YOG Olympic Celebrity Watch: Michael Phelps

YOG Olympic Celebrity Watch: Michael Phelps

Every Olympic Games has its Olympic celebrity or two to watch out for. Before every Olympic Games, there will always be celebrity sportsmen or sportswomen to watch who turn into Olympic darlings of world media. These highly driven Olympians-to-be, who possess athletic talent of Olympian proportions and put in the requisite hours of training, always have a mysterious X-factor that pushes them onto Olympic celebrity watch superstar status. Somehow these future Olympians are able to capture the watchful imagination of the public with the prospect of achieving great Olympic goals during any Olympic Games.

Today at Singapore Youth Olympic Games (YOG), we highlight one such rising star in our Olympic Celebrity Watch. He is none other than 23-year-old US swim sensation Michael Phelps who has stirred up Olympic celebrity watch frenzy in the United States.
The world record holder in the 200-metre freestyle, he came close to rewriting his record during recent US Olympic trials. He is also strong in the 200-metre butterfly and the 100-metre breaststroke. In fact, Michael Phelps has been tipped to win as many gold medals as the legendary 1972 Olympian swimmer Mark Spitz of the United States of America.

To qualify to be an idol on the Olympic celebrity watch, he has steely nerves when under the swimming pool spotlight and possesses down to earth demeanor when out of the pool. Gary Hall JR, four gold medallist in the 1976 Olympic Swimming Finals, was quoted as saying ”It’s impossible for most people to really express that when you’re in a sport where half your social life is being developed with your head under the water” on why Michael Phelps does not come across as flamboyant.

Will Singapore have its own local sportspersons to write about in Olympic Celebrity Watch in the upcoming inaugural Youth Olympic Games YOG to be held in Singapore in the year 2010?