I’m not so much of a sports person, that’s why there aren’t so much sport posts on this blog in the first place. But I do love a good sports story, fair play and great rivalries, regardless of the sport. It appears to me that another such rivalry is about to develop, or it already did, between Michael Phelps, the American super-swimmer and Milorad Cavic, the American-born Serbian talent.

First great moment in this duel was the now legendary Olympic race that stirs passions even today, and I’m afraid it will continue to do so in the future. The race is considered historic not only because it allowed Michael Phelps to become the greatest swimmer in history, but because it raised important questions about timing system accuracies and made a lot of people think if all that money from the sponsors helps improve the competition in every single case.
Cavic, although not completely convinced that he lost, congratulated Phelps without any hesitation. I’m always impressed when I see great sportsmanship even during a street basketball game, not to mention at such high level competition as the Olympic Games.

The second great moment happened couple of hours ago when Phelps beat Cavic again (or not “again”, if you believe in conspiracy theories about the race mentioned above), this time with a clear advantage of 13 hundredth parts of a second. What made this race historic is that the both swimmers broke the 50 second barrier for 100 meter fly first time in history of the sports. What made the race interesting even before it started is Cavic’s rant about the suits, which just made everything even more exciting and maybe even inspired Phelps to try even harder, and eventually win. In the end we got another proof that Phelps is still the best, and – another proof that Cavic knows how to accept a defeat. His words to Phelps right after the race was over: “You’re the man.”

What I know is that I want to see more battles of these two swimmers in the future.

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