UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Swimming, World Championships 2003

Michael Phelps, 18 (1.93m, 87kg) outdoes not only Ian Thorpe (20 yrs old, 1.95m, 102kg) but the great Mark Spitz (shorter and lighter – 78kg only) at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona. He won 3 golds (?), the same as Ian Thorpe (?) but Thorpe did NOT break any world records this time round. Phelps, in contrast broke 5 individual world records, including 2 in one magical night (about 1 hour apart!). The most broken by Spitz in a single championships was 4 set at the ’72 Olympics. But what we will all eagerly wait for is to see if Phelps can break Spitz’s other famous record of 7 Olympic gold medals next summer in Athens. For the record, Ian Thorpe also broke 4 world records (but were they individual recs) at the 2001 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

This meet also established Kosuke Kitajima as the greatest Asian swimmer ever, and the world’s greatest breaststroker, breaking 2 world records in this stroke.

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