I don’t think there will be all day Park Tae-hwan highlight shows on the Korean channels after he got crushed by American Michael Phelps today in the 200 meter freestyle:
In swimming, Phelps blew away the competition in the 200-meter freestyle, fulfilling Park’s prediction made the previous day.
Reacting the fastest to the buzzer, Phelps remained under water longer and farther than any other competitor. He moved out to a commanding lead by the second lap.
Park moved to second at the 100-meter mark and in the final 50 meters, fended off another American, Peter Vanderkaay, who surged right behind Park down the stretch. [Korea Times]
Park actually swam a good race but Phelps is just a freak of nature that no one can compete against. However you can tell that Phelps does have respect for Park:
“I knew Park is strong in the last 50 meters,” Phelps said of the 400 free gold medalist, “so I knew I had to be fast and concentrated.” [CNNSI]
Here is what Park said in response:
“Phelps swam so fast,” Park said. “It is my honor to compete with him.”
It was actually a good image to see Park and Phelps visibly hugging each other and smiling after the race, compared to the Chinese swimmer Zhang Lin when Park won Gold in the 400 meter freestyle who seemed angry at Park for winning and appeared to want nothing to do with him.
The South Korean Olympic also brought in another Gold medal today in the air pistol competition with Jin Jong-oh defeating a North Korean opponent Kim Jong-su in the finals. So it was another good day for the Korean team which finds its self in third place in the overall medal count with 12 medals behind China with 18 and the United States with 21. Surprisingly North Korea sits in seventh place with 7 medals total.
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10:41 pm on August 12th, 2008 1
Yeah, shame on Park for being so arrogant! Typical Korean!
10:50 pm on August 12th, 2008 2
“Phelps is just a freak of nature”
This line made me laugh. Well said.
11:23 pm on August 12th, 2008 3
that is possibly my new favourite picture <3333
i could possibly become a park taehwan fangirl….. he’s cute in an awwww way x.x
please shoot me now~
1:44 am on August 13th, 2008 4
GI you forget the Korean mindset. When a Korean wins, he acts so arrogant. Look at what Park did when he won and what Phelps did. Phelps won and was cool, even gave Park (who said he wanted to screw Phelps out of 8 golds, and CLAIMED he would beat Phelps) a hand shake. Phelps is cool and a good sport. When Pak won, he danced arrogantly like the king of the world.
Also, you must admit that Park looks just like Bert. Admit… admit…
5:06 am on August 13th, 2008 5
Just more nonsense from Shattered. He spends his entire days looking to trash Koreans. There isn’t a single thing that he says that isn’t mean hearted and offensive. Grow up.
11:59 am on August 13th, 2008 6
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3:15 pm on August 13th, 2008 7
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7:14 pm on August 13th, 2008 8
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9:07 pm on August 13th, 2008 9
Shattered, actually that wasn’t me. As GI Korea can attest.
But I did agree that was funny.
Also it’s ironic to see how you’re screaming at Koreans as being arrogant, when we see how Chinese team and their fans are behaving at this moment.
12:28 pm on August 14th, 2008 10
So Korea as a whole is ranked twice in the top ten out of hundreds of nations. And it is good to see America and the ROK hand in hand as winners.
9:13 pm on August 14th, 2008 11
KOREA is FAILURE IN ARCHERY
Park Sung-hyun is FAILURE
CHINA GETS GOLD!!! KOREA FAILS!!