a little more forgiving since their target audience probably doesn't care that much what Phelps does.

UPDATE: USA Swimming suspends Phelps for 3 months.

Breaking Olympic News

Michael Phelps did not win a gold medal today in Beijing.

That is all. We now return to our regular programming.

8

Michael Phelps gets gold #8. I doubt it will ever be possible for another athlete to match or exceed that total in a single Olympics.

BEIJING -- A journey that started four years ago after his six-gold performance in Athens and included 17 swims over nine days here ended triumphantly for Michael Phelps on Sunday.

Phelps earned his unprecedented eighth Olympic gold medal of the 2008 Olympics as he swam the butterfly leg of the Americans' world-record win in the 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition at the Water Cube.

Jason Lezak held off Eamon Sullivan of Australia in the freestyle leg, with the Americans finishing in 3:29.34. Australia took the silver in 3:30.04 and Japan the bronze.

Lezak said he was inspired by the celebrities on hand to watch history in the making.

"I looked up and I saw Kobe and LeBron, the best basketball players in the world. No way we were going to let those guys down," he said.

Aaron Peirsol led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breast and Lezak anchored, the same three who won gold in Athens. Phelps swam the prelims of that race in Athens, giving up his finals spot to Ian Crocker. The American men have never lost the medley relay in the history of the Olympics.

7

Rack up another gold for that Phelps kid:

BEIJING (AP) - Michael Phelps swam into history with a magnificent finish Saturday, tying Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal by the narrowest of margins in the 100-meter butterfly.

His arms soaring across the water one last time, Phelps got his hand on the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Serbia's Milorad Cavic. Phelps' time was 50.58 seconds, the only time in these Olympics that Phelps won an event without breaking the world record.

The 23-year-old from Baltimore has now pulled even with the greatest of Olympic records, matching Spitz's performance in the 1972 Munich Games.

Number eight is now very likely. As I understand it the final race will be a relay that Americans have never lost in the Olympics.

#6

No surprise here:

BEIJING - Michael Phelps won his sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Friday in record time, defeating rivals Laszlo Cseh and teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley.

Phelps defended his title from four years ago in Athens, winning in 1 minute, 54.23 seconds and lowering his own world record of 1:54.80 set at last month's U.S. trials. It was the American's sixth world mark in Beijing.

Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 1:56.52, his third runner-up finish to Phelps in these games.

Lochte earned the bronze in 1:56.53, 29 minutes after he upset defending champion Aaron Peirsol to win the 200 back.

It was the 21st world record set during the swimming competition.

When I heard the Phelps was going to make a run at eight gold medals, I really didn't think he'd be able to pull it off, especially since some of the events are relays and there are lots of things that can go wrong. I'm no a doubter anymore.

The Greatest Olympian Ever

UPDATE: The electrons had barely stopped moving on the post below before Phelps scored his 5th gold medal.

Wow. Michael Phelps scores his fourth gold medal and fourth world record in as many days, and sets the records for most gold medals in a career by one athlete:

BEIJING - Tied no more. Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th career gold medal — and fourth world record of the Beijing Games.

A day after etching his name alongside Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis with gold No. 9, Phelps claimed the record all to himself when he won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday morning.

Phelps had a problem with his goggles — but that didn't keep him from touching first.

He's now all alone at the top, with four more chances to stretch his lead before he leaves China. He was scheduled to come back later in the morning to swim the leadoff of the 800 freestyle relay for the heavily favored Americans.

Of course, thanks to the three hour tape delay to the West Coast, I won't be able to watch this race until last tonight. Thanks, NBC.

Three for Three

The Michael Phelps gold medal train keeps on chuggin':

BEIJING (Reuters) - Michael Phelps won the men's 200 meters freestyle title at the Beijing Games on Tuesday to enter the pantheon of Olympic greats with a record-equaling career tally of nine gold medals.

The American's third gold, and third world record, in three days lifted him alongside compatriots Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz, Finland's Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina at the top of the all-time most-titled list.

Phelps, the world champion in the distance, was a body length clear at halfway and hit the wall in 1:42.96 to shatter his own world record by 0.90 seconds.

Amazing.

So Much for "Smashing" The Americans

The thrill of victory...
...and the agony of d'French.

