He can't be the greatest sportsman of all time - that is comparing apples to oranges. The constant adulation of Phelps by the BBC is pathetic - OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST OLYMPIAN. Really? On what basis? Sure he has the most Gold medals - so yes he has the greatest number of Olympic victories but greatest Olympian?
What about Redgrave? Zatopek's feat of 5000, 10000 and marathon in the space of 8 days. Paavo Nurmi over three games, to name but a few.
According to the medals he is yes (as you say). But you can't really compare different sports throughout the years with eachother 
In some sports it's more easy to get more medals because you dont have to specialize a lot i think. Take Steve Redgrave as an example. In his sport, he can only participate in one event a year. He has still won 5 gold medals in 5 Olympics. You can take part in over 10 events as a swimmer.
Yeah! he is... I also think he is super human (Aquaman)... LOL!
Phepls is amazing, and i thin he is the best swimer ever, and i like that him won the 8 gold medals
but i think there is another athlets that can be take in count, Zatopek is the only Human to win 5000, 10000 and marathon and i think never will do again.
I think it can only be decided by opinion, so there will never be a definitive answer.
Can't compare sport to sport. He's the best swimmer of all time in my opinion though. He's also a fish Well, probably one of the best swimmers ever, but how can you tell he's the best sportsman of all time.
damn i didnt know who he was... sorry.
He is pretty amazing. My mom think their biased towards him in that last race he competed in. (100m butterfly I think?) It was so close, but in the replays I saw he just barely won by like a hundredth of a second.
I think his realy awesome!
6 gold medals, that's realy good!
| SpellcasterDX wrote: |
| He is pretty amazing. My mom think their biased towards him in that last race he competed in. (100m butterfly I think?) It was so close, but in the replays I saw he just barely won by like a hundredth of a second. |
-.- There can't be bias. The wall has an electronic touch pad that records the times. It's not done by human eye. It's been 100% accurate the whole games and there's no reason to think it messed up in that race. Furthermore, the Serbian swimmer didn't think he could be caught and coasted right before the finish rather than taking one more stroke...so he deserved the loss.lol I know. That's what I tried to explain to her but she and my dad still don't believe it.
No way. Top flight sport is about pressure and consistency. Can't take away from his achievement but there needs to be a week in week out test and stiffer competition.
Call him the most most successful olimpian.
That guy is just awesome.
He's only 24 and has won 14 (!) golden olympic medals already!!!
Sportsmen fought all their lives to win at least bronze and he won almost everything in his sports discipline.
Greatest Olympian or not, he did win 8 gold medals which is a great feat for anyone to break. I think swimmers have the highest chance to create this historic events cause once you are good at what you do and have the stamina for it, there are just so many events to compete in as a whole. But anyway well done to him.
What usain bolt did in the 100m final was damm impressive. Could give phelps a challenge for the best performance during the olympics. Can you imagine the time he would have done if he did not slow down to celebrate 20m from the finishing line? 9.5? Incredible.
I think that the performance of Phelps was amazing... but I think you can't compare him to Mark Spitz. Why? Because they've lived different times, both were/are great swimmers, but you'd have to put them both in a pool to know who is the best.
I dunno if he's the greatest or not. I will say this, he actually made me care about watching swimming, something I've never cared to watch. He added 'drama' to his sport and drew in the viewers. For that, the TV networks loved him. From coming from behind to win a race by 1/100th of a second to the US relay teams big comeback, people were on the edge of their seat watching him. I'm telling you he seemed to like to 'take it easy' until the final leg of the race and then I swear he had a 'turbo boost' button he pushed. Even when he was behind I'd always tell everyone, 'just wait for the last leg, that's when he kicks it in', and sure enough, that's what he'd do.
You just watch, he's going to be making a ton of money as will be endorsing all kinds of products now. He's also the kind of guy you can cheer for as he comes across as just a good guy.
Kinda hard to compare Phelps and Bolt. They are both extrodinary.
yeah, i agree with most of the people on here.. what he did was amazing, but you can't really compare him with different people and at different times
| jabce85 wrote: |
| yeah, i agree with most of the people on here.. what he did was amazing, but you can't really compare him with different people and at different times |
Ditto. It's hard to compare athletes of different periods. Sure they have gotten faster, but anybody with an olympic medal is a great athlete in my book; no matter when he/she earned it.How good is this guy going to be at the next games. He already as more golds than any one else. What else does he have to prove.
Todd
Steve Redgrave for me 5 gold medals.
