Phelps is NOT the greatest olympian ever...

6.5 billion people run, afew hundred million swim. Says it all really

Beamon wrote:

Not sure about everyone else but this really gets on my nerves. Every time you watch Olympic commentary you continually hear media etc preaching phelps are the greatest ever olympian.

No doubt he is the greatest swimmer but the fact is the majority of the world can't swim, the depth of competition is much smaller than track and there are countless variations of the same event with which to bag a medal. In track it is the fastest from point a to point b. Swimming allows you to get gold without being the fastest from point a to point b.

So who is the greatest Olympian of all time?

To suggest that the rest of the world doesn't care about track and field is absurd and entirely wrong. Football, basketball and baseball are American sports: track and field is the world's sport. People around the world care because they know that people like lopes Lamong, and countless others, can emerge from the direst poverty and compete at the highest level to become the best in the world.

All swimmers train like endurance athletes. Massive amounts of training. Swimmers are not so distinctively divided into sprinters and distance guys like runners are.

This is really stupid. There are maybe 6.5 billion people in this world. I don't know how many parapalegics or quadripalegics there are but they can't run. Billions of people are obsese and don't or can't run. Billions of people are old and can't/don't run. The olympic sun doesn't rise and set on T and F. We have discussed this ad nauseum on here and swimming being highly technical. Each stroke is different. It is not the same as running and backwards running. Swimming always propels the body in the same direction....the head leads the way. For people's analogies about backward running to be correct, the swimmer would have to move in the direction of their feet.Michael Phelps is "the most decorated olympian ever". He has the record for golds in one olympics AND overall medals. He participated in 3 Olympics and won medals in each. All this hate comes from jealousy. How many runners have won medals in the same event for 3 olympics?

Realisto1 wrote:

6.5 billion people run, afew hundred million swim. Says it all really

really?????? wrote:

How many runners have won medals in the same event for 3 olympics?

Off the top of my head I can think of Carl Lewis in Long Jump and Viktor Saneyev in Triple Jump. Not exactly the sprints though.

Most likely VCB and Allyson Felix in the 200m once it's run.

There are probably more, but bottom line Michael Phelps is NOT the greatest olympian ever, by far.

See, your statement is highly opinionated and you are stating it as fact and you lack criteria on which to make this decision so your argument is null and void...sorry.

champyoyoza wrote:

really?????? wrote:

How many runners have won medals in the same event for 3 olympics?

Off the top of my head I can think of Carl Lewis in Long Jump and Viktor Saneyev in Triple Jump. Not exactly the sprints though.

Most likely VCB and Allyson Felix in the 200m once it's run.

There are probably more, but bottom line Michael Phelps is NOT the greatest olympian ever, by far.

Beamon wrote:

Not sure about everyone else but this really gets on my nerves. Every time you watch Olympic commentary you continually hear media etc preaching phelps are the greatest ever olympian.

No doubt he is the greatest swimmer but the fact is the majority of the world can't swim, the depth of competition is much smaller than track and there are countless variations of the same event with which to bag a medal. In track it is the fastest from point a to point b. Swimming allows you to get gold without being the fastest from point a to point b.

Don't be biased though. The depth of the competition is probably about the same. Who cares if the Africans aren't in swimming. Swimming is huge in Asia and Australia and that makes up for the lost Africans. When you look at track, It is actually not that deep. Especially in the distance events where 2 countries dominate then 1 or 2 guys from a few other countries and that is it. If it was so easy to win 8 gold medals in an olympics then you would think more swimmers would get close, at least like 6 or 7.

How many people around the world have run a 100m vs a 100m butterfly.

Only first world countries have a decent proportion of people swimming. The depth of talent isn't even close to comparable. The majority of people in Asia live in poverty and would have never been in a swimming pool.

The inherant problem with saying phelps is the greatest olympian is that it labels him superior to track athletes in a far tougher sport. Guys like coe and bolt are superior olympians due to the difficulty to win in track.

Phelps is the greatest swimmer, leave it at that

Well i guess there is no arguing with reason. Bolt sure is a better olympian than Phelps. Lmfao.

I'm ok with Phelps being referred to as the "most decorated" Olympian, because that's true. And it's indisputable fact. But greatest? No. He's the greatest swimmer, and that's something to be proud of. But really no other Olympic sport lends itself to the possibility of winning so many medals as swimming.

When Phelps piles up 8 golds in a single Olympic competition it's like, "Alright! Phelps is awesome!" But if a track athlete won 8 gold medals in London, it would be like "HOLY WHAT THE SHIT JUST HAPPENED??!!!"

Every other thread on this site ends up being runners bashing other sports because not everyone in the world competes in it.

Give it a break. Running may be the toughest sport to be the absolute best at but it doesn't mean you can't respect other sports and realize how amazing the athletes are.

If people can't understand and appreciate how incredible somebody like Phelps is then they're pretty idiotic.

really?????? wrote:

Michael Phelps is "the most decorated olympian ever". He has the record for golds in one olympics AND overall medals. He participated in 3 Olympics and won medals in each. All this hate comes from jealousy. How many runners have won medals in the same event for 3 olympics?

He's competed in four Olympics. He did not win any medals in Sydney (only competed in one event as a 15 year old) where he finished fifth in the 200m butterfly.

Its not just the number of medals bit the success he has had in all 3 olympics, setting records, american, world, and olympic. A male gymnast could win 7 medals in an olympics. Don't think anyone has come close to that. A t and f runner could win 11 or so medals if they were well rounded enough, and thats just running.

Phelps is the most decorated Olympian.

Bt greatness is subjective because of other factors.

I will subjectively choose Carl Lewis.

If its just as hard to medal in swimming as in track, why aren't there people that have gotten close to phelps medal count?

i did ok in 1992

Beamon wrote:

Not sure about everyone else but this really gets on my nerves. Every time you watch Olympic commentary you continually hear media etc preaching phelps are the greatest ever olympian.

No doubt he is the greatest swimmer but the fact is the majority of the world can't swim, the depth of competition is much smaller than track and there are countless variations of the same event with which to bag a medal. In track it is the fastest from point a to point b. Swimming allows you to get gold without being the fastest from point a to point b.

Sorry, but you are 100% wrong. I don't know what it is about people not wanting to use definitions, but the word "Olympian" doesn't mean "athlete", it means OLYMPIAN, as in someone who competes in an Olympic event.

While I believe Haile Gebrselassie is a much greater ATHLETE than Michael Phelps, he is NOT a greater Olympian than Phelps. Michael Phelps has won more medals than any other Olympian, and more of them are gold too. He's the greatest. End of story. The ONLY argument one might make is that some of those medals were on relays which required good teammates, but even there, I'd side with Phelps on this one.

If we ever have an equestrian who ends up winning more medals than Phelps, then that woman or gay man will be the greatest Olympian ever even though no WAY are they more athletic than Phelps.

Hope this clears this up for you.

really?????? wrote:

See, your statement is highly opinionated and you are stating it as fact and you lack criteria on which to make this decision so your argument is null and void...sorry.

champyoyoza wrote:

5- Merlene Ottey 80,84,92,96,00