Milorad Cavic Opens Up About Beijing Showdown With Michael Phelps in Feature in The Ringer
An excellent takeout feature by John Gonzalez was posted on The Ringer this morning, the piece catching up with Milorad Cavic 12 years after his narrow defeat to Michael Phelps in the final of the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The work by Gonzalez, who has a reputation as a superb feature writer, discusses the finish inside the Water Cube and some behind-the-scenes details from the morning.
However, the feature goes beyond just that morning, which handed Phelps his seventh gold medal of the week and set him up for a record eighth the next day. Gonzalez gets Cavic, who in the article claims to have won the race, to open up and examine a variety of points. At one juncture, Cavic wonders how he can be connected with Phelps for history but having nothing more.
“One thing that bothers me is I’m pegged to a guy, and probably will be pegged to a guy for the rest of my life, and I never knew him,” Cavic told Gonzalez. “Why did he never want to spend five minutes with me?”
The full feature, which also includes comments from Mark Schubert and Mike Bottom about the controversy following the race can be found here.
“The touch.” Photo Courtesy: Heinz Kluetmeir
I use that underwater picture all the time with my swimmers. The difference between winning Gold and getting touched out and settling for Silver is keeping your head up on your finish. Put that head down and finish strong.