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Matt Grevers Takes on Michael Phelps Monday Night at the SoCal Grand Prix

01/17/10

There was an electric moment tonight when nearly all the spectators here at the SoCal Grand Prix felt that they were about to witness something big. It came in the last individual race of the night, the men’s 400 IM. The familiar name? Michael Phelps. Whenever The Greatest touches water, we expect wine.

Expectedly, Phelps didn’t disappoint.

It wasn’t a best time – Phelps finished in 3:38.42. But something happened tonight, and it had nothing to do with the suits, or a world record swim, or even a meet record (Phelps went fourteen hundredths faster here in 2007): Phelps gave us a race. Gave us something to cheer for. The Belmont Plaza Pool sprang to its feet. Every spectator stopped what they were doing and turned their direction to the two man duel in the pool. The challenger came by the name of Hidemasa Sano.  And Sano battled the superstar swimmer to the end, valiantly staying with the Baltimore Bullet until the final 50 yards, when Phelps turned on that patented last-50 overdrive that so many of his competitors know he can do.

In case you missed it, here’s what happened: Phelps and Sano were neck-and-neck for 350 yards. The crowd was on its feet. Sano had nearly fifteen teammates at the end of his lane cheering his every stroke. The smaller, skinnier Sano was David. Phelps was Goliath.

And the crowd loved it.

With one last 50 yards to go, Phelps reached down into his bag of tricks – that bag he so often finds in the big races at the big moments – and pulled out a 23.93 50 freestyle split. To put it in context, Phelps’ final 50 yards in his 400 IM was faster than 200 freestyle champ Matt Grevers’ last 50 (Grevers won in 1:34.98). In short, Sano had no chance. Phelps toyed with him – perhaps played the crowd a little -- and then said goodbye, see you later.

After the race, I asked Phelps, “Do you swim faster when you’re being pushed like that?” 

His response was enthusiastic. “If I’m in a race like that, you’ll see me try a lot harder. Everything will be brought out of me.” Phelps then remembered one of his favorite all-time races, another epic battle swum nearly one decade ago: “One of my favorite races was the 400 IM against Erik Vendt in Ft. Lauderdale in 2001. Those races are the best races. I enjoy those the most.” And that’s what makes good swimming. The best athletes giving it their all.

And this is why swimming will continue to excite, super-suits or no super-suits.

Some pundits in the swimming world claim we are entering a new era of swimming, of slow times and boring results and lackluster fan enthusiasm. Some think that without full-body polyurethane suits, the general interest in swimming will suffer and shrivel. Without the suits, the sport is doomed, because surely no one has ever gotten goosebumps from a swim race before Jaked came along.

We want to see good races. It’s as simple as that. Give the public good races, and the public will watch enthusiastically. Your average swim fan doesn't know the world record times. Your average sports fan can’t even explain what “IM” means. Breaking 40,000 world records is not the answer, because people just want to see good races.

Phelps proved that tonight.

“The crowd definitely helped a lot, I heard them pretty much from the first stroke,” Phelps said after the race. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”

Keep doing what you’re doing, Michael. And as we usher in 2010, here’s a message to Mr. Phelps, in case he ever reads this:

There will be more Hidemasa Sanos gunning for you the next few years (or, sooner-than-later, Matt Grevers in Monday’s 100 fly). And if the day ever comes when the crowd cheers are louder for someone else, and in old age you see your records broken and times bested, remember that in the closest of races, you raced. Because that’s what you like to do. And that’s what our sport needs to emphasize more: races, not records.