Ok, so if you win eight medals in one Olympic Games and fourteen total, you
give up your right to be an anonymous person in that regard.  But unless
Michael Phelps has asked for our opinions, AND given permission for his
physical uniqueness to be discussed on a list for people concerned with
breastfeeding, we really have no business speculating on whether he was
breastfed and whether he would have a different facial structure if he had
been, and we have no reason to think he could have performed any better! 
The previous record for number of medals in swimming in one Olympic Games
was set in 1972.  No one has come close in the ensuing thirty-six years
before this athlete with exceptional dimensions and even more exceptional
determination and ability.  Besides, for all we know his mother provided her
milk to him at great personal expense, or maybe she lovingly fed him
something commercially manufactured and nurtured his gifts so that she was
the first person he wanted to thank when all the medals had been handed out. 
These games have seen two swimmers from Norway take medals, one each, and
one of them is reported to be such a loud snorer that his roommate needs
earplugs to cope. This was the subject of some merriment in the TV coverage
just before the games opened.  He is a trim young man and I am positive he
doesn't smoke, which rules out the three commonest factors associated with
snoring (overweight, age and smoking).  He does have kind of a longish,
narrow face but I must admit that tongue-tie and narrow palate were not
uppermost in my mind when I watched how happy he was to have been the first
Norwegian ever to win an Olympic medal in swimming. What if the narrow
palate is actually an advantage for streamlinedness in the water, or
breathing?  
The only child I ever found too taxing to babysit because she and her
brother were just too physically active for me, grew up to win a gold medal
in women's giant slalom in Sarajevo. My guess is that people with diagnoses
including hyperactivity are overrepresented in athletics. Just shows what
that surplus of energy can do if someone helps you focus it in the right
direction. 

Can we leave the remarkable Michael Phelps to rest on his much-deserved
laurels now?  At least until he or his mother consults one of us and asks us
to discuss his orofacial anatomy here on Lactnet?

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome