A Reservoir of Learning
With Phelps Wins, Young Fans Taught Humility, Sportsmanship

By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 17, 2008; A19

With the world watching Michael Phelps's epic quest for eight gold medals, some parents of young Olympic dreamers across the region say they've worked hard to keep his success in perspective for their kids.

As their children cheer with each late-night race, every Phelps win has come with a teaching opportunity about humility and sportsmanship. Parents say the lessons are exacerbated by the fact that each new record coincides with more competitors, foreign and American, getting pushed further from the limelight.

"They always seem to be happy because they're there and they've done their best," said 13-year-old Johanna Steelberg, a racer with the Fairfax-based swim team FISH, who has clearly been listening to her mother.

"They're watching how [the Olympians] behave more than how they perform," said her mother, Nancy Steelberg, of McLean. "They're just looking for cues in how to behave as an adult."

Although Phelps's golden haul has young athletes' imagination soaring, records cannot be the only measure of success, parents say. In and around Washington, where it is common for kids to swim in clubs year-round before completing kindergarten and for thousands to share a pool with Olympians before they reach high school, that might be an especially important lesson.

"What people are seeing at the Olympics are the things that kids who are really in swimming see all the time," said Sally MacKenzie, president of the 8,000-member Montgomery County Swim League.

"The way Phelps touched the wall the other night, that happens a lot of times, and sometimes we only have a stopwatch. It's not always the kid who touches first who wins," said MacKenzie, referring to Phelps's Friday night win in the 100-meter butterfly that was decided by a hundredth of a second and high-speed cameras. "It's good for [young kids] to see how other swimmers behave in these situations."

Cori Lucas, 12, said watching some of her role models, such as Natalie Coughlin and Kate Ziegler, win -- and lose -- in Beijing has taught her what to do on leaving the pool after her favorite backstroke.

"I like to smile when I win, and I don't smile when I lose," Cori said. "I'm going to try to smile more."

Cori, her younger brother, Ryan, who practices the breast stroke twice a week, and mother, Susan Gilbert, all of Vienna, watched Phelps win a seventh gold medal Friday night with about 50 other young swimmers in the student center at George Mason University. The event, sponsored by USA Swimming, was to feature Ziegler. She trains with the FISH team and was expected to be racing in the 800-meter freestyle, televised Friday night, but failed to make the final.

"Phelps is great, but in some ways I think the kids are surprised he's gotten all of the attention," Gilbert said. "They say to me, 'There are so many really good swimmers out there, they should all get some attention.' "

With Phelps going for an eighth gold in the 100-meter relay, scant doubt existed that the Towson native bore the hopes of many in the region.

Phelps house parties were advertised on Facebook, his trading card was listed on eBay for more than $17,000, and a cadre of reporters from international television stations continued to broadcast from Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, his home training facility in Baltimore.

An estimated 50,000 Baltimore Ravens fans stayed after the team's preseason loss to the Minnesota Vikings last night to see Phelps's winning race on M&T Bank Stadium's jumbo screens. They cheered wildly.

At home in Linthicum, his father, Fred Phelps, a retired Maryland State Police trooper, said he has watched each of his son's races on TV and "couldn't be prouder."

Phelps separated from Debbie Phelps when their children were young; she and the couple's two daughters have been a mainstay at poolside for every Michael Phelps race in Beijing. The family's split has been written about extensively.

Citing that, Fred Phelps declined to say more, adding that the attention should be on his son's achievements. "It's about Michael; not about me."

Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.