Did you notice that Kitajima beat Phelps?

Question

In the relay, Kitajima started after Phelps, but he still passed him. I had talked to some friends about whether or not they thought Phelps would win if he had competed in the pool with Kitajima (because he was not in either of those races), but our debate was put to rest, I guess.

(Please note: If anyone thinks this is a sour question, I would like to say that this is positive praise for Kitajima, NOT negative hatred against Phelps)

Answer 1

Kitajima competed in three events compared to Phelps' 8.  Ever hear of a little thing called fatigue?  With all the rounds of qualifying for each event, Phelps raced a lot more in a weeks time than Kitajima.  With at least two round of qualifying before each final, I'm estimating Phelps raced 24 times compared to 9 by Kitajima...but you can subtract the relays that Phelps didn't race in the qualifiers, so that would still make it 21 races to 9.  I'm sure Kitajima was a bit fresher going into that last relay.

Answer 2

Kitajima did not race Phelps. He raced against Hansen and Phelps raced against Fugii after Hansen lost the lead for the USA.. Phelps dove in after Fugii did but still put the USA back in the lead. Lesak finished it off, the rest is history!

Answer 3

Probably USA media didn't concern about that.

However, I can tell you that Japanese media are crazy report this event. The Asian media also.

Answer 4

Well it was a relay, so that should answer your question. USA won therefore Phelps won, a relay is a team event not an individual. PHelps still had a fast time and there is no need to put it down. For what he has done is truly an amazing thing, 8 gold medals and he swam all those races.