(Arrogant French swimmer Alain) Bernard was the world record holder in the 100, but he surrendered that mark as well. Australia's Eamon Sullivan broke the individual record by swimming the leadoff leg in 47.24 - ahead of Bernard's mark of 47.50.

The French star was extremely confident about his team's chances heading into the big showdown. "The Americans? We're going to smash them," Bernard said. "That's what we came here for.

"If the relay goes according to plans, than we'll be on a roll."

Only Bernard didn't count on Lezak and the Americans spoiling those plans.

Bernard reminds me of the taunting French soldier from "Spamalot".

French Soldier: I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Sir Galahad: Is there someone else up there we can talk to?

French Soldier: No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

Taunt at your own risk, Frenchie.

Two Down, Eight to Go

UPDATE: The thrill of victory, and the agony of d'French.

Michael Phelps drive for eight gold medals continues on track, thanks to the efforts of the anchor leg swimmer in the 400 meter relay:

BEIJING (AP) -- Jason Lezak outtouched Alain Bernard of France at the wall Monday to give the United States a victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay and keep alive Michael Phelps' bid for eight Olympic gold medals.

Lezak overtook the Frenchman to win in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds, breaking the world record of 3:12.23 set by the Americans in Sunday's preliminaries.

France took the silver in 3:08.32. Australia earned the bronze in 3:09.91.

Phelps' hopes of breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a single games appeared doomed when the French took over the lead at the 250 mark. They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 meters before Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes.

Lezak's an Orange County kid. Nice job.

I believe Phelps is just one medal away now from being the most decorated American Olympian in history.

Heroics and Cowardice at the Olympic Pool

Michael Phelps bags his first of what will likely be many gold medals:

BEIJING — Michael Phelps got one of his toughest races out of the way, and it couldn't have been any easier.

With President Bush cheering him on, Phelps dominated his first event of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday morning, crushing his own world record and all hopes of his challengers with a mark of 4 minutes, 3.84 seconds in the 400-meter individual medley.

This was thought to be a potential stumbling block in Phelps' quest to win eight gold medals after fellow American and good friend Ryan Lochte matched him stroke for stroke at the U.S. Olympic trials just over a month ago. Both went under the previous world record in the 400 IM then, with Phelps touching first in 4:05.25.

But Phelps beat Lochte when it really mattered. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 4:06.16, while Lochte faded to third in 4:08.09 — more than 4 seconds behind the amazing Phelps.

"I'm pretty happy. That was a pretty emotional race," Phelps said. "I knew it was going to be a tough race all the way through."

Curiously, the recording of the Star-Spangled Banner used at the swimming venue broke and stoopped playing before the song was finished. They better get that fixed because they're going to need it a bunch more times.

While Phelps was drowning his opposition, an Iranian swimmer withdrew from his heat race because he was to be matched up against an Israeli:

An Iranian swimmer pulled out of the Olympic Games men's 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday, just minutes before he was due to compete against an Israeli rival.

Mohammad Alirezaei's lane one was empty when the field left the starting blocks while Israel's Tom Beeri, starting in lane seven, finished fourth.

Israel, the Middle East region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions of the Jewish state's demise by senior Iranian leaders.

During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Iran's judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili, one of the country's prominent gold medal hopes, refused to compete against Ehud Vaks of Israel in the first round out of solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

Miresmaeili, twice a winner of the flyweight world title, still received a 5,000-dollar award the Iranian National Olympic Committee had promised to medal winners and he was hailed by former President Mohammad Khatami for his stance.

Beeri made no mention of Saturday's non-appearance of Alirezaei post-race.

The Iranian media, which is often given to flights of fancy, reported the story a little differently:

Iranian swimmer Mohammad Alirezaei has pulled out of the Olympic Games on Saturday because of illness.

The 100-meter breaststroke swimmer was carried to a hospital in Beijing, according to the Iranian Swimming Federation officials.

I'll bet he was carried, all right...kicking and screaming that the mad mullahs wouldn't let him compete because he might lose to an Israeli. Cowards.

If the Iranians can't face Israel in a swimming pool, the Israelis don't have much to worry about in the event of a war.