discuss;
discuss;
no. not with those short legs (for a guy 6'3"). He is all torso and has the leg length of a guy 6 ft.
No way. He is a sprinter in the pool, which is the only reason he is able to get so many medals. I am so sick of this guy - swimming is easy on your body and has a lot of sprint options... no other sport allows for that many "medals" - he is the best in his sport, not the best olympian ever, and he wouldn't be a good distance runner. He is way too bulky.
Wait for an announcement from Mary Wittenberg about Michaerl Phelps & Lancer Armstrong running in NYCMarathon this fall.
Lance starts hanging out and partying with Armstrong and McConehey on South Beach. 3 guys who love to go shirtless.
'Phelps' starts hanging out with Armstrong and McConehey with his super white choppers and hairplugs.
Phelps is not a sprint swimmer - 50m & 100m are sprints. 200m is more middle distance. In the 100m fly he is not nearly as dominant as the 200m fly and he's not the best in the world at 100m free.
tammy trampoline wrote:
No way. He is a sprinter in the pool, which is the only reason he is able to get so many medals. I am so sick of this guy - swimming is easy on your body and has a lot of sprint options... no other sport allows for that many "medals" - he is the best in his sport, not the best olympian ever, and he wouldn't be a good distance runner. He is way too bulky.
I'd say definitely no if I had not had a comparable situation I had in high school. A national class swimmer took time off to join the XC team for a couple of years and was actually pretty good. He was built sort of like Phelps and looked TOTALLY out of place at XC meets, but if he'd run track I bet he might have been close to 15 for 5K.
As it is, I'm a duffer but I reckon I could beat 'the greatest athlete ever' over any track event of his choosing.
i read something about phelps' dryland training once and it said that he's not allowed to run because he's too clumsy. his coach was afraid of him falling.
Phelps is not a sprinter; he is just so good that he can hang with them. I guess you think that everyone else in the 400 IM are sprinters too. It is clear that you know nothing about swimming. Phelps is the greatest athlete ever.
People on here are just hating becuase they are pissed off that Men's American distance running is at an all time low.
You know nothing wrote:
It is clear that you know nothing about swimming. Phelps is the greatest athlete ever.
People on here are just hating becuase they are pissed off that Men's American distance running is at an all time low.
American Distance running is doing extremely well compared to the 90's and can be said to be nearing their all-time best. Clearly you know little about distance running. Sure the Olympics haven't gone awesome but it is one meet.
On the flip side, you know little about sports if you think Phelps is the greatest athlete ever. Greatest swimmer, yes. Greatest athlete, not even in the picture.
Our little bitches here are at it again. I never realized that runners are so immature. They mostly hate; each other, other athletes and the world in general.
Someone told me he's double jointed in the knees.
How is that possible?
Well, anyway...that would lead to hyperextension of the knees and cause all sorts of problem.
It's probably best to let Flipper stay in the water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps
I've heard tell that he's 6'4", 6'5" & 6'7" and that his wingspan is 82 inches.
Maybe Jack Bacheler or Peter Maher could comment on what it takes to be that tall and run fast.
[quote]reality has been faced wrote:
6'4" and that his wingspan is 82 inches.
but he is all torso with short legs for a 6'4 " guy....has the inseam of a normal 6 foot man...good for swimming, bad for running.
Time to face reality wrote:
Our little bitches here are at it again. I never realized that runners are so immature. They mostly hate; each other, other athletes and the world in general.
What other sports can Phelps do that would make him a great athlete, let alone the greatest athlete ever? His own coach has said that he is too worried to let Phelps run because he is so uncoordinated and could hurt himself (paraphrasing).
He is without a doubt the greatest swimmer ever. He works as hard as the hardest training athletes out there.
I come from the train of thought of a great athlete being someone who can pick up any sport and accell at it - that would not fit Phelps. He is one of the most dominate single ability people out there.
his legs are all out of proportion to his body. He'd be top heavy and terrible.
"American Distance running is doing extremely well compared to the 90's"
When competing in the Olympics against the entire world in the biggest country in the world, you base your success off what you did back in the 90s?
16 Olympic medals (14 Gold), 38 National titles, 18 World Championship titles, 32 world records, 23 years old.
That is why he is the greatest athlete of all time. But I'm sure that everyone on here will tell me how wrong I am and the Alan Webb is way better.
Short legs but world class VOMax; 1:55 800m easy.
You know nothing wrote:
"American Distance running is doing extremely well compared to the 90's"
When competing in the Olympics against the entire world in the biggest country in the world, you base your success off what you did back in the 90s?
16 Olympic medals (14 Gold), 38 National titles, 18 World Championship titles, 32 world records, 23 years old.
That is why he is the greatest athlete of all time. But I'm sure that everyone on here will tell me how wrong I am and the Alan Webb is way better.
I would suggest you learn to read through threads before pulling things out of context and going off on them. USA distance running was said to be at an all-time low by a poster on the thread. That is why I mentioned the 90's and possibly all-time. They are doing excellent and are at a about the all-time best they ever had. The Olympics aren't going perfect or even great but the athletes are much faster and competitive than any time in the last 20 years.
You can post all the awards and accolades you want about Phelps - I agree, they are amazing but they don't mean much to me. He is dominating a low participation sport that you can compete in a ton of events in. His stats are enhanced for those reasons, in addition the fact that he is the best swimmer ever.
I don't think any distance runner should be in consideration of a greatest athlete of all time discussion as most aren't that athletic. If you want to argue that Phelps is one of the best Olympians ever, you would have a strong argument but never a 100% consensus.
If you were going to play a pick up basketball game, would you take Phelps over Chad Johnson (NFL reciever)? If you were going to play a pick up soccer game would you take Phelps or (Jeremy Wariner)? If you were going to ply a pick up game of beach volleyball would you take Phelps over Lebron James?
The answers are obvious and there are about 1000 different people or more that could be substituted in to give more of an effect. Great swimmer but not a great athlete.
Is Bekele considered one of the greatest athletes of all time because he has the world records in the 5k/10k and has won several gold medals and world championships (In more dominating fashion than Phelps)? Not by anyone that knows what a real athlete is.
If track was a forgiving sport on the body and you could run more than the 5k and 10k in an olympics, such as several other races like those, Bekele would be considered the greatest Olympian (but not greatest athlete) ever because he would have the world record in those events, to go along with the Gold Medals and would be competing in an event that has the highest participation rate next to soccer - running. The way track is on the body and the way swimming is on the body won't allow for that to happen, though.
Be happy for Phelps but be real. Phelps own coach would attest to the fact that Phelps is not capable of doing things on land as he is not coordinated enough to - that speaks volumes about his athletic ability.
Again, Phelps is an amazing swimmer and is clearly dominate in his sport like only so few have been in other sports (but there are others just as good if not better than him in other sports).
Maybe you see athleticism as something else - if so, we will have to agree to disagree.
