- The Greatest Debate
Let's all take a deep Michael Phelps-ian breath shall we?
It's been hilarious watching and reading the wags trip over one another to be the first to anoint the newest American hero the "greatest they ever saw".
What's the rush after all? To brand someone "All-Time" anything should take some time.
Yes, he is great. Yes, he is the fastest in the fastest pool. By the way, how come the Water Cube is faster? Isn't water pretty much water everywhere? How one pool is faster than another remains a mystery, but the experts claim it to be so, so who are we to argue?
Regardless, he is fast, he is a winner, and he is great to watch.
But is he a better athlete than say, Jim Thorpe? Or Pele? Or Michael Jordan? Or Babe Ruth? Or Wayne Gretzky? Or Tiger Woods? Or...
Let's just grant him his due and anoint him the greatest swimmer ever. It's not all about the suit you know. He's blessed with a freakishly perfect body for the water. He has a remarkably long torso and relatively short legs, which the experts say makes a perfect plane in the pool. His arms are also 3" longer than they should be ? and his ankles are double jointed giving him what are essentially flippers on the ends of his legs.
However, parlaying these genetic benefits into a "greatest ever" title? That's as big a stretch as Phelps needed to win the 100m butterfly. The bottom line is, this remarkable Beijing performer, with his eight gold medals and seven world records, is not the greatest athlete of all time.
Why? Because it's pretty clear he's not even the "greatest ever" Olympian.
Yes, he has won 16 medals in total, 14 of them gold. But seriously, how many of them are really BIG medals?
There are two BIG medals in the pool. The 400m Individual Medley and the 100m Freestyle. The first Phelps won, setting a new world record. The second he didn't even enter.
It's a simple truth that some medals mean more than others. Otherwise, we'd all be talking about how Phelps finally overshadowed the legendary Edoardo Mangiarotti.
Who you ask?
Between 1936 and 1960 the Italian fencer dominated his sport like no other, winning a total of 13 Olympic medals. In 2003, the IOC awarded him the Platinum Wreath distinguishing him as the most decorated athlete in all sports in the history of the Olympics.
How come old Edoardo earned nary a mention Beijing?
Come on... it's fencing!
Some sports are simply more "Olympian" than others.
The same can be said for individual events as well. The mid-point of every Olympics is reserved for the men's 100m dash on the track.
It's the signature event of the games.
The winner of the 100m sprint at the Olympics has traditionally been labeled "King of the Games," however this quadrennial that title was thought to be all Phelps' due to his domination in the pool.
That was before Saturday night, when mere hours after Phelps won his eighth medal, Usain Bolt ran faster than any human being has ever run, and he did it while jogging the last fifth of the race.
The experts were staggered. The track guys were now throwing down their "greatest ever" titles.
If there is already a debate as to who is this Olympics greatest athlete, all this "all-Time" stuff gets pretty much dumped in the deep end.
Michael Phelps earned each and every one of his medals, and now it's projected that he might earn $100-million in endorsement contracts.
That will make him the richest Olympian ever.
He'll just have to settle for that title instead.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Check out 2008 Beijing Olympics at betED.com.
Let's all take a deep Michael Phelps-ian breath shall we?
It's been hilarious watching and reading the wags trip over one another to be the first to anoint the newest American hero the "greatest they ever saw".
What's the rush after all? To brand someone "All-Time" anything should take some time.
Yes, he is great. Yes, he is the fastest in the fastest pool. By the way, how come the Water Cube is faster? Isn't water pretty much water everywhere? How one pool is faster than another remains a mystery, but the experts claim it to be so, so who are we to argue?
Regardless, he is fast, he is a winner, and he is great to watch.
But is he a better athlete than say, Jim Thorpe? Or Pele? Or Michael Jordan? Or Babe Ruth? Or Wayne Gretzky? Or Tiger Woods? Or...
Let's just grant him his due and anoint him the greatest swimmer ever. It's not all about the suit you know. He's blessed with a freakishly perfect body for the water. He has a remarkably long torso and relatively short legs, which the experts say makes a perfect plane in the pool. His arms are also 3" longer than they should be ? and his ankles are double jointed giving him what are essentially flippers on the ends of his legs.
However, parlaying these genetic benefits into a "greatest ever" title? That's as big a stretch as Phelps needed to win the 100m butterfly. The bottom line is, this remarkable Beijing performer, with his eight gold medals and seven world records, is not the greatest athlete of all time.
Why? Because it's pretty clear he's not even the "greatest ever" Olympian.
Yes, he has won 16 medals in total, 14 of them gold. But seriously, how many of them are really BIG medals?
There are two BIG medals in the pool. The 400m Individual Medley and the 100m Freestyle. The first Phelps won, setting a new world record. The second he didn't even enter.
It's a simple truth that some medals mean more than others. Otherwise, we'd all be talking about how Phelps finally overshadowed the legendary Edoardo Mangiarotti.
Who you ask?
Between 1936 and 1960 the Italian fencer dominated his sport like no other, winning a total of 13 Olympic medals. In 2003, the IOC awarded him the Platinum Wreath distinguishing him as the most decorated athlete in all sports in the history of the Olympics.
How come old Edoardo earned nary a mention Beijing?
Come on... it's fencing!
Some sports are simply more "Olympian" than others.
The same can be said for individual events as well. The mid-point of every Olympics is reserved for the men's 100m dash on the track.
It's the signature event of the games.
The winner of the 100m sprint at the Olympics has traditionally been labeled "King of the Games," however this quadrennial that title was thought to be all Phelps' due to his domination in the pool.
That was before Saturday night, when mere hours after Phelps won his eighth medal, Usain Bolt ran faster than any human being has ever run, and he did it while jogging the last fifth of the race.
The experts were staggered. The track guys were now throwing down their "greatest ever" titles.
If there is already a debate as to who is this Olympics greatest athlete, all this "all-Time" stuff gets pretty much dumped in the deep end.
Michael Phelps earned each and every one of his medals, and now it's projected that he might earn $100-million in endorsement contracts.
That will make him the richest Olympian ever.
He'll just have to settle for that title instead.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Check out 2008 Beijing Olympics at betED.com.
