#like come ON. really?? REALLY? LEDECKY AND PHELPS???

[zucchiniegg]

it’s REALLY funny that you chose swimming, a sport where there is a clear, objective, quantitative tool for comparing athletic ability (ie speed) across categories to straight up tell a fucking lie LMAO.

Phelps’s time in the 400m IM (which I am picking as an example because it’s a middle-distance including all four strokes) is almost thirty seconds faster than Ledecky’s, and while the specific numbers change, there is not a single personal best she holds that he hasn’t beaten. There are one or two events where she comes close to him, out of dozens. Ledecky is top of her class and is an exceptional athlete but she would maybe, MAYBE, crack one or two Olympic finals if she was competing against men. This isn’t speculation. We literally know how fast she swims.

You can do this for any sport. There are no overall Olympic records held by women in any sport that holds identical events for both sexes. Extreme long distance swimming, i.e. 5+ kilometers, is the only athletic discipline where top-level women do better than men at the same level.

(We also, by the by, know what team sports look like when leagues are gender neutral. Want an example? The NHL is not a men’s league. Women are allowed to play in it. Women have played in it. The fact that so few of them have, since Manon Rheaume was the first in ‘92, should tell you something. It isn’t just a matter of stigma: percentages of female players have not risen alongside percentages of female managers, scouts, and coaches.)

As a trans person and former competitive athlete, you’re not doing our movement any favours by straight up lying about there being no difference between men and women in sport. We can recognize and hold space for people who cross and fall at the blurry lines of sex and gender without pretending that it has no impact on physical ability. Sex is absolutely not the whole story but it’s very far from irrelevant— as you may be able to glean from the fact that, as the OP neglected to mention, boxing and combat sports are divided by weight class IN ADDITION to gender, not instead of it.

"Should trans women be allowed to compete in women's sports" I don't think there should be women's sports. I think it's a silly artificial construction that only upholds the gender binary while it's benefits are incidental and would be better addressed directly.

Care about giving people with different body types and muscle mass a shot? Split your league by weight categories like boxing, or some other direct physical measurement. Gender is at best a poor proxy for these and we only do it because we still treat women are a different species. "But that still wouldn't be fully fair to everyone?" Sport isn't fully fair, it's about rewarding people with the most biological advantage. That's the whole point of it.

You want to give more sporting opportunity to women and minorities specifically? Okay then do that. Create your own opportunities league, but if we're giving up the pretense that it's about essential biological advantage then you better let trans women in.

What's that, the extra league would be treated as a novelty afterthought and would lack the prestige of the real main event? You mean like how women's events were treated when they were introduced? True! In fact women's leagues are still largely treated as secondary now, and you know how we can fix it? Make the main leagues open to everyone with weight, height or muscle mass categories so that people with different body types can excel. Like I suggested before. Problem solved.

Women's sport is bad actually.

[bobcatmoran]

So, I love the Olympics. I absolutely hate the way NBC covers them.

During the women's gymnastics team competition, they literally only showed Russian and US gymnasts, and I know there were more than just two teams there. Heck, one of them won bronze! Did we get to see any of them? Nope.

(major, major kudos, btw, to Simone Biles, for being able to come out and say, "I'm not all here mentally tonight, I'm unable to focus, and I'm in a sport, doing moves, where if I don't focus, I could seriously injure myself," and then stepping out. And kudos to her teammates, who did a stellar job of stepping up to participate in events they hadn't thought they'd be doing tonight)

And then they had an interview with Michael Phelps, who's here as a swimming commentator, to ask him about both upcoming swimming races and about Simone Biles, who has been under the sort of pressure he was to achieve near-superhuman Olympic greatness.

He gave this really thoughtful answer, about how mental health is just as important as physical health, and how this last 18 months has been exceptionally hard on everyone mentally. And then, you add on top of that, how incredibly weird and stressful these Olympics are for everyone involved, even above and beyond normal Olympics stress.

And then Mike Tirico, who was doing the interview, just completely ignored how NBC's "WE WILL FOCUS ON ONLY 5 US ATHLETES AND POUND HOW AWESOME THEY ARE INTO THE GROUND" coverage was undoubtedly a factor in Biles' stepping down from the team competition today, and was like, "And now back to the pool! Katie Ledecky, she is swimming in two major events tonight, which we are reminding you of for the twenty-seventh time tonight! Let's stare at her as she warms up!"

[dhaaruni]

With the AMAB vs AFAB people: I like to think most people are reasonable and will agree that AMAB people are generally physically stronger than AFAB people, but there’s a subset of people on Tumblr who claim things like “AMAB people are biologically predisposed to like trivia and are socially trained to have faster thumbs due to their spending more time playing video games!” to discredit a Jeopardy! player who was a trans woman. I think that’s what the memes are about.

Omg I remember those arguments, that was insane.

Tbh I also meant it in the context of athletics because I think that when things like scholarships and sponsorships come into play, aka after puberty, you’re going to need to be able to explain to the parents of cis girls who want their daughters to get athletic scholarships why trans men and trans women both compete with cis women because that’s what’s happening right now with Lia Thomas and people aren’t happy.

If you believe that people should compete with their gender of choice, trans men should be competing with men, but they don’t because they don’t get anywhere near even making them team at the collegiate level let alone placing. There’s a trans man on Yale’s swim team and he competes with women! And, it’s not possible to like measure people’s hormone levels before every competition from a moral or ideological POV, so you really can’t differentiate based on stage of transition.

But look at Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, the best male and best female swimmer in the world, and Phelps’ fastest time in a race is 12 seconds faster than Ledecky’s! She’s considered the best female swimmer of all time and is the most decorated, and there are high school boys who match her times.

I’m not saying that taking estrogen or testosterone doesn’t impact athletic performance one way or another because it does, but the other salient fact is, while the majority of Americans support trans people being able to serve in the military, they don’t believe in their playing in the sports team of their gender identity. People generally support social changes that don’t impact their lives, that’s why gay marriage became normalized relatively quickly like it doesn’t impact straight people although homophobia is still rampant. But, with collegiate and professional sports, it’s much more contentious.

Of course, none of this is relevant to the legislation the GOP is passing like it doesn’t really matter in pee-wee soccer, and accusing the parents of trans kids of being child predators is reprehensible and inexcusable no matter how you look at it, and pretty much everybody who isn’t a literal QAnon fanatic agrees. I understand the whole “if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile” logic but that doesn’t mean that people skeptical about trans women competing with cis women at the NCAA level are Greg Abbott supporters and conflating the two doesn’t build support for cis or trans women in sports.

[embcrry]

ok thisss took wayyy longer than i’d expected . like it’s fucking midnight ? like guys im such a mess omfg . anywaysss * tana mongeau vc “ welcome to my trash bin daught or welcome back to my trash bin daughter ... what ? was ? that ? idfk . if you wanna plot with my overly tired ass give this post a like and i’ll love you down i promise !! also i apologize for how long this intro is going to be in advance !

new york’s very own  𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐄 " 𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 " 𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 was spotted on broadway street in 𝘓𝘖𝘜𝘉𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘐𝘕 𝘌𝘓𝘖𝘐𝘚𝘌 𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘛𝘚  . your resemblance to barbara palvin is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃  birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being guarded , but also dependable  . i guess being a 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be  𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘶𝘱, 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯 + 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴  .  &  ( female & she/her  )  +  ( faith , 21 , she/her , est . )

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

FULL NAME : emilie sierra berry . NICKNAME : emma , em , emma bear ( by her little sister ) . BIRTH DATE : march 1st , 1998 . AGE : 22 . GENDER : female ( cis ) . PRONOUNS : she + her . ORIENTATION :  pansexual ( attractions are equal ) , panromantic ( leans more toward women ) . BIRTH PLACE : brisbane , australia ( see home here ) . the family still owns this house but don’t use it much . HOMETOWN : new york city ( upper west side ) , new york ( see home here ) . her dad + little sister still live here today . CURRENT LOCATION : new york city ( upper east side ) , new york ( see home here ) . moved in one year ago after break up . EDUCATION LEVEL : highschool diploma .   OCCUPATION : olympic swimmer ( emulated after katie ledecky ) , socialite , escort ( no one knows ) . NET WORTH : 32million ( every year up until she’s twenty five she receives a percentage of her trust fund ) . FAMILY NET WORTH : 3.1billion ( father ) , 4.8billion ( mother + step - father ) . PARENTS : adrian berry ( father , 51 , hedge fund manager ) , natasha laffont ( mother , 48 , former super model + philanthropist ) , thomas laffont ( step - father , 50 ,  businessman + art collector ) . SIBLINGS : tatiana berry ( sister , 10 , student + ballet dancer ) , bradley laffont ( step-brother , 24 , new york rangers player ) . PETS : jagger ( ragdoll cat , picture ) , maggie ( pomeranian - husky , picture ) . NATIONALITY : australian - american . ETHNICITY : hungarian . CLOTHING STYLE : expensive yet casual ; alot of black , hoodies , leather is a staple , high end sneakers , boots , colorful suits . JEWELRY : gold ; dangly earring , cartier bracelet , tiffany rings , barbell nipple piercings. DIET : pescitarian , no dairy ( lactose intolerant ) . WORK OUT HABITS : six times a week ( mostly boxing + swimming  ) . PERSONALITY : guarded ; there is nothing emma hates more than talking about her feelings or letting anyone know who she’s feeling , she has trouble trusting people for good reason ( the girls trust issues have trust issues yall ) + dependable ; if you need anything in the world go to emma she will move mountains to get shit down for you , she’s very punctual , and super disciplined probably due to being an olympian + goofy ; she doesn’t take much too seriously tbh , ( similar to joey + phoebe from friends ) she can be a bit of a space cadet and that always ends in her making everyone laugh + stubborn ; one thing is for sure about emma she’s extremely hard headed , loves getting her way , and is incredibly unforgiving . 

𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘 ( in bullets )

her parents met during college , where they both attended princeton university . natasha , her mom , was in the middle of her modeling career completely blowing up while adrian was already setting the foundation of his investment company . they had a whirlwind romance and were married just a year after adrian graduated from princeton . both coming from old money , emma’s grandparents on both sides are extremely meticulous about the image of their family + so the same mentality was instilled in adrian + natasha .

 emma spent the first nine years of her life in brisbane , australia . her parents had moved out to australia just a couple years before she was born for the sake of making her father’s company an international success . 

with her parents always off doing something , emma was raised by her nanny + butler . when she was six she expressed her desire to get into swimming after watching michael phelps in the 2004 summer olympics . she was in absolute awe by him + wanted to be just like him . so the next day her nanny spoke to her parents and later that day she was enrolled into a local swimming program .

when she was nine her parents broke the news to her that they were moving to new york . at first she wasn’t all too mad about the move , she didn’t have many friends in school , wasn’t a big fan of her teachers , and knew the one thing she loved she could still do in new york . her outlook on the move changed when she found out that her nanny + butler would not be making the move across the equator with them though . how dare her parents steal the only people who’d ever taken care of her away from her ? she thought . she threw an absolute fit in protest ; completely wrecking the home + locking herself away in the bathroom in her room for nearly 20 hours before her nanny talked her into coming out . 

once in new york , emma was miserable . she had tantrums everyday and even stopped swimming for a few months . what inevitably pulled her out of her funk was a trip disneyland paris + her mom bringing her out to buy a whole new wardrobe . yall ever heard of a spoiled brat ?

once she was open to the idea of new york she kind of fell in love with the city , to be honest . she grew close to her new nanny + butler , of course and fell in love with her new swimming coach .

when she was fourteen her parents got a divorce and just six months later her mom was married to a billionaire living in connecticut with a son just two years older than emma . anyone with a brain could put together that her mom had been cheating on her dad , that was except for her dad who’d fallen into denial that his ex - wife would come back . 

[ trigger warning : alcoholism , child abuse , violence ] after months of listening to her father , emma broke , the two got in a huge screaming match about how her mom wasn’t coming back saying things like “this is so pathetic, stop graveling over a women who doesn’t want you” + “she doesn’t want you” + “just move on, she’s never coming back, she’s fucking an art collector in connecticut”. mind you she’s fourteen talking to her dad like this , yikes . he started spiraling after that , drinking heavily , doing coke more than just at events , and when emma copped an attitude he’d hit her . it started with just a rough slap , pushing her into the pool or down the stairs , and then it turned into punching her . it got so bad her coach started noticing during swim practices and inevitably threatened her dad , either he let her move in with him or he’d call the police . so , not wanting a tarnished reputation , her dad sent her off to live with her swim coach .

[ trigger warning : grooming ] life with her swim coach was cool , she got to swim alot more plus he was extremely high profile due to sending swimmers to the olympics as well acting in a few movies so she got to go to alot of events with him all across the world . she enjoyed her time with him more than she’d enjoyed the entirety of her life and then he got her to the 2012 olympics in london + her trust and appreciation for him sky rocketed . in her eyes no one int he world could or did love her more .

coming back from the olympics , her had fully sobered up and was ready to bring emma back home .  her and her coach weren’t completely gun ho for the move but she inevitably moved back home with her father .

[ trigger warning : statutory rape ] just a month after being back home , her coach started being a little too touchy with her . she felt uncomfortable by his advances but figured her was only taking care of her . then he kissed her and she was pretty creeped out so she asked what he was doing , basically the creep told her he was just missing her alot because she wasn’t living with him and reminded her about how he was really the only person who cared about her . she accepted what he said and soon after they started sleeping together regularly . he didn’t even have to tell her not to tell anyone , she innately knew if she ever told anyone he wouldn’t be her coach anymore and emma just wasn’t willing to lose the best coach she’d ever had . this continued for a little over a year until she went to the doctors and her mom went with her , her mom stayed in the room because the check up wasn’t all that invasive + then when her doctor asked her if she was sexually active her mom answered no but emma , not wanting to lie , stayed silent . she inevitably confessed at the appointment that she was sexually active . her mom freaked out and wanted to know who but of course emma didn’t spill that . she inevitably lied and said some guy she went to school with . within a week her mom found out she lied and refused to let emma go anywhere until she confessed who she was sleeping with . knowing her mom wouldn’t let up she told her it was her coach + that it wasn’t a big deal . but emma knew it was . her mom gave her coach an ultimatum he either quit coaching for good or she’d turn him in . she he quit and emma never heard from him again . 

she stopped talking to her more directly after that + stopped going back to connecticut for the weekends like she had been since her parents divorce . she was now sixteen without a swimming coach + completely mad at the world .  she’d had a rough few years , to say the least . she turned to partying , HEAVY , to cope with it all . she slept with anyone who so much as gave her a second look she didn’t care if they were older than her , had a girlfriend / boyfriend , if you were into her you could have her . it took her almost five months before she committed to a swim coach + they really whipped her back into shape . no more partying , emma went from school to practice and then home . it was awfully boring for the new party girl but she had one of the best coaches in the world + they promised to stop coaching her had she not listened to their every word . the only thing she cared more about then letting loose was going to another olympics . 

she attended a private school in manhattan where she completely smashed each and everyone of the school, districts , and state records in swimming . she was never big into her academics but she upheld a b average for the sake of being able to stay on the schools swimming team . if she received anything less than a b she would guilt her dad into giving her school a donation so they’d give her the grade she felt she deserved . 

she graduated from highschool in 2016 and although she was accepted into multiple schools across the nation , with athletic full ride offers from each school  , but she inevitably declined each school because she did want to spend another second behind a desk . knowing her dad would never approve of her not going to college , with his ivy league education ass , she lied to him and said she was attending nyu . 

she went to the 2016 olympics in rio and completely dominated ( 4 gold medals , 1 silver + breaking five world/olympic/american records in the meets ) . 

just months in 2017 her dad started to pick up on her lie about attending college . telling her she needed to enroll immediately or he’d cut her off . calling his bluff she didn’t enroll . she quickly learned that he wasn’t bluffing when he completely cut her off , telling her she had a month to find a place to live and move out .  

thanks to her olympics money + her endorsements with tyr sports + adidas she had enough money to get an apartment but her saving would deplete quick so she knew she needed to do something to make alot of money + quick .

desperate and running out of time emma joined seeking arrangements under an alias as sierra meyers . there were a few success and plenty of total blunders on the site but she got lucky with the first women she met with who offered to get her into escorting . emma didn’t even give it a second thought before she said yes , the only thing she asked is that the clientele not want her to attend highly publicized events with her as she's quickly get caught due to her socialite status   . 

within a year she’d made half of what her entire lifes work had made her , she grew obsessed with escorting and what made it crazy was there were people who would pay her half a million just to have dinner and talk with her . of course , those were the unicorns though because most wanted to sleep with her at the end of the night . 

when she turned twenty one her dad gave in and gave her back her blackcard + even offered to move her back into the house , she took the credit card but decided to continue living outside of his walls . 

she could’ve quit escorting right then and there , but she’d grown an addiction if you will to her work . there was something about the secrecy of it + her ability to make millions so easily that kept her going .

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

former roommate ; these two moved in together after her dad kicked her out + even though she moved in with someone else months after they signed the lease she payed them for her half of the rent for the rest of the lease , ex ; they dated when she was cut off by her dad + they inevitably moved into together they could of had a rocky or really good relationship by broke up around this time last year , the guy she “ lost “ her virginity to ; he didn’t actually take her virginity , in truth these two could very well have never even slept together but he’s the guy she lied to her about sleeping with to cover up sleeping with her coach he found out about her lie when emma’s mom asked his parents if he was sleeping with emma we can decide where things went from there between these two , suspicious friend ; they’re starting to pick up on her random disappearing + secrecy , maybe they start following her at some point and inevitably confront her about escorting or maybe they think she’s doing something else and accuse her of that ? , first girlfriend , more exes , people she’s slept with , someone who she slept with + they had a significant other , fellow olympians , travel buddy , podcast co-host ; these two came up with an idea recently to start a podcast , they haven't released it just yet but it’d be similar to call her daddy / impulsive !

