Michael Phelps "most decorated olympian"...not necessarily "greatest"

He is completely dominant in his sport. Moreso than probably anyone in history. He has to swim like 15 races in about a week and he swims them all out, not just for the win. I would hardly say getting where he is was "easy" He also has mastered numerous strokes. You can not compare anything a distance runner has done at the olympics. A decathlete winning all 7 of the 10 events would be comparable.

Go to nbcolympics.com and find the video of the 200 meter freestyle where he destroys the field by 2 full seconds. And this is a 1:43 to 1:46 race. Imagine someone winning Olympic gold in the 800 by two full seconds. That's domination.

pantsed wrote:

I'm sick of hearing he's the "greatest olympian ever."

Who called him that? Seriously.

what?... wrote:

He is completely dominant in his sport. Moreso than probably anyone in history. He has to swim like 15 races in about a week and he swims them all out, not just for the win. I would hardly say getting where he is was "easy" He also has mastered numerous strokes. You can not compare anything a distance runner has done at the olympics. A decathlete winning all 7 of the 10 events would be comparable.

Yeah, and then having to win it for 40 straight years in order to win as many medals as Michal Phelps. Stoooooopid comparison.

I think we Can all agree that most of Phelp’s races are very similar, but give credit where credit is due. No other swimmer in history has done what he has, so that atleast says something. I know there’s no way a distance athlete could do that, but still….give a little.

I wouldn\'t say that this is the same as Jones. Everyone has those suits. It\'s not like Phelps has an unfair advantage over his competitors in that respect. However, the suit sure gives less meaning (to me anyway) to all of the world records that are being broken.

how dumbs

if you can't recognize that he's absolutely crushing the competition then you're blind. That guy is single handedly destroying everyone else.

If all these strokes are so similar and so easy you'd think it'd be easy for someone else to step up and take him out in one event when he's swimming 17 races.

If you're dominant at the 100, 200, and 400 you'd think that it'd be easier for someone to just focus on one and gun for you. But this guy is going out and putting down WR's every time.

dum-dum, he's ridiculous good. Looks like a fish when he kicks underwater, absolutely dominating performance.

pantsed wrote:

He competes in a sport with a bunch of events that can all easily be won or medaled in by top athletes.

What the f#ck are you talking about?

Are you saying that it's "easy" to win a swimming medal at the Olympics?

Idiot.

Do you guys even know how good spitz was. Spitz won 7 gold medals when he was 22, (2 when he was 18 but had numerous world records). He then retired until he was 41 and didn't win anymore gold medals. He would have won numerous more gold medals had he competed at the olympics when he was in his late 20's.

Spitzer wrote:

Do you guys even know how good spitz was. Spitz won 7 gold medals when he was 22, (2 when he was 18 but had numerous world records). He then retired until he was 41 and didn't win anymore gold medals. He would have won numerous more gold medals had he competed at the olympics when he was in his late 20's.

Coulda

Woulda

Shoulda

I know how good he was.

He was 9 gold medals good. How do I know this? Because he won 9 gold medals. That is as good as he is because that is what he did.

Why talk about what could have happened, when we know what DID happen?

Spitzer wrote:

Do you guys even know how good spitz was.

Mark Spitz was great. He was also extremely intelligent and one of the greatest Sportsman in history.

His comments this past week, while they may be a little difficult to understand are exactly on the mark.

However, do you realize the Women today are swimming the times he swam?

stupid letsrunners wrote:

What the f#ck are you talking about?

Are you saying that it's "easy" to win a swimming medal at the Olympics?

Idiot.

I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt and consider this just a matter of poor phrasing. It's not that winning a swimming medal is easy, it's that there are so many events that are similar, so that if one is a top athlete, winning 5 gold medals isn't that much more difficult than winning 2.

Be kind to swimmers, letsrunners...they have a lot in common with us (except the damn bastards usually look better than we do)

So just for fun...would you rather win one gold medal in the marathon or gold medals in both the 400 and 800?

Response wrote:

However, do you realize the Women today are swimming the times he swam?

They should be wearing those new suits that have thousands of microflippers attached to them. In a few years, they won't even need the swimmers to be in them. They will just have races between the suits to see which is the fastest!!!

I finally heard Phelps referred to as the most decorated. I prefer that over "greatest". Greatest is a subjective term that could take into account feats not related to winning a medal such as Lutz Long and the yachtsman who rushed to save some competitors in the water and lost a chance for his own gold medal. In the latter case, he may have saved lives.

I would not say that all his events can be easily won. That is pretty dismissive of the sport.

Plus he swan with a 'stache.

I'm sick of hearing about him period. Half of the coverage so far is about him. I say just give gim the 8 gold medals and get him the hell out of the T.V. program. I get it, he's a great swimmer, that doesn't mean I want to see his ugly face at all times.

If he isn't the greatest ever, then there would be many suggestions for another Olympian who was superior. Well, someone has mentioned Mark Spitz with whom the comparison is simple to conclude that Phelps is better. If no other names immmediately come to mind, that's a pretty good indication that Phelps is the greatest ever.

Did you just say swimming is easier than running? I hardly think that is true.. In theory they should be equals. If you put everything you have into a swimming race, you should be working equally as hard as if you were doing the same in running.

As a swimmer, I look at the different events, even from within the same stroke, and I don't see it as similar at all. A 50m free is not the same as a 100m free. Pace is important, and so are turns. There is so much more.

Also, you have to look at the mastery of every stroke. People DREAM about being able to break records in every stroke. Phelps is the first person to have been able to show that he was capable of being a top competitor in every single stroke, and every single event.

Now, if you put him in a 1500m free, you would probably see different results. He is an amazing sprinter, and he is good at the widest variety of events. When you look at it objectively, and based on numbers, he is THE greatest olympic SWIMMER.

Is he the greatest olympian ever? That's a hard call to make.

Phelps is the most decorated, not the greatest.