Kristi Heim: The World in China

Seattle Times reporter Kristi Heim explores a changing China on the world stage.

August 17, 2008 7:13 AM

Chinese want to study Michael Phelps' genes

After Michael Phelps hit the magic number "8" in gold medals, the most of any athlete in Olympic history, a question started to form in the minds of people in China: Where can we get those genes?

A TV commentator suggested Phelps' mother Debbie should stay in China so people here can study how she produced such a great son. "She should be checked to find out how she's different from other people," a local friend of mine said, welcoming the idea. "How can she make Michael Phelps?"

"Big Fish," as Phelps is called here, "isn't from the Earth, he must be from another planet," a Beijing newspaper quipped.

Since Phelps won eight medals in eight different swimming events, another idea was proposed in a joke circulating on the Internet. Chinese could win more medals if only they had different versions of ping-pong (Table Tennis as it's known officially). There could be ping-pong with a vertical paddle, ping-pong with a horizontal paddle, etc.

If the number "8" signifies good luck in China, "it's a lucky number for me now, too," Phelps said in a press conference. "Seeing 8-8-08 and opening ceremonies starting at 8:08, I guess it was maybe meant to be. For this to happen, everything had to fall into perfect place. If we had to do this again, I don't know if it would happen the way we wanted to, to the T."

Speaking of gold, Phelps also shared a good lesson for life: practice is like putting money in the bank. When he was tired and didn't want to keep training that day, his coach prodded him, saying it was "like making a deposit," Phelps said. So he kept socking money away each day until the Olympics, and then withdrew "just about every penny."

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