I love how, once every four years, people in the US suddenly care about swimming. Other than the Olympics, I’ve never seen a swimming competition and I’d bet most people haven’t either. That aside, it is a cool accomplishment to win 8 golds in a row (although 8 world records would have been better). However, Phelps brings up an interesting question regarding doping and unfair competition. Given that he’s multiply double-jointed and his arms are too long, at what point do we stop allowing genetic freaks into competition. For example, would we allow a swimmer who was born with webbed feet and hands to compete? What about a weightlifter with 4 biceps? Or a runner born with 3 legs? Or even a wrestler who was raised by bears?