[technologyinfosec]

Dressel dazzles in gold

Caeleb Dressel made history - again - at the world swimming championships.   The American won three gold medals in a span of about two hours Saturday night, duplicating his feat from two years ago in Budapest, Hungary.   Dressel has six golds and seven medals overall with one night remaining in the meet. He tied Michael Phelps' record of seven medals - all gold - at a single worlds in 2017.   "It was not easy in '17, it was not easy this year," the 22-year-old Floridian said. "I don't want it to be easy, I really don't."   He capped his momentous night by leading off the victorious mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Dressel joined Zach Apple, Mallory Comerford and Simone Manuel in setting a world record of 3 minutes, 19.40 seconds.   That lowered the mark of 3:19.60 set by the US in 2017.   Manuel dueled with Australian anchor Bronte Campbell over the final 50. The American clocked 52 seconds to Campbell's 52.36 to keep Dressel golden.   "I had a lot of help on that relay," he said, pointing out that his 100 split of 47.34 would only have been good enough for bronze in the individual event. "Every time I do a race I always look for the bad."   There wasn't much to criticise on this night.   Dressel opened the evening with a win in the 50 free to complete a 50-100 free sweep. He touched in 21.04 seconds, bettering the championship record of 21.08 set by Brazil's Cesar Cielo at the 2009 worlds in Rome during the height of the rubber suit era.   Bruno Fratus of Brazil and Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece tied for silver in 21.45.   Coming back just 34 minutes later, Dressel won the 100 fly in 49.66 a night after breaking Phelps' world record in the semifinals.   "Caeleb was amazing," said South Africa's Chad le Clos, the bronze medalist in the fly.   On his three trips to the podium, Dressel tied a bandanna belonging to a late high school mentor onto the ribbon holding his medal. He stood with his right hand over his heart for the US anthem.   "She loved me and I loved her, it's as simple as that," Dressel, declining to offer many details about the woman who influenced him. "That bandanna is just the last piece I have of her. I just wanted to bring her along for the journey."   Dressel wraps up his meet Sunday in the 4x100 medley relay.   "I'll be ready to swim one tomorrow and swim one fast," he said.   Katie Ledecky won her first gold medal in her final event of an illness-plagued worlds, rallying on the last lap to claim the 800 free.   "That girl's tough as nails," Dressel said.   Ledecky led the first seven laps before Simona Quadarella took over. The Italian was in front the next seven laps before it all came down to the final 50 meters.   "Simona was having a great race and pulled up right next to me," Ledecky said. "When she did that I kind of felt like I could stick with her and rely on my speed, so just tried to stay calm, relaxed from the 500 to the 750."   That's when Ledecky turned on the jets and completed the last lap in 29.19 seconds to Quadarella's 30.76.   "Just put my legs into it and got my hand to the wall," she said.   Ledecky won in 8:13.58. Quadarella, who won the 1,500 free in Ledecky's absence, took silver in 8:14.99.   Ariarne Titmus of Australia earned bronze in 8:15.70. Titmus stunned Ledecky to win the 400 free on the first night before the American got sick and withdrew from the 200 free preliminaries and 1,500 final.   Ledecky took silvers in the 400 free and 4x200 free relay.   Regan Smith, Dressel's 17-year-old teammate, won the 200 backstroke in 2:03.69, the second-fastest time in history.   "To be 2:03 two nights in a row, I was super, super stoked," Smith said.   She set the world record of 2:03.55 in Friday's semifinals and was on pace to lower it again before fading on the last lap.   "I really went for it on the first hundred," Smith said. "It hurt really bad going home, but I'm really glad that I gave it my all two nights in a row."   Smith's winning margin of 2.57 seconds over Kaylee McKeown of Australia was the biggest gap between first and second since 1991. Kylie Masse of Canada took bronze.   Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom won the 50 butterfly in 25.02 for her first gold and fourth medal overall. Read the full article

[stokan]

The 20 Best Things of 2016

Fun fact: Many good things actually happened in the year 2016. It’s true! It wasn't all death and Trump, although as you’ll see, those two factors hang heavy over even the best of things. But just like every year, 2016 still managed to produce its fair share of great art, cultural triumphs, and viral delights. Leaving out, obviously, things from 2016 that it seems like I’ll probably love but have yet to experience (OJ: Made in America, Search Party, 20th Century Women, Fences, etc.), and TV shows I’ve already written about in years past (OITNB, Transparent, You're the Worst, Veep, etc) here are my top 20 favorite things from 2016, listed in no particular order:

1. Beyonce - “Formation” video

How upset old white people were about this should give you some idea of just how great it is.

When I was growing up, the biggest music video from the biggest female pop star of the day involved her dancing around suggestively in a Catholic school girl outfit. Trump may have won the election, but progress still remains undefeated.

2. Kendrick Lamar’s Grammys Performance

(Of course this isn't anywhere on the internet for me to link to. Because Neil Portnow.)

Kendrick’s performance was the performance that Kayne always thinks he is giving. It’s a performance that made everyone else who took the stage on Music’s Biggest Night seem like talent show contestants.

I don’t want to tell artists how to use their fame, but this is how they should use their fame.

3. Last Week Tonight - #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain

SPOILER ALERT: He didn't make Donald Drumpf again. In fact the viral success of this piece and lack of any resultant effect on Trump whatsoever does raise some big questions about the effectiveness of comedy in actually changing anyone’s mind about anything in 2016. But yet, like death from a thousand paper cuts, it definitely drew a little blood. And even though I really wish John Oliver had stuck with guns and only referred to Trump as Drumpf for the rest of the year, it was still a more thorough and effective attack ad than anything the Clinton campaign managed to put together, and that was basically their whole job. John Oliver can never be president, but the world is going to be a better place as long as he keeps trying to help decide who will be.

Also, says everything about 2016 that this piece now feels like it came out ten thousand years ago.

4. La La Land

Hey, remember joy? And love? And having hopes and dreams? Well La La Land sure does! The best and worst thing you can say about it is that it’s a pre-Trump movie. Maybe the last one ever in fact. But for my money, Damien Chazelle’s quest to Make Musicals Great Again is exactly the tonic we need right now. And it seems fitting the Oscars after the death of Debbie Reynolds are going to be headlined by a colorful and happiness-inducing musical about show business, complete with its own dream ballet. Sometimes the best way to reinvent an art form is to just do it the same way its always been done, only better and at the right time.

5. Olympic Swimming

When the Olympics began I barely cared. I was raised on the Olympics, but in 2016 there’s so much else going on it felt like maybe time has passed the Olympics by. And then the swimming started. And Ledecky destroyed all challengers. And Phelps proved that calling him the greatest swimmer of all time is still underrating him. And Simone Manuel made history. And Lochte Lochted. And Anthony Ervin spun an all-time Olympic athlete backstory into Olympic gold. And for a week there was nothing in the world more compelling than watch people swim laps in a pool.

So turns out the Olympics are the Michael Phelps of sporting events - the second you think they’ve slipped a bit is when they have you right where they want you.

6. LVL Up - “Pain”

Point: Rock and roll is dead

Counterpoint: “Pain” by LVL Up

7. Stranger Things

I hate the 80s. I hate supernatural shows and horror-based shows and “genre” shows in general. I hate homage as the starting place for a work of art. I hate culture’s obsession with nostalgia and youth. And yet I loved Stranger Things. It felt like nothing else on TV while feeling like so many other things all at once. It’s the show Lost wishes it could have been, and what JJ Abrams wishes he had made instead of Super 8.

Also: I hate that there’s going to be a season two. I hate that dialogue around the show seemed so #TeamBarb when clearly any sane right-thinking person is #TeamNancy all the way. I preemptively hate all the imitators Stranger Things is going to spawn. And I hate the Stranger Things backlash that’s inevitably coming and coming hard. But right now, in this moment, let’s all embrace a wonderful television ride and not worry about the demigorgons in the woods coming to put slugs in its mouth.

#KeepHawkinsWeird

8. Flossie Dickey

Sometimes you find true love where you least expect it. Like in an interview with a 110-year woman at a nursing home.

9. Sam Donsky on The Ringer

(Speaking of soul mates…)

In the age of Trump it’s more important than ever that we have writers brave enough to ask the tough questions. Like: Who would win the Oscar for Best Baby? What is the best night any celebrity has ever had at Madison Square Garden? And why does David Benioff always thank his wife by her full name?

From analyzing the Kim/Kayne/Taylor tapes like they're the Zapruder film, to asking 74 questions about a film no one saw or liked, 2016 was the year Sam Donsky officially made himself into this generation’s Woodward and Bernstein, if Woodward and Bernstein were mostly known for dissecting dumb pop culture on the internet. We may never fully understand why Trump won, but, also, what’s up with Chris Pratt’s vests?

10. Black-ish - “Hope”

A perfect piece of writing and a perfect argument for the continued existence of network TV.

That being said though, 40 years ago this would be a classic TV episode people would talk about for generations. Now, it didn't even get nominated for an Emmy. Maybe network TV is just beyond saving.

11. The People vs. OJ Simpson

It’s almost a cliche at this point to point out how many societal issues the OJ Simpson case touched on, but watching this miniseries unfold was a great reminder that looking at the the past is usually the best vehicle for exploring the present. To choose just one example, the scene where the jurors argue over what to watch on TV is a perfect encapsulation of how something like a Trump victory could some day be possible. And if Marcia Clark isn't a perfect Hillary Clinton avatar then I don’t know who is. My only complaints about a perfect eight hours of television are that it wasn't longer and that Sarah Paulson and Courtney B. Vance aren't eligible for Oscars.

