A Golden Evening

The pool is rectangular, the building is a cube, but on this day, shapes and geometry do not matter; what matters is times and gold.

Michael Phelps has become the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. He has won 8 Gold medals in one Olympiad, a feat which surpasses Mark Spitz who achieved an astounding 7 gold medals.

The boy from Baltimore became a man adopted by a nation. We followed this achievement with great passion because he was the face of a nation in a games where China was to shine. For just one week, the luster of these Olympics did not come from the decorative torch which lights the Bird's Nest but from the lights of the Water Cube reflecting off of both the pool and the medals around his neck.

True to form when asked about the accomplishment, Phelps gave much of the credit to his teammates, saying he could not have done it without them. That may be so, but no matter how hard he tries to deflect the praise, it belongs to him. He went to Beijing with the weight of a nation on his shoulders and race by race that weight was lifted.

With his mother by his side, he did what he has always done best, he swam.

Seventeen swims later he has surpassed super stardom on his way to swimming deity.

From this day forward there is a new standard for prominence in sport.

His teammate Brendan Hansen said, today all athletes should tip their hat to Phelps. It is not enough, however, to merely tip their hats; at this point their hats should be taken off and laid at his feet.

Michael Phelps is too modest to beat his own chest, having learned the lessons his mom Debbie worked so hard to teach him. Having grown up in a house as the baby with three women, he took his lessons from them and employed them to become a great Olympian and a better person.

Today you are a champion, forever you are a legend. The best advice that can be given to the world is to get back to work. Four years goes fast when you are chasing the wake of a man who has been said to have gills behind his ears.

What he has just done is more than human, and at this point all that can be said as the swimming portion of the XXIX Olympiad comes to a close is that this is a record that will stand until Phelps decides to match it himself or they allow fish to officially enter the Olympics as citizens of the Ocean Nation.

Since the latter does not seem likely to happen, Michael Phelps, and his mom can take a nice vacation until 2012. He certainly has earned it.