One for the Ages

Put the conspiracy theory down, Phelps won the race. I have looked all over the internet for someone to wave the flag of conspiracy (and frankly I am shocked that Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post has not). I figured there would be plenty of people out there who were certain their eyes could see the difference of one one-hundredth of a second better than an expertly calibrated electronic timing system. But it seems the only people not convinced of Phelps' victory were the Serbian Olympic officials and journalists (the following quotes are from Pat Forde's espn.com article. Forde, by the way, has done an excellent job covering the swimming events in Beijing):

"I thought Cavic won," fumed Serbian journalist Dejan Stevovic of Sportski Zurnal. "It was obvious."

"But he doesn't have $50 million in sponsors, like that guy," grumbled another Serb.

So today's lesson: be gracious in defeat. I know and appreciate that no one wants to lose. But it does happen to everyone, even Michael Phelps (just not in Beijing). The entire world was not out to get Milorad Cavic. But, judging by the comments from the Serbian journalists, they certainly think that way. Cavic, to his credit was the gracious one. He said he was "stoked" with the results and seemingly proud of the fact he has an Olympic Silver Medal to his name. Its a shame the Serbian journalists, so sure they saw Cavic sneak in for the victory from their vantage point at least 30 feet from the finish, cannot join Cavic on the high road.