The Olympics are only 5 days in and already Michael Phelps ha sbeen apart of five(5) record breaking perofrmances and in so doing collecting five(5) of a possible eight(8) gold medals. He is now number one(1) of all time in number of Gold Medals won at the Olympics (11) and now look set to be NUmber one in number of Gold medals won at a single Olympic Games. Some Pundits have hailed him as the greatest athlete ever in the history of the game? Fans of Carl Lewis (U.S.A.), Merlene Ottey( Jam-Slo), Mark Spitz(U.S A) and Paavo Nurmi(Fin) would all have something to say about that. You may call it biased, but i certainly believe if one should measure the impact of one's particiaption in the games, Carl Lewis and Merlene Ottey-Page would both qualify to be named the best Olympians of all time. Though never winning a gold medal for example, Merlene has the enviable record of winning the most medal by a female in a single discipline (Athletics) and not to discount the impact she has had on a single Nation(Jamaica). Carl Lewis Won a Gold medal for evey event he ever competed in at the Olympics while smashing records after records. The Finnish athlete Paava Nurmi is up there with the best of them ranking above Lewis with more medals won (12). MIchael Phelps however has made a claim for his own greatness with his super performances and must be considered for the crown of the Olympic King/Emperor, Especially if he should manage to cap the other possible three(3) gold medals up for grabs in the Aquatics.
http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_847.pdf
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Phelps is great there can be no disparity when it comes to that. I don't generally have a liking for the American athletes but cudos to Phelps.
I would agree that Phelps is the best swimmer around right now, but I'm not convinced that Phelps is the greatest Olympian ever. The reason being that swimming is a very different sport from all the others. There are simply too many events open for an athlete to compete in, and too many similar events. A sprinter could hope to attain at most 6 gold medals in a single Olympics, 100, 200, 400, 4x100, 4x400, and long jump. That is a feat never before accomplished by any individual athlete, and I would be very surprised if it were ever accomplished in my lifetime. Not even at amateur events, or even at the youth level is it normal for a single athlete to dominate all those sprints and the long jump.
Swimming, on the other hand, affords an individual athlete the opportunity to win nearly 20 gold medals. There are the 100, 200 in 4 different strokes, the Individual Medleys (200, 400), 50 and 400 freestyle, the 4x100, 4x200 and medley relays. Not to mention the distance events.
It would be one thing if this sort of thing was unprecedented, but there is a history of swimmers winning ridiculous numbers of medals by track and field standards. Ian Thorpe won 6 Gold medals in a single world championships not too long ago (2001??), Mark Spitz won 7 golds in an Olympic Games (1972) and the 'Russian Rocket' Alexander Popov won 4 or more medals at the 1992, 1994, 1996, and 2003 Olympics/World Championships. It is likely he would have repeated the feat in 1998 and 2000, except that he was stabbed nearly fatally and spent many months recuperating. Nonetheless, in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2003 Popov won gold in all his individual events and silver in the relays with the exception of 1998 when he got Bronze in the 4x100.
My point is, it is not unusual for a swimmer to win 4 or more medals, whereas it is almost unheard of in track and field. Carl Lewis, the girl who got caught on drugs the other day and maybe 1 or 2 others. Which makes the achievements of a Carl Lewis much more significant than the achievements of a Michael Phelps.
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