it's a tough one...i have to give it to phelps though for his tremendous range
it's a tough one...i have to give it to phelps though for his tremendous range
What about Rulon Gardner. Gardner has won an olympic gold in wrestling AND is doing very well on The Biggest Loser.
I am naked.
which is the better animal, a hippopotamus or a crab?
Hippos are. They are happy while crabs are, well, crabby.
Your welcome.
What do you mean - Phelps - his tremendous range?
Bolt is obliged to run from A to B as fast as he possibly can.
Were they to introduce other running races where the competitor had the option to also run in running backwards races - run in races with his arms waving like windmills and other races with unnatural restrictions, maybe Bolt could win 8 gold medals as well.
There was a press conference in Beijing where Bolt said in response to this question, "He's a swimmer and I'm an athlete."
wrote this in '08
Simple, strap some ice skates on them, and grade them on figure skating....
Draw.
Athletics has so much greater participation numbers, meaning Bolt had far more competition.
On the other hand, competitive swimming is large enough that Phelps has to be darn good to beat the competition (ie. we aren't talking like luge or competitive yachting where you can pretty much be an Olympian if you can afford to show up at a handful of qualifying events and manage to just barely finish.) And the track equivalent of Phelps' program would be winning gold in the 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, 800M and 1500M.
I think if you ever got the two of them in the same room, there would be much talking of smack, then a discovery that they had a common interesting in the finest leaf Jamaica could produce and they'd be utterly stoned and singing rap songs together (badly) within 45 minutes of the start of the meeting, meaning any attempts to settle the question 'on the field' somehow just wouldn't work.
turkey leg wrote:
Hippos are. They are happy while crabs are, well, crabby.
Your welcome.
My vote is with the crab. You ever eat hippo?
beachmouse wrote:
And the track equivalent of Phelps' program would be winning gold in the 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, 800M and 1500M.
Wrong again.
100 and 200 fly is a common combination. 200 fly and 400 IM is a common combination. 200 fly and 200 free is a common combination.
1500m and 400m hurdles is completely effing unheard of.
the smartest letsrunner wrote:
beachmouse wrote:And the track equivalent of Phelps' program would be winning gold in the 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, 800M and 1500M.
Wrong again.
100 and 200 fly is a common combination. 200 fly and 400 IM is a common combination. 200 fly and 200 free is a common combination.
1500m and 400m hurdles is completely effing unheard of.
There are no "equivalents". Freestyle is different from breastroke, which is different from backstroke, which is different from butterfly. Each stroke has different demands on muscle groups, and needs different coordination. Most swimmers will be strong at two (maybe three) strokes, but have one stroke which is a glaring weakness. Watch an IM sometime.
I'm not saying that Phelps is the better athlete, but I get tired of hearing how swimming is somehow "less" of a sport than running. Get in and train with a swimmer for a week, then get back with me.
Plus, those track events, especially 1500m, require omre recovery time than swimming races.the smartest letsrunner wrote:
beachmouse wrote:And the track equivalent of Phelps' program would be winning gold in the 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, 800M and 1500M.
Wrong again.
100 and 200 fly is a common combination. 200 fly and 400 IM is a common combination. 200 fly and 200 free is a common combination.
1500m and 400m hurdles is completely effing unheard of.
Apples and oranges.
Who's a better athlete, Michael Jordan or Diego Maradona? Who is a better creative artist, James Joyce or Pablo Picasso? Hell, who's the best miler of all time?
How many people in the world try and race 100m on foot vs swimming any event?
Swimmers simply have a smaller "pool" of competition.
On top of that they make up all of these different "events" to cover the same distance.
There is only one event that matters in the Olympics.
Every other event and sport is just trying to get in on the party.
X-Runner wrote:
How many people in the world try and race 100m on foot vs swimming any event?
I actually think more people probably swim than run the 100 meters competitively. Doing running drills in soccer practice is not even remotely the same as racing the 100 meters. Neither is being a miler.
And if only one even matters . . . I hate to tell you, but it's the all around in girl's gymnastics.
That question can't be answered for the reasons others have pointed out.
Bolt's Athleticism probably translates better to most other sports than Phelps making him more of an all around Athlete.
Chex Mixx wrote:
I'm not saying that Phelps is the better athlete, but I get tired of hearing how swimming is somehow "less" of a sport than running. Get in and train with a swimmer for a week, then get back with me.
Sorry got too burned out after 15 years of competitive swimming, including college level, to ever want to go through the 20-25 hours a week in the pool again.
100 fly and 400 IM is NOT a common combination. The 100 flyer typically ends up in the 200 fly or sprint freestyles in terms of additional events, and the 400 IMer is also either a 200 IMer, a breaststroker, or a middle distance freestyler.
The comparisons I was making were largely in terms of time and the requirement of a slightly different skill set. You can do a very rough equivalance that 100M free is similar to a 400M on the track if you're looking at the amount of time each event typically takes at a given level. (about figure a 45-50 second window at the national level) Same goes for the 400 free pool/1500m track comparison- the track race is slightly faster than the pool race, but roughly the same time frame for each event. And the 400 IMer or 400 freestyler also typically doesn't make international teams in a 100 meter event. (though they'll show up on some spring relays at the NCAA level)
(edit)
And that Phelps can hold the WR in both the 100 fly and 400 IM is pretty unique to the sport. Not quite as impressive as some of the oddball event combos that Tracy Caulkins used to pull off (she's still the only swimmer to win a US national championship in every stroke) or Shane Gould holding every women's free record from 100M to 1500M but the 100 fly/400 IM and being at the highest level in both is still about as common as the guy doing both the 400 hurdles and 400M at international level.