Gymnasts*
Gymnasts*
Fittest on Earth wrote:
Another Gold. Three in a row in the same event.
Leaves no doubt - GOAT.
Yep, Phelps is DA MAN!!!!! Another race, another gold in the 200IM today.
I'm pretty sure Daley Thompson is the greatest Olympian ever. Hang on let me check...
Yep Daley is the GOAT
I've been transported to the future, and been watching the swimming.
Does segregation still exist? I only saw white people...
goaterer wrote:
I've been transported to the future, and been watching the swimming.
Does segregation still exist? I only saw white people...
Nope. 2 of the 8 finalists in the 50m aren't and 4 of the 16 semi finalists. Check back for the finals for the 100m in T&F are up. More white guys a plenty.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Daley competed in 3 Olympics (2 major boycotts). So he had 30 total events.
How many of those events would he have medaled in if they were separate? For example, 1st place in decathlon 1500m = 1 Gold.
BTW, Phelps, not GOAT.
check that 1976 too. 40 chances.
Gold: 7
Silver: 4
Bronze: 1
Plus 2 Gold for winning the it all twice.
9 Gold
4 Silver
1 Bronze
BRusty wrote:
Gold: 7
Silver: 4
Bronze: 1
Plus 2 Gold for winning the it all twice.
9 Gold
4 Silver
1 Bronze
Still badly trails Phelps in number of total medals and number of golds. Medals in a much lower percentage of events. Phelps is the greatest.
Mr. Obvious wrote:
BRusty wrote:Gold: 7
Silver: 4
Bronze: 1
Plus 2 Gold for winning the it all twice.
9 Gold
4 Silver
1 Bronze
Still badly trails Phelps in number of total medals and number of golds. Medals in a much lower percentage of events. Phelps is the greatest.
Much better competition though.
xiuble wrote:
Mr. Obvious wrote:Still badly trails Phelps in number of total medals and number of golds. Medals in a much lower percentage of events. Phelps is the greatest.
Much better competition though.
Decathlon has weak competition. Most of the world's poor do not have access to throwing implements, jumping pits, mats, and poles, much less competent coaching.
Phelps>Thompson.
Swimming has better competition than track. Track has "The West" plus Kenya and Ethiopia, whereas swimming has "The West" plus China.
You do realise whites 'not' being able to medal in track contradicts your arguement. Your reiterating the depth of competition in track. Too bad one rich people and priveledged citizens are the only one that can swim. By genetic advantage of blacks your referring to fast twitch fibers. Therefore if everyone in the world could swim rather than 30% of the worlds population you'd like only see afew whites making finals I'm swimming aswell.
Good arguement, China the country where the vast majority live in 3rd world conditions and barely have enough food. Nice way to illustrate that almost a billion people can't swim minus the Chinese elite.
60% of blacks in the usa can't swim and 30% of whites. Yeah tough comp.
TrackCoach, leaving your obvious biases aside, can you explain how swimming does rank high on your definition of a "pure sport"?
TrackCoach wrote:
1. Swimming is not a pure sport. A pure sport is a test of speed, endurance, strength, agility and is subject to the forces of nature such as gravity, wind, rain and tempature.
Last time I checked swimming epitomizes all these characteristics and more. Is it just that swimmers don’t compete in the wind and rain? If it fits better in your mind think of the viscosity of water as a hurricane like headwind and swimmers competing in the rain…a whole lot of it.
The rest are too silly to read/respond to but I did want to point out that Phelps did not win an Olympic medal at 15 – he finished 5th in the 200 m butterfly final in Sydney. That, in and of itself, is a major accomplishment. He had to defeat the reigning Olympic champion in the US Trials to get there.
What is even more amazing is that he was able to compete early and often over a 20 year career. He also craved competition as evidenced by his desire to take on the 200m freestyle against arguably the best freestylers the world had ever produced at the time. He earned an unexpected bronze in that race but it was clear then that he was something very special.
Another note is that he has a chance to double down on the next Olympic swimming greats; Matt Biondi and Mark Spitz who each have 11. So in order of magnitude Phelps’ Olympic haul has transcended the sport of swimming. Throw out the number and it’s still easy to see that he has dominated his sport and the Olympics like no other. I agree with bestowing the title as Greatest Olympian.
hahahar wrote:
Good arguement, China the country where the vast majority live in 3rd world conditions and barely have enough food. Nice way to illustrate that almost a billion people can't swim minus the Chinese elite.
60% of blacks in the usa can't swim and 30% of whites. Yeah tough comp.
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know China was full of starving peasants. Also, I wasn't aware that 100% of blacks and whites in America ran track. I guess the competition is pretty deep!
In the US, the best and fastest athletes play football and basketball. In the rest of the world they play soccer.
Olympic-caliber track athletes are the second rank ones that were not athletic enough to excel at the popular sports.
really?????? wrote:
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
Al Oerter won 4 Olympic Gold Medals in the Discus. He is one of the greatest Olympians.
Limiting the number of people countries can send to the Olympics really ruins the competition. If they would drop the A standard and allow an unlimited number of competitors into the Olympics you'd see real "GOATS" rise to the top.
[quote]goatest wrote:
In the US, the best and fastest athletes play football and basketball. In the rest of the world they play soccer.
You need skill more than flat out speed to be a class footballer. Most of the best struggle to get under 11 and even with training would not go faster than 10.5
Basketball players are too tall to sprint well. Bolt still the exception rather than the rule and he would not be tall for a football player
American football sure takes some good ones but that seems to be all about sprinting 20m before 10 guys jump on top of you. I assume they need to catch the ball though which rules out a lot of the purely fast ones otherwise we would not have to watch dopers Gatlin or Chambers in the Olympics
None of the above would make a good long distance runner and only a few soccer players would make middle distance runners
Phelp is the best swimmer and is up there with the best in other sports, no way to say who is best of all