OK, so Michael Phelps won 8 golds in Beijing, and if you want to call him the greatest Olympic swimmer of all-time, I'll probably agree with you. But all the claims about how he's the "greatest Olympian ever," or how his Beijing performance is the "greatest athletic achievement of all time" are starting to drive me crazy, and it's all based on the fact that he won 8 golds, which is more than winning 7 or 6.
Basically, I think he's benefited from two things:
1. Coming from a country that has a lot of good swimmers, so he could win gold in 3 relays
2. The fact that the Olympics recognizes four different ways to swim!
If each race was just about swimming as fast as possible and not based on what stroke was used, there wouldn't be nearly as many races. Take away everything but the freestyle, and Michael Phelps would have only won three (3!) gold medals, since there'd be no medley races or relays, and no butterfly events. Even if you allow him the butterfly races, he'd only have 5. For comparison's sake, if you throw out the medley races, Mark Spitz wins six golds in 1972, so I guess he'd still be "the greatest swimmer ever."
Of everything I've seen of the Olympics so far, Usain Bolt's 100m final was the most amazing thing I've seen. If you haven't seen or heard, he basically quit running with 15 meters left, stopped pumping his arms, slapped his chest, and still set a world record, with the biggest margin of victory in the 100m in 40 years. Even if he wins the 200m and Jamaica wins the 4 x 100m relay, he'd only have 3 golds, and won't be nearly as celebrated as Michael Phelps, but there's only one kind of "stroke" when it comes to track and field - plain old running. Maybe they should four running formats too: forward, backward, gallop, and side-shuffle. Then there would be many more track races and medley races and maybe someone would have a chance to win 8 golds. Carl Lewis won 9 golds over his career, but I guess he can't be the greatest Olympian ever, based on the way Michael Phelps is being judged. Heck, those beach volleyball players, for example, play 7 matches or so throughout the two weeks, for one measly medal.
An ESPN online writer actually started calling Michael Phelps' Beijing performance the "greatest athletic achievement of all time" and gave readers the opportunity to rank it with 14 other performances, like Tiger Woods winning four consecutive major championships, Wayne Gretzky's amazing hockey season in the early 80's, a really good game Bill Walton had in the NCAA championship, and some woman swimming the English channel a long time ago. That feels like you're comparing something more than apples and oranges - more like apples and shrimp.
Anyway, Michael Phelps is a great swimmer. I'm sure I'll soon see him on the cover of Sports Illustrated, for the third time in about six weeks. But spare the ridiculous superlatives. They bother me.
13 years ago
3 comments:
Yeah, I kinda have to agree. I've enjoyed watching Phelps win the medals, and some of those close races have been incredible, but I don't know if he counts as the greatest Olympian or greatest athlete of all time. Nearly every Olympics, world records are being set all over, so in London in 2012 someone could smash all of Phelps' records.
And yeah, the 100M dash was awesome. I couldn't believe how he started celebrating before the finish. Did you see the silver medalist celebrating, too?
Katelyn and I were discussing that too, the whole most number of golds is sort of a fluke. He's obviously good at what he does but like you said he also happens to be in the one sport where that's even possible. If you're a marathon runner you would have to be the best in the world for 56 years in order to accumulate that many golds...
I think Michael Phelps is awesome... I wasn't burned out at all watching him. In fact, the Olympics aren't as exciting now that swimming is over. And I don't think its a fluke that he was able to win that many golds! (Look at gymnastics, or rowing, or track and field). Plus I think the whole double-jointed thing is cool, as well as his perfect technique, and the fact that he won every single event he entered. Imagine if a male gymnast won the all-around, the team event, and each individual event. Just to annoy all you poo-pooers, I'm going to start reciting: Michael Phelps is my hero, Michael Phelps is my hero!Give him a break and give the guy his glory, it will only last until the next person breaks the record, anyways.
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