It seems Hong Kong has another Olympic connection, albeit a very distant one. New Territories resident Rodney Phelps works for a manufacturing firm and teaches English on the side - 'I moved to Hong Kong a year ago, September 5, and absolutely love it, which is quite an admission for a sixth generation native Texan.' But since the Beijing Games, all everyone wants to know is if he is related to the famous swimmer. He is pretty sure they are. 'My Phelps kin settled in an area known as Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas in 1832, having come from the same area where Michael is from.'
Rodney has been inundated with calls and e-mails about Michael, so he decided to come up with a top-10 list similar to those on David Letterman's show to reply to all the queries. It's not conclusive evidence of kinship, but his 'Top 10 reasons it's nice to be Michael Phelps' uncle' is still pretty funny.
Here are our favourites: My girlfriends are thrilled to know someone in the family who is 'faster to the finish' than I am; numerous gold medals can be used as coasters at family get-togethers; and, the only time you can brag about a family member doing the 100 metres butterfly without getting beaten up by a biker.