12. Samantha Bee’s Donald Trump Conspiracy Theory

Look, I don't want to say that Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is the best and most important show on TV. That is has the best joke writers in the business. That it has the righteous anger and indignation that this year called for. That it’s going to be our guiding light for the next four years. And that it’s proof that giving The Daily Show to Trevor Noah was one of the dumbest decisions in recent television history. All I’m saying is that some people are saying that, and who am I to disagree? If I was going to make claims that outlandish, I guess the first pieces of evidence I would direct you to are this already iconic Donald Trump conspiracy and the show’s Harriet Tubman segment. But I’m not one to make accusations about things using facts and evidence. I’m no expert; I’m just a guy. A guy standing in front of samanthabee.com asking it to to love him.

13. David Bowie - “Lazarus” video

The ultimate mic drop.

They say Native Americans used to make use of every part of the buffalo. David Bowie was like that, only the buffalo was his life.

14. SNL

“Farewell Mr. Bunting”

Having enough trust in your audience and your vision to attempt this sketch is super inspiring. Getting people in 2016 to wait through two and a half minutes of build up in a viral video before it pays off feels like a miracle. And getting the feeling back in my face when I finally finish laughing at this is going to be really great.

“Black Jeopardy” This is what comedy can do when its at it’s best. It cuts to truths about America more clearly and cleanly than 1,000 think pieces ever could. Are comedy sketches eligible for the Nobel Prize in Literature now?

“Hillary Clinton/Hallelujah” And this is what comedy can do when it’s not comedy at all. When historians 200 years from now want to know what the days just after the election of Donald Trump felt like all they need to do is watch this. The best thing SNL has ever done.

15. Songs That Made Me Unsure Whether I Should Be Sad, Dance, Or Both

Christine and the Queens - “iT”

I have absolutely no idea what this song is about. All I know is it sounds like the feeling of being alive. Between this song and Marion Cotillard’s eyes the French really continue to have the whole beautiful sadness thing figured out.

Eleanor Freiberger - “My Mistakes” The best Rilo Kiley song of 2016. The world can change however it wants; as long as it keeps giving me new versions of the exact song I’m totally good.

Mike Posner - “Took a Pill in Ibiza” The exact opposite of me is an EDM-influenced song about taking drugs in a nightclub in Ibiza. Yet here we are. Turns out that existential melancholy translated into Douche from the original Neurotic Intellectual is still pretty damn relatable. And yes I realize this song came out in 2015, but this will always be the sound of 2016 to me.

16. Moonlight

Moonlight feels like a miracle. That a serious drama without any name stars about a poor, gay, black man coming of age could be made at all, yet alone breakthrough into the popular consciousness. That a cast this natural and flawless could be found, like an album where every song that comes on makes you go “no THIS one is my favorite!”. That there are two different sets of three actors so similar and so good that when I see them together doing press it hurts my brain because I can’t process that they were not ACTUALLY the same person at three different ages. That two people making small talk at a table in a diner could have a whole audience on the edge of their seats. That a no-name director with one prior little-seen credit could create the most powerful and well-made movie of the year. None of these things seems possible or plausible, and yet they're all true. This movie is a miracle. And its success gives me hope. To quote critic Dana Stevens, in the pitch-black year of Trump, Moonlight was a “crack in the wall that allowed light to shine through”.

17. Atlanta

In 2016, what even is TV? It’s basically anything now. And it’s everything. It’s whatever it wants to be. And no artist has yet risen to meet the challenge and possibility of our post-Louie world better than Donald Glover has. In 2016 Atlanta is TV, and TV is Atlanta. There are no rules. There is only what you can dream up.

What will season two of Atlanta be? It could be literally anything and no one would bat an eye.

18. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

Chance the Rapper is so millennial it hurts. Chance the Rapper definitely has strong feelings about safe spaces and Bernie Sanders. Chance the Rapper has never even considered doing something ironically. Chance the Rapper makes Lin-Manuel Miranda look like a cynical pessimist. Hell, Chance the Rapper named himself Chance the Rapper. And as a millennial, Chance the Rapper is the future.

And the future sounds amazing.

The future is like if Old Kanye had been raised on new Kanye and was actually good at rapping. (As the old saying goes: every generation gets the Late Registration it deserves) The future is like if Picasso painted with emojis. The future is earnestness being the new aggression. The future is Future being the past.

Hip-hop is dead, long live hip-hop.

19. “A Closer Look” on Late Night With Seth Meyers

I almost left this reoccurring segment off my list of the best of 2016 because it’s become such a constant part of my life that I assumed it had been around longer than just this year. Who knew when Jon Stewart retired that the new iteration of The Daily Show would be called Late Night With Seth Meyers? Or as I call it: Essential.

20. Revisionist History Podcast

Facts and knowledge really took a beating in 2016, but turns out both are still great if you just re-examine them rather then throw them out all together. Perhaps looking more deeply into our assumptions about the world can help us better understand human nature and the reality we all share. Who knew?

Of everything I experienced in 2016 this podcast is the thing I reference most frequently. I’m fun at parties.

[gracewithducks]

Follow Me (Matthew 4:18-22) - Sunday School Stories #5, preached 10/6/2019

When my big brother was eight years old, he came home one day and, out of nowhere, he told our parents, “I want to join the swim team.” I still don’t know where he got the idea, although I vaguely remember a television commercial around the same time that featured a kid swimming a race and then celebrating with French fries or ice cream or some other treat. But wherever it came from, my parents thought it sounded like a great idea. So Jeremy started going to swim practice every night. I went, too. I sat in the bleachers on the pool deck and looked at books, and colored pictures, and looked at more books, and colored more pictures... and pretty soon, I decided that if I was going to have to be at the pool anyway, I might as well try swimming, too. I was six. The rest of my childhood, and my youth, and even my college years were dominated by practice schedules and away meets and goal times. There was never a day of my life that my hair didn’t smell like chlorine. I loved swimming. It was hard work, but it paid off; I loved improving, challenging myself, and cheering on my teammates; I loved medals and trophies and ribbons, and I loved that magical season every fourth year when I could actually watch swimming on TV. Forget about football or basketball; once every four years, during the Olympic season, swimmers finally get their day. I remember watching Amy Van Dyken win gold medals, and then revealing in an interview that she also knew sign language. I was amazed by young Anita Hall, the teenage phenomenon, and I still remember learning that Anita’s real first name is Nadia, because while she was being born, Nadia Comaneci was scoring her perfect gymnastics routine on the television in the corner. I cheered for Janet Evans, for Jenny Thompson and Summer Sanders – I loved that, if only so very briefly, world class swimmers were celebrated and recognized as household names. And in more recent years, just about everybody has heard of the greatest swimmers of this, and possibly any, generation: the incomparable Michael Phelps and the equally amazing Katie Ledecky.

