Driving and like a barrage was, though all the media both within and internationally, the presentation of the swimming athlete Phelps who was described with adjectives like ‘super-athlete’, ‘athlete-phenomenon’, ‘king’ and others.
Also, through all the television channels without fail, there was a great focus on the reason of his career of choice with the characterizations ‘dyslexic’, ‘diagnosed with ADHD’, ‘child of divorced parents’, etc.
The above analysis of the portrait of the particular athlete who is described as a swimming demigod is highly dangerous for the audience, but for Phelps himself if he is for any reason watching these reports. This is because in essence they are presenting him as a model/example and only choice for people facing difficulties in their academic career (“if he can’t learn his/her letters, make him/her an athlete”) and for sure the true significance of the Phelps phenomenon and what it should mean for all those who diagnosed him and gave him the stigma of the ‘problem’ student is silenced:
In order for Phelps to be able to reach the amazing level of competence he is displaying (with or without chemical aid):
a. it was necessary that he have enormous devotion to the activity without significant fluctuation over several years
b. it was necessary that he pay attention to instructions and suggestions (theoretical and practical) of his coach, without a demand for him to have a break from instruction every 10 minutes.
c. it was necessary that he discipline himself and control himself for hours upon hours of repetitive exercises of low interest level so that he would be able to strengthen his body, and which exercises were not the actual sport for which he was being trained. It is very hard to discipline a ‘normal’ child to these, let alone one with short/ disrupted attention span and hyperactivity.
d. it was necessary that he comprehend basic rules of physics (such as friction, water resistance, aerodynamics, etc) so that he will be able to align himself to the physical condition/ position demanded each moment without needing his coach to correct him all the time .
All of the above (and certainly more aspects that only the people in the field of medal-winning athletics) require a person who not only does not have a short attention span but on the contrary, has a very focused and long-lasting attention span, has full capacity of direct and quick learning and absorbing of information as well as applying what was learned and therefore is a fully normal person without any syndrome causing the difficulty in learning.
Therefore the diagnoses of ADHD for 6-year-old Phelps were fully erroneous and unfair since he has proven to us that he is fully capable of mastering anything he wants provided that he is inspired with the motive to do it rather than have his confidence broken and abused within the academic environment as is obvious did NOT occur with the coaches he had, at least in the beginning.
The Phelps phenomenon shows us that the educational system and the easy, superficial (in ages where psychologically a diagnosis from anyone is definitive and detrimental) diagnoses, categorization and streaming of students destroyes and squanders geniouses who could have offered much more to humanity than entertainment.
Mr. Phelps was and is a normal and brilliant man who could and can master anything, from astrophysics to cooking to the arts and economy.
Mr. Phelps has enough proof in his hands and can create more, in order to sue all without exception the professionals, teacher as well as the state (including international organizations like the IOC and the mass media) for the psychological violence he endured as a child as well as the undermining international publication of this psychological violence now (for the serving of other peoples’ interests).