TEAMMATES

Michael Phelps' Olympic Triumph

A victory in the 400-meter medley relay marked Michael Phelps' eighth gold medal in the Beijing Olympic games. The record-breaking feat made Phelps the single greatest Olympian in history. As he celebrated the triumph with his teammates, Phelps could be heard uttering the same phrase over and over again: "I couldn't have done it without you guys."

Phelps wasn't merely giving lip service to teamwork. If not for the superhuman efforts of a teammate, his historic quest for eight gold medals would have come to a premature end.

An Amazing Comeback

In the 400-meter freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead leg. Although he put the Americans in front, they were overtaken by the French and trailed considerably as the final swimmers dove into the pool. John Lezak, the oldest man on the American swim team, desperately tried to catch up. Despite his efforts, halfway into his anchor leg Lezak was almost a body-length behind France's Alain Bernard. Just as the television announcers were writing off the Americans, Lezak found another gear. During what seemed like an eternity, he inched closer and closer to the French lead. As they approached the finish line, both swimmers lunged for the wall. Lezak touched it first by a fingernail - one-one hundredth of a second - and the Americans won the gold.

Michael Phelps' accomplishments in Beijing garnered him the individual record of eight gold medals in a single Olympics. However, he never could have achieved the historic mark without the contributions of his teammates.

The leadership lesson in his story is simple: No matter how much talent you have, teammates can take you farther than you can go by yourself.

MICHAEL PHELPS

Michael Phelps set another world record the other day. It’s hard to truly comprehend how difficult setting a world record is. Phelps is incredibly dedicated to his sport, where success is measured in fractions of seconds.

"Phelps' life is swimming. He has world records almost across the board in each of his events. He is a man who could win up to eight medals at the upcoming Beijing Olympics. His life is a tale of dedication that is almost unprecedented in the annals of a sport known best for demanding nothing but undying devotion from its athletes. Elite swimmers get up before dawn almost every day from childhood through college to put their head in the water for hours on end, lap after laborious lap.”

There is something to be said for individual sports like swimming, golf, and tennis. In those sports, there's no one to cover up for your mistakes, no blaming teammates, or team chemistry issues. It's just you out there -- alone. You alone are responsible for the outcome.

In those sports, and others like track and boxing, the pressure isn't on the team; it's on you and you only. The most successful athletes in these sports learn to deal with the pressure. In many cases, they thrive on it. It's what drives them and it's what drives Michael.