You might not remember Katie Ledecky, possibly because even in Olympic sports, gender inequality is a thing. Or maybe you remember how, early in her career, Katie Ledecky was touted as the female Michael Phelps, the next Michael Phelps - until she pushed back, and rightly so. It was meant to be a flattering comparison, a compliment, but Katie said, I’m not the ‘next’ anybody. I’m the first Katie Ledecky. Katie Ledecky is a phenomenon. I’ve watched her win world championships and Olympic races by body lengths or even the length of the pool – something which is just unheard of, at that level, in this literal sport of millimeters, where hundredths of a second often separate eighth place from gold. Katie hasn’t just broken world records. She had obliterated them, by multiple seconds, over and over and over again. Katie Ledecky is a once-in-a-generation swimming talent. In a sport where so many toil hour after hour, lap after lap, year after year without ever seeing the spotlight, Katie Ledecky is unique. She is famous, albeit quietly and humbly so. Katie is a star. So it wasn’t entirely unusual for Katie to be approached on the street one day by two young women, who asked her for a picture. She graciously agreed... and then they handed her a camera phone, walked a few feet away, and posed. They didn’t want a picture of Katie. They didn’t want a picture with Katie. They wanted Katie to take a picture of them. These two young women - they didn’t realize they were in the presence of greatness. They didn’t recognize her at all.[1] This morning, in our bible stories, we’ve skipped several centuries – from the story of Ruth and Naomi gleaning in Bethlehem to this story, of a stranger who walks by the lake, calls to some fishermen, and says, “Come, follow me.” The orderly, linear thinker in me is bothered that we just skipped the beginning of Jesus’ story; it’s understandable that we would save Christmas for Christmas, but it’s also a bit weird to just jump right in. No angels, no wise men, no baptism, no temptation, just Jesus, walking by the sea. It’s weird to jump right in - but it’s also authentic. Because when they first encountered Jesus, the disciples didn’t know his origin story. The crowds didn’t know that he’d been named by angels or visited by wise men from afar. He hadn’t yet fed any crowds, or turned water into wine, or preached any sermons on any mount. Nobody knew he’d been fasting in the wilderness or tempted by the devil; nobody knew anything about the healings, the miracles, the resurrections that were going to come. We know all that. But they didn’t. And in the beginning, to the people who were there, Jesus was just a guy, walking by a lake. He didn’t walk on water that day. He didn’t have a halo, and his aura didn’t glow. He was just a guy, walking by a lake. He saw some strangers, some fishermen, just doing their work, doing their job, just like always... and he said, “Come, follow me.” It’s enough to make you wonder what it was that compelled Peter and Andrew and James and John to say yes, to leave their boats and nets, to leave their families and homes behind, and to take a chance on this wandering stranger – to say yes, I don’t even know you, but yes, I’ll follow you. What was it? What did they see? What did they hear? What was it, that made them believe that this man was worth it? That God was moving, that they had met someone special, someone who could teach them and show them things they’d never seen before? These men walked to the water just like any other day. And it was an ordinary day, another day of fishing, another day of work. Nothing special - until he showed up. Did he catch them by surprise? He had to catch them by surprise; nobody goes to the fishing nets expecting the messiah is going to walk by. Or was there a part of them that was watching, that had always been watching, waiting – something inside that had believed their lives would hold something more? I’d have to think so. Because, while life sometimes takes us by a total surprise, more often than not, what we see, what we find is whatever we’re looking for. If we’re looking for reasons to give up, we will find plenty. If we’re looking for evidence that people are horrible, we will find it all around. But if we’re looking for glimpses of grace, if we’re looking for signs of hope, if we’re looking for evidence that God is with us, if we’re watching for opportunities to make a difference – we shouldn’t be surprised when we find them everywhere. Our outlook matters. It’s not magic - but there is still truth that what we find is what we are looking for. I have friends who always look for pennies from heaven, or for butterflies, or rainbows, each one a little reminder that their loved ones aren’t really gone... and those friends find pennies and butterflies and rainbows everywhere. If you start writing down something you’re thankful for each day, you start to focus not on what goes wrong but what goes right. If you smile at strangers, you start to notice the people who smile at you. In so many ways, what we find is what we’re looking for. Maybe you never imagine you’ll meet someone famous. But if you keep one eye open, you’ll recognize greatness when it walks by. And if you expect God to show up in your life, you’ll find God’s presence is all around. Maybe James and John and Andrew and Peter weren’t looking for Jesus that day, but they were still looking for something – one eye on their work, and one eye on the horizon, watching for whatever or whoever may come. After all, they weren’t “just” fishermen; they were people of faith. They grew up with the stories of Noah and the call of Moses, the promises of God to Abraham and Sarah, the miracles of manna and the promise of a son of David yet to come. They were people of promise, people of faith, people who’d inherited generations of hope, who prayed and waited and watched for God to do something new, for a new beginning, a new day still to come. They were working. But they were also looking – so they saw him, when he arrived. We are people of promise; we are people of faith, too. And if we keep anticipating God, if we look and listen, if we expect that Jesus will show up, that he will invite us to know him better, and to follow him into the world – then we will see and hear God all around. We are all called. No matter how ordinary we feel, we are all called. James and Peter were fishermen in a small town, uneducated, unimportant - but Jesus chose them, he called them, to help him change the world. And Jesus calls us, too. But the thing about Jesus is that he’s easy to miss. He whispers when the world shouts; he surprises us by showing up looking just like an ordinary guy. Just an ordinary person, walking by. Jesus shows up all around us, all the time; sometimes we just miss the clues. That’s why he says, pay attention. That’s why he said, when you see someone who’s hungry, that’s me. When you see a stranger, that’s me. If we want to hear his voice, maybe we don’t have to try so hard. If we want to see him, we don’t have to look very far. And maybe even on an ordinary day, as we sit at work untangling our nets, as we answer the phone, check the news, drive our cars, walk through the store, go to school, show up for our jobs... maybe, just like the first disciples, Christ will meet us there. And we might mistake him for an ordinary nobody, instead of someone who is precious to God. But if we are looking, if we know he’s on his way, we’ll recognize him. And we will hear his invitation: follow me. Peter and James didn’t know where the stranger would take them: but they knew it wasn’t enough to stay where they were. They took a leap of faith, and they saw wonders; they saw the world changed, and they were changed, too. Jesus still is calling us to leave our fears and follow him. He still shows up, all around us, in the midst of our ordinary days. May we keep listening, keep trusting, keep following Jesus out into the world; may we walk in his way, with grace, with sacrifice and faith – so that the world will change, and we will never be the same again.

  God of ordinary people, God of ordinary moments, God who transforms ordinary days into extraordinary ones: be with us here; transform this moment, and transform us. Open our hearts to your Spirit; may we hear your invitation: come, follow me. And may we follow you into the world, walking with grace, so that your love may be revealed not just to us but through us. May this be a day of new beginnings; may we never be the same. In the name of Jesus, who calls us, who leads us, who walks with us, we pray; amen.

[1] https://sports.yahoo.com/news/girls-ask-olympian-to-take-their-picture-212145864.html

[newssplashy]

Sports: Another year into retirement, Michael Phelps explains why he's 'glad' he's not swimming and how he channels his competitiveness

Michael Phelps has turned from Olympic legends to family man, athlete mentor, and humanitarian.

Michael Phelps is two years removed from competitive swimming and said he doesn't miss it.

Since the Olympics, Phelps has become something of a mentor to other athletes, from winter Olympians to Katie Ledecky to Tiger Woods.

Phelps has also found passion in promoting several campaigns like water conservation, water safety, and mental health.

Michael Phelps has conflicting thoughts when it comes to swimming and racing.

Now two years removed from a successful campaign at the Rio Olympics, retired for good (so he says), Phelps says he misses the competition and the races themselves, but he doesn't miss competing. He likes to be around the pool and the sport of swimming, but has no real desire to jump back into it.

"I'm going to go to a swim meet this afternoon here in Arizona, where a bunch of my old teammates from the Olympic team are going to be," Phelps told Business Insider last Friday. "And I'm going to stand there, and I'm probably going to come away from it and say, 'I'm glad I'm not swimming.'

"I love being around the pool, I love being around the sport, but I don't miss that grind that I put my body through for 25 years to get myself to be ready to be able to compete at a high level. I'm very happy with, I guess, the other side where I get to just watch."

Phelps, at 32, is now a mentor to the sport, to other Olympians, and to athletes in general. Phelps has recently been more open to discussing his battles with depression and promoting mental health. After the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang ended, Phelps said several winter Olympians reached out to him, asking for guidance in the post-Olympic transition.

He advised Tiger Woods as Woods battled injuries and hit dark times while trying to recover. Phelps said he believes athletes at the top of the game are wired similarly, and he understood what Woods was going through during his struggles. He's happy to see Woods healthy and back on the course.

Phelps also lent advice to Katie Ledecky, who recently decided to go pro, ending her swimming career at Stanford. Phelps said he told Ledecky to be in control of her career, particularly in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

"The biggest thing is you have to understand how important training is," Phelps said he told Ledecky. "And I know she knows that. She's the one person I would never second-guess to wonder if she was still going to put the grind in that she needs to be able to as successful as she is."

And while Phelps is happy to be play mentor to other athletes, he still occasionally gets the itch to compete and push his body to the limit.

Phelps has become an avid cyclist, buying a Peloton, and competing on the network of cyclists under an alias and "hammering" rides.

"I just got off of a 30-day-straight kinda kick where I just wanted to see what it would do and how my body would react to it," Phelps said. "And that's another thing where I have the competitive side of me that really comes out ... I've had somebody next to me racing every single stroke of my life I've ever taken in the pool. It's good for me to kinda be able to push myself."

Phelps, who spoke to Business Insider to promote the campaign "Every Drop Counts" with Colgate, said his competitive nature comes out in the work he does. He pushed himself to continue preaching water conservation, as well as water safety and mental health and said he's been excited by the positive feedback he's received for his work.

Despite being in retirement mode, Phelps said life hasn't slowed down since Rio. In addition to his various campaigns, he and his wife, Nicole, welcomed a second son in February.

"I can't really ask for any better way for stepping away from the sport by continuing to do stuff and talk about stuff for me that are meaningful."

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/04/sports-another-year-into-retirement.html

[tortuga-aak]

Michael Phelps says Katie Ledecky has a quality he rarely sees in swimmers

Tom Pennington/Getty

Michael Phelps believes Katie Ledecky is going to become the next start of US Swimming.

After training with Ledecky and competing with her for years, Phelps said what stands out about her most is how goal-oriented she is.

Heading into Tokyo 2020, with several events on her schedule, Phelps believes Ledecky could win seven or eight medals.

At Rio 2016, Katie Ledecky established herself as a breakout star, setting herself up to become the face of US Swimming.

Ledecky not only won five medals, four of them gold, she often did so in convincing fashion, setting world records and celebrating while other swimmers finished the race.

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history and the face of US Swimming since 2004, has seen Ledecky train and compete for years and said she is in a class of her own.

"She's someone that's very goal-oriented," Phelps said while speaking to Business Insider. "When she writes a time down or she writes a major milestone down, she's gonna do whatever she can to make sure that happens. I've only seen that really a couple times in the sport. So it's a true treat for me to be able to see her kind of truly coming up in the sport like she is."

After a strong World Championships performance and freshman year at Stanford, Ledecky is poised to have a strong showing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 2020 Olympics will now include the 1,500-meter freestyle for the first time, a race in which Ledecky currently holds the world record. Phelps said with such a busy slate, Ledecky could have the chance to win seven or eight medals.

"Ledecky has just been on fire the last couple of years," Phelps said.

However, there's also a drawback to that. Asked about the possibility of Ledecky one day challenging Phelps' medal record, Phelps said it takes almost perfect conditions to win so many events.

"When you start building a program like that, when you're swimming seven or eight races, it's just a combination of everything — mental, physical, emotions — that really have to be pretty much perfect throughout that whole eight-day program," Phelps said.

Still, Phelps said he would love to see someone like Ledecky challenge his record.

"I would love to see it, I would enjoy watching it, and I hope somebody has that chance to make history again."

NOW WATCH: Watch LeBron James defend calling Trump a bum on Twitter

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[dhaaruni]

re: lia thomas, it's possible you've seen this and it hasn't altered your opinion (which is fine, i think it's a complicated question), but fwiw this article changed my thinking on that particular case and i've come to think that the topline reporting of it is driven more by bias than by a rational assessment of the situation; in particular it shifted my thinking to learn that (1) on the same day that she won the race getting so much attention, she lost a whole bunch of other races, and (2) [especially this one] the mediocre previous performance i'd seen attributed to her was in her last year of competing on the men's team *after* being on HRT for a year already, and that before she started HRT she was in fact a talented and competitive male swimmer, and her current standing compared cis women swimmers seems pretty in line with where she might have expected to wind up at this time in men's swimming if she hadn't started HRT. that seems fair to me, especially since, again, it's just demonstrably not the case that no cis woman could hope to compete with her, since a bunch of them beat her. again, i do think it's complicated and am still puzzling it over myself, so i am not trying to talk you into agreeing with me. but this was a situation where reading more about it really pretty completely shifted how i'd been feeling about it and i feel like the information that got me there has really not gotten enough attention. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lia-thomas-trans-swimmer-data-b2044949.html?amp

Well my first point is that elite athletes don't compete at the same level each time so Lia Thomas doing badly in one race doesn't really mean anything one way or another, it's about general trends. Look at it like this: in one competition, Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps swam the same time for the same race but it was one of Ledecky's best times ever since it was a final for her, and she won the race, and it was one of Phelps' worst times since it was a non-ranked heat for the men and he wasn't ranked anywhere near the top.

It's also not about some cis women being able to beat Thomas either, because of course some women are better than some men, like Serena Williams can beat a high school tennis player and she might be able to beat like Andy Murray 1-1 since she really was that amazing, but there's a reason that the women's professional tennis game is 3 sets while the men's is 5. While some women can play for 5 sets, it's been discerned that the average professional women's tennis player doesn't have the endurance of a man of the same calibre, and they're some of the most physically fit people on the planet.

Also, Lia wasn't ranking in the top 16 for men before she started HRT in the men's competition; by all reports she was an average swimmer that wasn't making it anywhere near the podium, and now she's winning women's competitions so ... yeah. We can talk all we want about how taking HRT and estrogen affects people's athletic performances but the reality is that when people transition after puberty, trans women don't end up with the same level of estrogen as cis women, and that absolutely impacts athletic performance and strength.

(And I’m done discussing this so don’t send me any more asks about it.)

[othersportsnews-blog]

Swimming globe championships outcomes Sunday

New Post has been published on https://othersportsnews.com/swimming-globe-championships-outcomes-sunday/

Swimming globe championships outcomes Sunday

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Katie Ledecky started an audacious week with two gold medals on the opening night of swimming at the globe championships Sunday.

The American posted a dominating gain in the women’s 400-meter freestyle. As predicted, Ledecky pulled away on the initially lap and was basically racing the clock the rest of the way. She concluded in three minutes, 58.34 seconds — much more than three seconds ahead of U.S. teammate Leah Smith. China’s Li Bingjie took the bronze.

We’ve received you included on this and other huge questions heading into the FINA Planet Championships (July 23-thirty). (No, Phelps possible will not arrive out of retirement this time all-around.)

Ledecky, twenty, returned to the pool about an hour later on for the 4×100 totally free relay, placing the U.S. ahead to remain on the 3rd leg.

Sarah Sjostrom established a blistering early tempo for Sweden, getting down the initially swimming globe history of the championships with a split of 51.71, and Ledecky really slipped to 3rd on the flip following her initially fifty. But she experienced driven to the entrance by the time she handed off to Olympic winner Simone Manuel, who shut it out for the People in three:31.72.

“It was a very good initially night for Staff United states,” Ledecky mentioned. “I’m pleased with my two swims and how it all went.”

Australia took the silver, whilst the bronze went to the Netherlands. Sweden pale to fifth.

Anchored by Nathan Adrian, the American adult males also received gold in the 4×100 totally free in three:ten.06, keeping off difficult-charging Brazil by .28 seconds.

“There is a legacy that was remaining for us to just take about,” mentioned Adrian, 28, the senior member of a squad that also integrated Caeleb Dressel, Townley Haas and Blake Pieroni. “I know when I leave, it will be in very good arms.”

Ledecky has established such a substantial normal that her 400 totally free time was a bit of a letdown. She concluded approximately two seconds off the globe history (three:56.46) she established at the Rio Olympics but broke the meet history she established earlier in the working day through the preliminary heat.

She did not have a lot of a reaction following touching the wall but at some point broke into a huge smile and hugged Smith.

“It truly is my 2nd-finest time,” Ledecky mentioned. “There is no disappointment. It truly is a globe championship gold medal, and there’s absolutely nothing to complain about there.”

Ledecky is chasing Missy Franklin’s women’s swimming history of six gold medals at the 2013 worlds.

Two down for Katie Ledecky in her quest for six gold medals at this year’s swimming globe championships. Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Visuals

China’s Solar Yang received a bit of payback for his Olympic defeat by pulling away from rival Mack Horton of Australia in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, the initially swimming final of the globe championships.

Yang steadily distanced himself from a stacked industry that showcased the previous 3 Olympic champions in the event: Horton (2016), Solar (2012) and South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan (2008).

“I have no actual goal for the week,” Solar, twenty five, mentioned by way of an interpreter. “I’m in a lot of pain. I have been coaching a lot for the past year. I’m also having old, so there are a few of injuries below and there. I’m constantly wrapped up in tape following every single competitors.”

The Chinese star concluded much more than two overall body lengths ahead of the industry, touching the wall in three:41.38. Horton settled for the silver at three:43.85, whilst Park concluded fourth at the rear of bronze medalist Gabriele Detti of Italy.

Last summertime in Rio de Janeiro, Horton defeated Solar in the 400 totally free final following contacting him a “drug cheat” about his 3-month doping suspension in 2014. The Aussie has built it distinct that he won’t feel anyone who exams beneficial really should be permitted to contend — which also applies to Park, who served a doping suspension that finished ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

“I’m just likely to concentration on what is actually going on this week and do my finest,” Solar mentioned.

Horton shrugged off his reduction to Solar, saying, “The most disappointing issue for me was the time.”

“Placings did not genuinely make a difference this year,” the runner-up added. “This is the initially year following an Olympics, so I was essentially re-setting my cycle for the up coming Olympics in a few of years. I just would have liked a quicker time, but I guess it signifies I have things I can get the job done on about the up coming few of years.”

In other preliminaries on the initially working day of swimming at Duna Arena, dwelling state favorite Katinka Hosszu led the women’s one hundred person medley, globe-history holder Adam Peaty of Britain dominated the men’s one hundred breaststroke, Sjostrom paced the women’s one hundred butterfly, Austria’s Felix Aubock topped the men’s 400 freestyle, and Ukraine’s Andril Govorov was swiftest in the men’s fifty fly.

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[corneliussteinbeck]

How Strong Can A Woman Get, Really?

“Men are just stronger than women. It’s just a fact.”

Well, is it now? This article aims to take a case with common misconceptions and facts regarding women’s ability to get strong and how strong they can get.

At a young age, I learned about a glorious (and a soon-to-be frustrating thing) called “weight class.” Man, did I love elementary school. I could bully the bullies, guys were all my size, and the playing fields leveled. Sports were a genuine co-ed experience, and I was ambivalent to being desired or seen as a conquest. I was an unapologetically feisty girl, able to pound the crap out of mean boys who made fun of a nerdy or overweight kid. I felt like a damn superhero.

Then, we all got older.

Grow spurts and puberty changed the playing fields. I went into it naive and quickly realized how little and weak I was compared in size to them. To this day I pay much respect to size and weight class because when you find yourself on the losing side of someone’s 70-pound advantage, no amount of gumption matters.

In physical trials you need size, strength, and smarts — and even then, you might not come out on top.

What does all this bemoaning about weight class have to do with how strong a woman can get?

In our society, strength is relevant to our comparisons, especially when comparing women to men. It shouldn’t be, but in the context of this article, .why talk about how strong a woman can get without talking about one of the main reasons it’s discussed in the first place? Articles discussing the strength abilities of men often focus on strength whether or not steroids are involved, and culminate with lessons in continued optimization. It is already assumed that men can be strong; what is debated then is how strong they can get.

For example, it’s assumed a guy can help you carry a couch from one home to another. What might be debated with regard to his strength is whether or not he can lift a car off a helpless victim. In a gym setting, the average Joe lifter might be told he should be able to at least load 225 pounds on a bar, while the average Jane lifter is overwhelmingly advised to just stick with the bar, regardless of each one’s height and weight. Generally, it is assumed that the point of lifting for women isn’t to get strong at all, but rather to stay pretty.

How strong a woman can get is rarely up for debate. Society doesn’t assume women can be strong, and even if some people believe in women’s physical strength, it’s always to a judgmental “lesser degree” than their male counterparts. It’s culturally assumed that women are weaker and that if we can get strong, it’s pitiful compared to men.

The truth is that strength isn’t black and white. One of the biggest lies we’ve been told regarding a woman’s strength abilities is that she could never be stronger than a man.

