i would say he is the best swimmer of all time. he did also dominate last olympics.
however best athlete/olympian is probably another thing. take for example carl lewis. the guy won in both long jump/100M/200M and he won gold in 3 olympics in a sport that essentially is a young mens game.
swimming as well is a rich mens sport. i mean 99% of the world is prohibeted from participating due to how expensive it. you can't be the best athlete ever if your competition pool is soo small.
however best athlete/olympian is probably another thing. take for example carl lewis. the guy won in both long jump/100M/200M and he won gold in 3 olympics in a sport that essentially is a young mens game.
swimming as well is a rich mens sport. i mean 99% of the world is prohibeted from participating due to how expensive it. you can't be the best athlete ever if your competition pool is soo small.
i find it hilarious that the majority of americans believe phelps is the best athlete according to a recent poll. you take this poll 4 months ago phelps would be at the bottom of the list, and you take it 4 months from now phelps will be at the bottom of the list.
its a nice accomplishment, but he just looks like the best athlete now because he's doing it now.
when i look at the best athletes, i look at guys like mauer on the twins who could've been playing in the nfl or nba along and also being the best catcher in baseball. when i look at the best athletes i think of lebron, who could've gone pro in the nfl and is the best player in the nba. phelps cant do anything else but swim
its a nice accomplishment, but he just looks like the best athlete now because he's doing it now.
when i look at the best athletes, i look at guys like mauer on the twins who could've been playing in the nfl or nba along and also being the best catcher in baseball. when i look at the best athletes i think of lebron, who could've gone pro in the nfl and is the best player in the nba. phelps cant do anything else but swim
I hear way too many comparisons between Phelps and Carl Lewis. I'm a runner, so I might be biased, but no way Phelps is in the same league as Lewis
1 - Phelps will have more relay medals than Lewis. Sure, winning is winning, but Lewis will always be top in individual medals. Phelps will likely have 5 golds due to relays - Lewis had all of TWO.
2 - Lewis is the only guy in history to dominate the same event at 4 Olympics (Long Jump) which is much harder in Track than in Swimming. No way Phelps will ever come close to doing that. I think it will be decades until we see another athlete that can claim gold in the same track event over a 16-year span. It's a mind-boggling feat
3 - Lewis had a "first or last" outlook. He only won 1 silver medal late in his career - everything else was gold, no exceptions!
So, in conclusion, I love Carl Lewis!
:nohead:
1 - Phelps will have more relay medals than Lewis. Sure, winning is winning, but Lewis will always be top in individual medals. Phelps will likely have 5 golds due to relays - Lewis had all of TWO.
2 - Lewis is the only guy in history to dominate the same event at 4 Olympics (Long Jump) which is much harder in Track than in Swimming. No way Phelps will ever come close to doing that. I think it will be decades until we see another athlete that can claim gold in the same track event over a 16-year span. It's a mind-boggling feat
3 - Lewis had a "first or last" outlook. He only won 1 silver medal late in his career - everything else was gold, no exceptions!
So, in conclusion, I love Carl Lewis!
:nohead:
Swimming is so dumb, I mean in every other sport its impossible to win so many medals. Its ridiculous to have so many distances (50/100/200/400/800 etc) for each different swim and award 100 medals at every meet.
Yeah I get it, Phelps is a phenom. But this medal record crap doesn't do anything for me considering great athletes in basically every other discipline don't even have the chance of winning 5-10 medals.
I'm sure Carl Lewis could have won 8 golds too if they ran the 50m sprint, 60m sprint, 75m sprint, 90m sprint, 100m sprint, 125m sprint ETC.
Yeah I get it, Phelps is a phenom. But this medal record crap doesn't do anything for me considering great athletes in basically every other discipline don't even have the chance of winning 5-10 medals.
I'm sure Carl Lewis could have won 8 golds too if they ran the 50m sprint, 60m sprint, 75m sprint, 90m sprint, 100m sprint, 125m sprint ETC.