Can remember getting up early hours while working a Saturday Morning, to watch the 5th one.
He is it for me.
Well, you can't exactly call him the greatest olympian of all time because there are different sports which are harder than others and require more talent. Noetheless, he is one of the greatest olympians in his area of sport and most likely overall! =]
Well he overthrown Mark Spitz's record and got more gold then anyone else.Well done,anyone who critisize him can try to do the same.
In my opinion, Michael Phelps is a great sportsmen, but we can't talk about him like about the greatest sportsmen in history. We can't compare different sports- For example chess and football-thera are not many things that connect this sports. Thank u czyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyść
You can't say he is the greatest just on the basis of medals. He just has many more opportunities to win gold medals. Consider the fact that there are four different strokes, individual medleys, and all the various relays. Look at the recovery times of other athletes. They dared to do a series of events all bunched together. It proves it is less demanding on the body.
Bolt only had a chance to win 3 medals. Sadly there is no 4x200m. Phelps needs one or two more Olympics with more good performances.
I think he's definetly the best swimmer of all time (his medals total at the last Olympics proved that I think, 8 was it? I'm not really sure but it was something stupid like that), but as to whether he is the best Olympian of all time, I'm not sure to be honest.
I did hear somewhere though that he is perfectly designed for swimming, which I thought was ridiculous, because if he was, wouldnt he have gills, streamlined skin and fins?
Sorry I heared that joke on TV somewhere and thought I'd share it with you 
Everything is subjective. People will think he's the greatest olympian ever and that's fine. Others will think he's not. There's no right answer.
Simply answered, YES. I think what he did no one can repeat in a long time. However, with the technology and training being put out there, I think many more athletes will become better.
He was considered as greatest olympian because swimming is not an easy sport and aside from that you will need to have great and full stamina for 8 events in swimming.
Not really favoring him but if all people will shift to swimming and try to beat Phelps, maybe they can tell who is the Greatest Olympian in the world.
That may be so, but surely being excellent in a sport with 8 similar fields makes everything so much easier?
I think he lost in the United States and probably in the rest of the world a lot of respect, since he was photographed using drugs. This is one of the greatest problems in the current sport system. The champions earning too much money and they can't use it in a responsible way. Last year there are a lot of great champions suspected of using something.
I still believe that our great champions must be an example for the youth and when young people see that there idols are using drugs, they could believe that it is not that bad... Because of the current status of sportsmen, they are much more than only a champion in there discipline. Sorry, Phelps, I think you made a big mistake...
| Georgeboy wrote: |
I think he lost in the United States and probably in the rest of the world a lot of respect, since he was photographed using drugs. This is one of the greatest problems in the current sport system. The champions earning too much money and they can't use it in a responsible way. Last year there are a lot of great champions suspected of using something.
I still believe that our great champions must be an example for the youth and when young people see that there idols are using drugs, they could believe that it is not that bad... Because of the current status of sportsmen, they are much more than only a champion in there discipline. Sorry, Phelps, I think you made a big mistake... |
I understand your disappointment with Mr. Phelps. But lets be for real. He is 23 years old and he is smoking weed, not using steroids or performance enhancing drugs, weed. The only thing that weed is going to do to him is make him want to eat 8 gold medals weight in chips and cheetos. I am not condoning what he did but if he was any other 23 college kid no one would give a damn. But because he is an athlete he is expected to up hold some unannounced morale code of ethics. I think Charles Barkley said it best when asked about being a role model. I am not a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids. Real parents should use this as lesson to teach their kids that even your heroes can be human and make mistakes, the key word being mistake. Michael used bad judgment, was irresponsible and made a mistake. Everyone needs to let it go and move on.too bad he ruined his career... who leaked the picture?...
Ruined his career? I highly doubt it.
First of all, he is so freakin' rich right now he probably doesn't know what to do with all of the money. Once the Olympics roll around again, this will have blown over a little bit and will probably be totally forgotten once he starts winning again. Sponsors will be lining up once again.
I think the only reason why some of the sponsors got out of the contract was because they were looking for a reason to. Lots of companies are trying to cut costs and what better way to do this than cut somebody like Phelps when he won't be making you money for another four years or so?
Trust me people, he did not ruin his career. And besides, pot? Are you serious? What about the drunk driving incident? That, in my opinion, is FAR worse than taking a hit from a bong. Why wasn't a big stink made about that?
If anything he should be extra proud, theres many good swimmers out there, but none that could do what he's done while enjoying the bong.
Hahaha