It’s Really Pound For Pound

Yes, a five-foot-four-inch woman weighing 135 pounds could never best, pound for pound in strength, a six-foot-four-inch man weighing 220 pounds — but neither could a five-foot-four-inch man weighing 135 pounds. That’s not a truth we hear often though, is it? We hear tales of David and Goliath all the time, but the truth is that size matters for men, too.

For example, take a collection of the most pragmatic men with regard to the possibilities of absolute strength: professional fighters. The good ones learn very quickly that weight (and within that weight, body types and body composition) is crucial in leveling the playing field. These are small variables that along with skill — not to mention good old-fashioned fear, placebo effect, and timing — can make or break a champion.

People celebrate Michael Phelps, and yes, he is incredibly good at what he does, but his weight, body type, and numerous genetic factors that he can’t control, provide Phelps an edge. Katie Ledecky, four inches shorter and 40 pounds lighter, with less overall muscle mass, clocked the same prelim time on the 400m freestyle.1 This isn’t to suggest she could be him, but it’s impressive nonetheless. It’s as impressive as other smaller men and women who have almost caught them both in a race. The average height and weight of high-level athletes mean everything. It’s why, when people are cheering about impressive athletes, it’s important to look past it and take into account a host of factors that shift appreciation of the athletes themselves to appreciation of their hard work and efforts.

Society has barely begun to see the full reach of women’s strength potential.

People scoff at the notion that Brienne Tarth of Game Of Thrones (portrayed by Gwendoline Christie) couldn’t be a realistic hero, but I beg to differ, my friends. She is six foot three and solid. Maybe she wouldn’t make an NFL offensive tackle look like a rag doll, but most men couldn’t either. Six foot three is not an average height for men or women. I would not want to be punched in the face by the end of her sword handle and most men wouldn’t either. In short, she is a very realistic and capable hero in the world in which she battles.

What does the science say?

One caveat before diving in is that there are some noted differences between genders in hormones and muscle fibers, especially in the upper body. However, those are not as dramatic as the interpretation of research often suggests, especially when looking at sample sizes.

Let’s look at muscle fibers in general, for instance. Muscle fibers are different between genders, individuals, and even within an individual’s body.2, 3 Genetic differences, however small they may seem, play a much larger role than we realize in the literal shaping of a body.4 This is why comparing yourself to a five-foot-eleven woman when you’re five foot two is not realistic.

When we look at how men and women respond to resistance training we see in some areas growth response is very similar.5 We also see that it isn’t just growth gaps between men and women, but also within the gender compared within themselves. In short, it’s not just, “Men always grow muscle easily, and women can’t grow muscle.” It’s more like, “Some men grow muscle easily, and some don’t. Same goes for women.” When we stack size, weight, nutrition control, and the similar fiber types — oh wait, we haven’t done that.

Where does that leave us, then? It leaves us having to read between the lines in a lot of the research. Keep in mind that men are the most commonly studied subjects in hypertrophy and strength research, and even then, they are often not properly controlled.

Women can go longer, and be faster, bigger, and stronger.

Here’s a notion you might not have thought of yet that could inspire you to build strength:

Bigger is stronger, and even then only technically — and even then, there are still exceptions to the rule. Let’s look at the science using some common sense rather than the lazy generalizations we’ve accepted as fact for too long.

Size matters more than gender.6 It matters that men, on average, are bigger and not only in fat mass but mostly in muscle mass.7 But, guess what? It isn’t about them in the first place. I know it may seem a contradiction to say it isn’t about men when a large part of this article has been about them, but we can’t ignore the elephant in the room.

I can’t drive home this point strongly enough — if you strength train, you are already ahead of the majority of the population. Your ability to get strong, even naturally, is exceptional. Keep these things in mind:

We all vary greatly in height, weight, muscle fibers, and genetics.

Comparison, in my modest opinion, is a wasted exercise. But if you must compare, compare in weight classes and take overall muscle mass volume into consideration — and I haven’t even touched on issues relating to variations of female advantages in endurance, balance, and recovery.

Studies have shown that simply believing that you have the ability to be strong with placebo steroid use leads to greater strength gains.8 In short, if you believe you can, you can.

So, how strong can a woman get, really? In arriving at an answer, size matters, but the belief in what you can do matters the most.

References

Zaccardi N. Michael Phelps jokingly challenges Katie Ledecky to race. NBC News Sports. Apr 2015.

Miller AE, MacDougall JD, Tarnopolsky MA, et al. Gender differences in strength and muscle fiber characteristics. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1993;66(3):254-62.

Kristen L Schroeder, Benjamin WC Rosser, Soo Y Kim. Fiber type composition of the human quadratus plantae muscle: a comparison of the lateral and medial heads. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2014; 7:54.

Hughes DC, Day SH, Ahmetov II, et al. Genetics of muscle strength and power: polygenic profile similarity limits skeletal muscle performance. J Sports Sci. 2011 Oct;29(13):1425-34.

O’Hagan FT, Sale DG, MacDougall JD, et al. Response to resistance training in young women and men. Int J Sports Med. 1995 Jul;16(5):314-21.

Roth SM, Ivey FM, Martel GF, et al. Muscle size responses to strength training in young and older men and women. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001 Nov;49(11):1428-33.

Bishop P, Curetin K, Collins M. Sex difference in muscular strength in equally-trained men and women. Journal Ergonomics. Mar 1986.

Ahiel G, Saville W. Anabolic steroids: the physiological effects of placebos. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 4(2) · January 1972.

  A message from GGS…

At Girls Gone Strong, we want you to feel confident knowing that what you’re doing to look good, feel good, and feel healthy and strong is not only based on tested, reliable, and safe information from trustworthy sources, but also that it is effective and efficient.

That’s why we developed our flagship training system, The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training (AND IT’S ON SALE RIGHT NOW! UP TO 40% OFF!)

We’ve cut through all that noise and the BS with a sane, sustainable, and efficient approach that will help you achieve maximum results, whether you’re brand new to strength training, or a veteran in the weight room. With four different 16-week programs—that’s 64 weeks of training—you get over a year’s worth of workouts, including progressions to ensure that you continue making progress. You’ll also get a training manual, exercise glossary, progress tracker, a bonus conditioning manual, plus a video library with over 70 high-definition videos breaking down each exercise, step by step. We believe fitness should enhance your life instead of become your life. If you exercise in a way that you actually enjoy, staying fit and strong won’t ever feel like a drag. You’ll look forward to it for years to come. If you want an entire training system that will help you look and feel your best, The Modern Woman's Guide to Strength Training is for you!

Learn more here!

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[technologyinfosec]

Hungarian teen Milak smashes Phelps' record

Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak shattered Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record in the 200 metres butterfly on Wednesday while Adam Peaty sewed up a third straight breaststroke double with victory in the 50 metres at the world championships. Budapest-born Milak won gold in a time of 1:50.73, lopping 0.78 seconds off Phelps' 1:51.51 set in Rome in 2009. "It's a tremendous honour to set such a great record," he said. "Until 14 I was a backstroker and later I focused on the butterfly. But earlier I only did 100 metres because I wasn't strong enough." There can be no question about his strength now. At 19, Milak is the youngest winner of the 200 butterfly since Phelps triumphed as an 18-year-old in 2003, the second of the American great's five world titles in the event. Peaty shattered a record of his own on Sunday, becoming the first swimmer to go under 57 seconds in the 100 breaststroke semifinals and while he could not repeat the feat in the 50 he was still streets ahead of his rivals. The Briton posted 26.06, the third fastest 50 of all time and 0.6 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, Brazilian Felipe Lima. "Got the triple double which is a massive thing for me," said Peaty. "It's what I came here to do. The 56 happened so it's just everything complete really." Chinese swimmer Sun Yang has been a lightning rod for controversy at the championships but his bid for glory in the 800 freestyle fizzled out as he trailed home in sixth. Sun is swimming under a cloud in Gwangju with a doping case against him set to be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in September. His presence has upset fans and fellow athletes alike, with two swimmers, Australian Mack Horton and Briton Duncan Scott, showing their displeasure in the most public way possible. Horton refused to share the podium after picking up silver behind Sun in the 400 while 200 bronze medallist Scott refused to shake his hand at the medals ceremony, a move that triggered a furious response from the Chinese swimmer. All three athletes were sent warning letters by governing body Fina over their conduct. There was double freestyle delight for Italy with Federica Pellegrini winning the women's 200 world title for a fourth time and Gregorio Paltrinieri taking gold in the men's 800. Paltrinieri said he took no additional pleasure in beating Sun, who also served a doping suspension in 2014. "I don't want to think about anything while I'm racing like doping or something, I just don't care. I just want to beat them all," said the Italian. World record holder Pellegrini, who won her first 200 title a decade ago, hunted down Australian teen Ariarne Titmus over the closing 50 to claim gold in 1:54.22. "I'm too old for this," joked a breathless Pellegrini, who celebrates her 31st birthday next month. Titmus, who stunned Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 400 on Sunday, is the new kid on the block at the worlds but the 'Terminator' has a big future. "Based on training times I probably thought I had a better time in me, but what can you do? It's what you do on the day and Pellegrini was really good tonight," she said. Australia ended the night on a high note though with their mixed 4x100 medley relay team pipping the United States to gold by 0.02 seconds, Cate Campbell powering home in a scintillating anchor leg to overhaul Simone Manuel. Since anchoring the women's 4x100 freestyle relay team to gold on Sunday, Campbell has been stuck in the athletes village watching television while her team mates raced. "I feel like a bear who has been in hibernation," she said. "I was starting to get a little bit restless in the apartment, I was like 'come on let me out, let's start racing again. There are only so many episodes of Friends I can watch.'" Read the full article

[tortuga-aak]

Michael Phelps discusses life after swimming, how his notorious diet has changed, and Katie Ledecky

Adam Pretty/Getty

Michael Phelps is finished with swimming after winning six medals at Rio 2016 to bring his total medal count to 28, the most ever.

