Father-bashing makes it to the Olympics

Submitted by Daringest on Fri, 2008-08-22 02:14

Father-bashing makes it to the Olympics. Well, at least to a blog about the Olympics called Fourth-Place Medal. Apparently, someone didn't see Michael Phelps' father in the spectator stands so he decided to use the opportunity to portray him as a bad father. The article is at The mystery of Michael Phelps' missing father.

"During Michael Phelps' races, camera shots of his mother Debbie were a fixture on NBC. The network showed endless replays of her falling to her seat after that memorable 100 butterfly finish. She even watched one race on camera with Cris Collinsworth, squeezing his knee the entire time. And after her son won his eighth gold medal, Debbie was all over NBC getting interviewed by Bob Costas, Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera. Michael's sisters, Hilary and Whitney were also in Beijing cheering on their little brother. All this coverage of the Phelps family led to one obvious question from our readers: Where was Dad?"

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

I'd also heard them say in one of the profiles of Phelps that the absence of his father after his parent's divorce (which if I recall occurred when he was still rather young) was a contributing factor to both his ADHD and his mother's subsequently getting him into sports to give him an opportunity to work off all his nervous energy. Fortunate for him that he was good at something athletic. Most are not. Ok, they didn't say it quite that way; it was more like the ADHD just 'happened'.

It's pretty well known that fatherless boys often go to the opposite extreme, becoming hyper-masculine types in one way or another, but I suppose it's OK if we get a Phelps out of the deal every generation or so.

Anyway, I didn't hear any mention of Phelps' dad, and I've been watching just about all the coverage. Gotta feel for the guy that his son has such accomplishments and yet he can't publicly take any pride in them. Maybe some investigative sports reporter somewhere has dug into this.

* MB

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Martian Bachelor on Sat, 2008-08-23 17:34

I've reread the article. It doesn't seem slanted against Phelps' father as I originally thought. It's the reader comments that are largely unfairly critical (to put it mildly) of Fred Phelps. I also read the NY Post and Baltimore Sun articles and they both seem to just report the facts.

It seems that Fred Phelps is trying very hard to not detract attention from his son's accomplishments. Perhaps the father's presence in Beijing would do the opposite. Fred also traveled to Athens in 2004 and witnessed all of Michael's events. It's possible and even likely that Michael's thoughts of his father are a result of influence from his mother and older sisters, whom the Sun article says were "played pivotal roles in his development, not just as a swimmer but as a young man."

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Daringest on Sun, 2008-08-24 20:26