Will media give credit for Phelps' 8th gold medal to other swimmers in 4 x 100 relay (Peirsol, Hansen, Lezak)?

Question

from Jere Longman article in today's NY Times (Aug. 15):

"Aaron Peirsol, the world-record holder in the 100-meter backstroke, will swim the leadoff leg. Brendan Hansen, a former world-record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, will swim the second leg. Phelps will swim the butterfly leg, followed by Lezak, the freestyle anchor.

“We absolutely respect and admire Michael’s goals, but the feeling on the team is that by no means does one man come first,” Peirsol said. “Honestly, when Lezak pushed out that relay, the next day guys were bringing up the fact that if Lezak didn’t touch out, Mike might not have had his eight golds. It’s not something Mike talks about. No one here is racing for second place, even the guys racing Mike. The feeling on our team is, we’re all racing to win. He’s doing exceptionally well; we’re all rooting for him. But by no means is he the only one we’re rooting for.”

Do you think the NBC commentators and cheerleaders will get off their soapbox of Michael Phelps as being the Olympics "Messiah"?

Answer 1

yeah, lezak got a lot of credit. however phelps is being overly worshiped.

Answer 2

Of course the rest of them won't get credit, only phelps will, he is so over rated , i feel bad for the rest of the athletes

Answer 3

aw cmon guys, lezak was awsm as obviously the rest of the team but without that gold phelps would still tie mark spitz at 7 (assuming he wins tomorrow), thats gotta be sth. the guy is great, he's trained hard for this (we cant know how it is to be an olympic athlete > prolly no life outside training) so let him have his fame, nvm waht the media says.  

Answer 4

he's already won 1 relay gold, so yeah. they will.

Answer 5

The media hype is not necessary for any team event though he has proved his merit in individual events by breaking several world records!

Answer 6

haha, probably not, but what do you remember from that 4x100? I remember Lezak dominating the last 25 meters, and they did talk about the other members some, but obviously the focus will always be on phelps getting his 8 golds

Answer 7

It is highly feasible that they will go on and on about Phelps but he cannot help what the press will talk about. So, if the media chooses to dominate the news with his name, don't blame him. He is doing a extraordinary job and so are all of our athletes. They have all been training for years to be where they are now. However, he is making history and that is a big deal. We should be proud of them all.  .