Wake up people!

There are more swimmers out there than Michael Phelps. You'd never know it with the way the media covers swimming. Sure none of our other swimmers have gotten as many gold medals, but that doesn't mean we don't have to pay attention. Michael has gotten bigger than the sport and that is absolutely wrong. I'll tell you about some other men and women you should be aware of.

Ryan Lochte is an American swimmer. He's a world record holder and an Olympic gold medalist. He's known for his backstroke, but also does the IM and freestyle relays. He's probably next next most popular male swimmer out there. He's a little more relaxed and low-profile compared to Phelps (but who isn't?), but Phelp's would have as many golds with Ryan's help on relays.

Aaron Peirsol is another reason Phelps got his medals. Aaron is a pure backstroker. He's won numerous gold medals, including every backstroke gold medal in 2004 at Athens. He starts off the medley relay where Phelps does fly.

Natalie Coughlin is a very accomplished female athlete. She has 11 Olympic medals and holds many American records. She's apparently a great cook, because she prepared an Asian dish on the Today Show. She also announced that she is going to be in the next season of dancing with the stars.

Dagny Knutson is another huge bright spot in the swimming world. She's a 17 year old senior and she broke Katie Hoff's American record in the 400 IM. Had she swam that time in the Olympics in 2008, she would have been 5th. Oh, by the way, she's also from Minot, North Dakota. I've had the pleasure of swimming with her hundreds of times. She's incredibly humble. She's almost as humble as she is hard working. She does two-a-days every day and sometimes adds land practices onto that. A year or two ago I could say that I could keep up with her... Not so much anymore. She is on the fast track to success. She's amazingly successful in the pool, and was just voted high school homecoming queen. How's that for prospective? There she is in front of the pool she and I have swam in for ages.

That's just a few of the athletes. There are many more that are worth mentioning, but I don't wanna go on for forever. Yes, Phelps is fantastic, but he's not the only people we need to be cheering on.