Michael Phelps' father is a Fred
 

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/bei...urn=oly,102215

which begs several questions:

-- does he ride a bike?
-- how many people on this board have the given name Fred?

* apparently when this article was first posted, Fred Phelps' picture was included. I don't see it there now, so I cannot "go to the videotape" to validate his Fred potential.

Do you believe he only has a 30" inseam at 6'4" He's very disproportionate.

There was a special where they went through the physics of how his build makes him such an incredible swimmer; extremely long torso, relatively short legs, huge arm-span and size 14 "webbed" feet.

As in disproportionately fit vs. the current trend of obesity?

I have short legs too. I never realized it was correlated to fitness.

Short legs have nothing to do with fitness, but they are an advantage for competitive swimmers, if combined with big, wide feet, long arms, and a long torso. An athlete's legs tend to be muscle and bone, which sink.

I was very interested in swimming (non-competitive) as a teen and young adult, but I have a short torso, long legs, and narrow feet that are small feet for my height. My long arms were my only advantage in swimming. I am sure it would have been funny seeing me trying to swim freestyle, with my feet and legs sinking as soon as I got tired. Being non-competitive, I quickly learned to favor other strokes that let my long legs work more efficiently, such as the trudgeon and sidestroke.

Long legs favor distance runners, who are no less fit than swimmers, just suited for a different sport.

he also has double jointed knees, ankles and elbows which means he gets more action and snap on strokes. hes pretty the ideal swimmer physique, like lance is to cycling

30 years from now there will be a guy 2-3" taller than he is with feet 2-3 sizes bigger with the same incredible flexibility.

Might take 30 years but no doubt he will come. Phelps is a bigger version of Spitz with the same uncanny ligament and tendon flexibility which allows hyperextension of his limbs in the water for great stroke length.
The most incredible thing isn't that Michael won all those golds but just close the next fastest guy was. Some of his races were pretty close.