Olympic champion

If you were wondering how long lightning takes to strike the ground, I have the answer.

It takes no longer than the time by which Michael Phelps defeated Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly on Friday, Aug. 15.

One hundredth of a second. The smallest possible winning margin at the Olympics. Phelps won by a fingernail, literally. In the process, he tied Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals, a record that he easily broke on Saturday, establishing a new record for gold medals in a single Olympics.

The race for that seventh gold, when Phelps was able to make up distance on Cavic after it looked like the dream for eight was ending, was nothing short of miraculous. At a time when the Olympics are heavily politicized and commercialized Phelps, looking like a guy you sit next to on the bus every day, brought back the innocence the Olympics have long been stripped of.

Here was a guy who worked hard every day to accomplish his personal goals without even the suspicion of steroids. He doesn't have the ego of a big-time star, although when he returns home he will surely have the wealth of one from all the endorsements he will receive.

The raw emotions his family goes through with every race reverberated with the American public, as we went through the highs and lows with his mother and sister. In sports bars and homes across America, instead of watching a baseball game or MTV, we were watching the Olympics.

Watching the American women finish first-second in the all-around gymnastics competition was an event, not a casual night of TV.

Heck, I've even become a fan of fencing, where the Americans swept the medals in Sabre.

Facing rising costs and falling wealth, Phelps and the Olympics have come at the perfect time for families across America. The Games and its athletes have served to inspire us and remind us why the Olympics mattered in the first place.