deleted.
Agreed. He’ll get a Wheaties box, maybe a Gatorade commercial or two and then he’ll drift into obscurity in a year or two like every other Olympian.
The only way the money will last him his whole life is if he’s extremely smart with his investments.
Disagreed. Phelps hasn’t gone away since the last Olympics. He’s been in ads, magazine articles, news stories, endorsements, etc. They guy makes millions, even in non-Olympic years. The money will last because he’ll become a sought after coach/consultant after retires. And he’s probably got another Olympics in him, which means he’ll be making multi-millions per year for another ~5 years minimum, just from sponsors and such.
And for the record, I like Michael Phelps a lot, but why does everyone on the SDMB have to pretend everyone is good-looking? The guy is ugly, big deal.
Don’t forget to factor in the speaking fees (sometimes in the neighborhood of $10,000-$50,000 per when you’re hot) and payments for personal appearances.
And what Cisco said.
Where are these ads and magazine articles? I remember after the last Olympics there was the Wheaties box and a few Gatorade commercials. Then he disappeared until a few months ago and the cell phone commercial.
I’m not saying they don’t exist, but Phelps seems pretty low key as far as Olympic appearances go. Compare with any moderately successful American gymnast.
Where has Ian Thorpe gone? To be honest, when these olympics started, I thought Thorpe was Phelps. No idea how I confused the names.
I guess Thorpe is a philanthropist now, though I have no idea what his budget is.
speedo people, speedo is usually the top company to endorse. and you can make a very nice living off that. just ask dana torres!
as to mr. phelps, he does seem to like his dog very much. this alone makes him a wonderful person.
He’s got Speedo, Visa, Omega (the watchmaker), and Powerbar. Those are big, big endorsements. Speedo is a lot bigger than most people probably realize. Visa speaks for itself, obviously.
He was on the cover of Men’s Journal last year with the headline “The Greatest Athlete in the World” (I disagree, but it’s hype, and he’s living up to it with all these golds.)
Phelps is by far the most popular current American Olympian I know of. The only other ones I ever hear anything about are Tyson Gay (never heard of him until a few months ago), Paul and Morgan Hamm (not competing), Shawn Johnson (see Tyson Gay), and that one polevaulter (can’t remember her name.)
Mark Spitz is remembered very well even 36 years after winning those seven golds in 1972. In the immediate aftermath of those games he was huge.
Ed
Well, probably most adults wouldn’t want to do it, but I’m betting a lot of 15 year olds who were tormented when they were 11 would LOVE to snub their tormentors. Which is what the article described. Ignoring people now who ignored him when he was younger is a different situation. I don’t see where he’s got any obligation to respond to people who ignored him when he was younger, but want to hang out with him now.
But how much of that is due to the fact that his name is Mark Spitz?
If his name was Mark Smith, I imagine the public would have had a much shorter memory of his Olympic reign.
I definitely don’t think he comes off as a dick…except, perhaps, to some non-American’s who think we ALL come across that way. 
I thought he came off pretty well, especially in the relay race against the French (who DID come across as dicks, at least in the lead up to the race).
I guess dickishness is an objective measurement though so MMV…
-XT
I’m basing my question on that article. I haven’t seen any interviews or anything.
Anyone have some video interviews of him?
I think you are the one that is just grasping at something here. Phelps isn’t the one talking about getting teased about his ears – your article clearly states that was his mother talking about it.
You have no evidence that he “enjoy(s)” blowing off those he left behind, other than a motive you are attributing to him, based off something his mother said.
You seem hellbent on taking one anectote told by his mother from when he was 15, and impugning his entire character from it. No one in this thread has come up with anything else that supports your supposition of what he is like. Grasping, indeed.
I saw him interviewed yesterday by one of the Australian pool deck people. He seemed like a really nice guy. Very focused and committed but as the commentator said obviously having lots of fun. The Australian commentators seem to like him and spoke glowingly about his reaction when they won the 4x100 relay, saying that not only was it relief at just winning his most difficult medal but that he is a real team player who was overjoyed for his teammates and Lezak’s swim.
The Australian media are pretty intolerant of big heads, even Aussie big heads, and I don’t think they would have bothered with the interview if they didn’t regard Phelps fondly.
And he may be the best athlete around. His swim in the 200m yesterday was ridiculous. He is swimming against the 7 next best in the world and is a body length in front after the dive and two strokes and then it’s just a nice orderly procession while he breaks the world record.
I’m not sure that a hugely famous and successful athlete has any choice but to blow people off. He’s going to have sycophants, con men, hangers-on, scumbags, whores, suckups and ne’er-do-wells hanging off him like leeches, and you really have no choice but to brush people away.
Can someone expand on Mark Spitz being a dick? I’ve just never heard anything about it before.
I don’t know what he was like away from the sport, but he had a reputation as a fearsome competitor who did not give a fuck about anyone or anything that got in his way to winning. He’d push off on your balls in the practice pool.
Hey, now that you mention it, so did I. Weird.
I base my views on opinions from back when I was a competitive swimmer… and having been at a JO meet where the guy showed up and prima-donna’d all over the place. Also, more recently he got into a snit about not being personally invited to Beijing because Phelps was trying to break his record. And lots of egotastic interviews from during the '84 Olympics, come to think.
Conversely, the other Olympic swimmers I’ve encountered – Rowdy Gaines, Steve Lundquist – were nice, gracious, and approachable.