Amazing Pace: The Story of Olympic Champion Michael Phelps from Sydney to Athens to Beijing
Americans don't often go crazy about swimmers, but when young Michael Phelps took eight medals—six gold and two bronze—at the 2004 Athens Olympics, people got excited. Before long, Phelps's ads for Speedo and his other sponsors were plastering billboards around the globe. To understand Phelps's phenomenal rise, McMullen, a sportswriter for theBaltimore Sun, has assembled a month-by-month retelling of Phelps's career in 2004. Occasionally, McMullen reports a spat between Phelps and his trainer, or what Phelps ate after a race, but he has little insight into Phelps's personality or interests. Instead, McMullen explores side issues—the Munich 1972 Olympics, doping scandals, nutritional supplements, 9/11—which, granted, are usually more interesting than racing times. McMullen's writing style ("The coach took a knee and placed his mouth a foot from Michael's left ear") suggests a normally terse sports writer trying to pad out his prose. For more of Phelps's story, readers might look to his memoir,Michael Phelps: Beneath the Surface.(Aug.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.