Now, Phelps has moved onto other projects, from running his foundation, starting a family, and working with Colgate on a campaign about water conservation.

Phelps is excited about the future of swimming, naming Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel as rising stars.

Phelps felt he retired on his own terms and will not miss competing when the 2020 Tokyo Olympics roll around.

The most decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps says he's done competing.

After winning five golds and a silver at Rio 2016, Phelps hung up his suit and moved onto the second stage of his career.

That second stage includes many projects, from running his foundation, starting a swimwear line, raising a family, and most recently, working with Colgate on water conservation campaign called "Save Water."

Phelps spoke with Business Insider about the importance of water conservation, his life after swimming, his notorious diet, Katie Ledecky, and the future of US swimming.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Scott Davis: What attracted you to this campaign with Colgate about water conservation?

Michael Phelps: "It was something that as soon as I heard about it I was super excited about having the opportunity to be a part of. For me, obviously, I've been around water for most of my life and I know how much of an important resource it is. To be able to kind of help people understand just more about it and how much actual water we're truly wasting on just some of the small things that we do every single day. Whether it's just brushing your teeth and leaving the water running, that right there is four gallons down the drain. So it's like all these little, small things that end up really adding up.

"When you have hundreds of millions of people, not only in the US, but all over the world, we're wasting a lot of water. And it's something that we all can work together to really try to change. It's a couple small things that we can do. For me, growing our family now, it's something that [Phelps' son] Boomer is very aware of, just because he watches and sees us do it every day. And now, getting ready to be a family of four, the craziest stat is, a family of four uses roughly 400 gallons per day. And who knows how much of that is actually wasted or used. I think it's something that we can all join together and make sure we're conserving as much as we can, but also to teach people that every drop does count."

Davis:When would you say you first started becoming aware and involved in environmental causes?

Phelps: "Like I said, I've been around water my whole life, so I basically really learned at a young age the importance of it but also one day, at one point, clean water will be hard to find. There's so many people throughout the world that don't have access to clean water. Obviously we're extremely fortunate to have the opportunities that we have and to have all the water that we have. Like I said, and I can't say it enough, we all should work together to try and conserve as much as we possible can."

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Huggies

Davis: What do you find yourself doing with your time now? Are you still training, do you have future plans in swimming?

Phelps: "I am back in the retirement days of my life from the sport of swimming. I think for me, the big thing of why I wanted to come back was I wanted to kind of finish my career on my terms and my way. I think after preparing myself how I did really the last two-plus years going into Rio, I have a feeling that 20 years down the road, I'll be able to look back and be able to be happy with how or when I hung my suit up. And I am right now.

"A lot of people have asked if I'm coming back or coming out of retirement. I feel like I could swim again, but I just don’t want to. I feel like it's time to start the second chapter of my life and kind of continuing things that I'm so passionate about, whether it’s teaching people about water conservation, or mental health, or learn to swim, continuing to build a swimming brand."

Davis: Are there any new hobbies you’ve picked up with your free time now?

Phelps: "Not really. I would say I've continued to work out and I've had the chance to play golf a little bit more now. But other than that, it's really spending a lot of time traveling. I'm very fortunate to be able to have my family with me sometimes, but other than that, it's pretty typical [laughs]."

Davis: How does your diet now compare to when you were training? You obviously had a very famous diet for several years.

Phelps: "It’s a lot different now than what it once was. Now I'm really just trying to eat more clean, but also to just get what I need. I think for so long eating was like a job. Because I was always trying to maintain a weight, but it was just frustrating to constantly shove calories down your system. For so long, that’s what it was, a job. So now, just being able to get nutrients that I need. It's not 8,000-10,000 calories like it once was. I would say, 'the normal diet.' I don't know what that is, but I would say it's more typical."

Davis: US Soccer didn’t qualify the World Cup. I feel like soccer and swimming are both a little more off the radar for the main sports in the US, but US Swimming dominates while soccer has struggled. Why do you think that is?

Phelps: "I think for swimming, if you look at the history just throughout the sport, we've basically been the best country in the world. I think a lot of national team members will tell you, we wanna keep that tradition alive. For the roughly 20 years I was on the national team, that was what we always wanted to do, we wanted to be the best. It is a very solitary sport, I guess in a way, besides relays, and we are all working toward the same goal of representing our country the best way we can. We're able and have been able, through the whole history of the sport, to prove to the world that the US does have the best swimming team. I'd like to see it continue, hopefully it does. I'm always available if any of those guys need help. Some of the things that I’ve gone through, they might see first hand, so hopefully we can continue to build."

Davis: Who are some of the young stars that fans should get to know now for the 2020 Olympics?

Phelps:"Obviously you have to say Katie. Ledecky has just been on fire the last couple of years. I think you'll really see Caeleb Dressel kind of come into the party more and more and he's starting to swim more and more events. It'll be fun to watch those two. But honestly we have so many great leaders on our team now. And I'm sure in a couple years we're gonna see a lot of fresh faces and there is a lot of young talent out there that has the opportunity to kind of take over their event in the swimming world and hopefully bring back a gold medal for the country."

Adam Pretty/Getty

Davis: There’s a lot of examples of Ledecky's greatness and dominance, from the world records to pushing guy swimmers in practices. Is there a moment that sticks out as most impressive to you?

Phelps: "It’s a combination of everything. I've had the chance to train with her and I've had the chance to watch her compete the last couple of years. She's someone that's very goal-oriented. When she writes a time down or she writes a major milestone down, she's gonna do whatever she can to make sure that happens. I've only seen that really a couple times in the sport. So it's a true treat for me to be able to see her kind of truly coming up in the sport like she is.

"It's gonna be interesting to see where she goes over the next couple of years. Obviously she's gonna have the chance to swim anything from the 100-free all the way up to the mile, plus a couple relays, so a heavy workload and potentially the chance to win seven or eight gold medals."

Davis: Will you feel competitive if she starts pushing your medal record?

Phelps: "I mean, I've always said that records are made to be broken. If it happens, great, I'd love to be there to watch it and witness some of the greats that are probably gonna be in the sport over the next couple of decades.

"It's also getting more challenging I think just because, I guess you have so many people that are starting to specialize in one event or two events. When you start building a program like that, when you're swimming seven or eight races, it's just a combination of everything, mental, physical, emotions. that really have to be pretty much perfect throughout that whole eight-day program. I would love to see it, I would enjoy watching it, and I hope somebody has that chance to make history again."

Davis: When 2020 rolls around will you feel the pull of the pool? Will you have trouble staying away?

Phelps: "No [laughs].

"No, not at all. And like I said, being able to look back, I think I always wanted to hang my suit up at the right time, what I thought was the right time, and for me, having the opportunity to come back and swim one more and have that Olympics be as good as it was, for me, that's all I could really ask for."

NOW WATCH: A shark expert explains what would really happen if Michael Phelps raced a live shark

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[tortuga-aak]

Michael Phelps says he could still swim competitively, but he just doesn't want to anymore

Al Bello/Getty

After winning six more medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Michael Phelps hung up his suit for good.

Phelps still stays in shape, but said he doesn't have the desire to swim competitively anymore.

Phelps is pleased with how his career ended and has moved onto other passion projects.

Michael Phelps fancies himself a "typical" guy now.

After concluding his decorated Olympic career at Rio 2016, Phelps says he has moved onto another chapter of his life, which includes several business projects, environmentalism, and raising a family.

Phelps stays active, too, working out, eating clean, trying to maintain a weight, and playing a little more golf than normal.

In fact, Phelps is not all that far removed from Olympic shape. Speaking to Business Insider, Phelps said he could still swim competitively if he wanted to — the problem is that he doesn't want to.

"A lot of people have asked if I'm coming back or coming out of retirement. I feel like I could swim again, but I just don’t want to," Phelps said. "I feel like it's time to start the second chapter of my life and kind of continuing things that I'm so passionate about."

Phelps said he felt good about ending his career on his terms, which included six medals at Rio 2016. 

"I have a feeling that 20 years down the road, I'll be able to look back and be able to be happy with how or when I hung my suit up. And I am right now."

US Swimming has several young stars that Phelps feels can carry the program going forward, namely Caeleb Dressel on the men's side and Katie Ledecky on the women's side. Phelps said he's always available to help the program or individual swimmers as they go through their careers.

In the meantime, however, Phelps is content. Even when Tokyo 2020 rolls around, Phelps said he won't feel the pull to return to the pool.

"No," Phelps said, laughing. "Not at all. Like I said, being able to look back, I think I always wanted to hang my suit up at the right time, what I thought was the right time, and for me, having the opportunity to come back and swim one more and have that Olympics be as good as it was, for me, that's all I could really ask for."

NOW WATCH: How to train a falcon — according to a falconer at Medieval Times

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