Michael Phelps the "greatest Olympian of all time"? Give me a break pls!!!

It is no longer news that Michael Phelps of the USA won 8 gold medals at the Beijing olympics (beating Michael Spitz's record of 7 set in 1972), breaking 7 world records in the process. Phelps has garnered 13 gold medals in just 2 olympics and is being touted as the greatest Olympian ever.

Am i the only one who thinks this is going way overboard for someone who is simply lucky to possess a body made for swimming faster than everyone else? How can Phelps be greater than Usain Bolt who did broke the 100m record even after decelerating with a good 10 yards left to run? Is Phelps a better athlete than the average football player or track athletes?

The equivalent of Phelp's record is that for a Judo athlete to ever be described as the "greatest olympian of all time", he will have to appear at the Olympics for the next 36 yrs since there is only one gold medal available for the sport!!!

why are there so many medals available for swimming (96 in total) and so few for other sports? Should we also include the 100m in reverse, 50m with one hand tied behind the back, 60m freestyle, 75m in blindfolds, 125m obstacle race . . . perhaps Usain Bolt will be able to challenge for 8 gold medals at one games too.

In the 2hrs 30mins it takes a tennis player to win his first round match (playing for just ONE (1) gold medal), Michael Phelps would have collected 10 gold medals . . .

Greatest olympian indeed! Pls get Phelps off my TV screen . . .

davidylan:

Please get Phelps off my TV screen . . .

Mine first

I sense a tinge of jealousy here david

Phelps is no phony - I'm sure there are MANY people out there with bodies as good as his and even better. The truth is, it takes a real champion to excel at more than a single event and to do it consistently with the kind of pressure and media attention he was under. He set a target of 8 and achieved it, something previously undone before.

If it is 'just' two olympics like you said, how come the great Spitz did not win 6 at two olympics at his best? How come other athletes have been unable to win such?

Let me give you an analogy, Phelps' achievement is equivalent to winning the 100, 200, 400 and 800m events, as well as the hurdles versions, now would any athlete capable of doing that not be worthy of being called the greatest olympian?

If it were such a dime a dozen achievement, then others would have done it - make no mistake about it, Phelps is one of the greatest competitors at these games, the back to back golds he won with little rest time in between shows you how determined he is to win.

It matters little whether it two hours or not - the crucible of pressure under those few seconds are, in my view, greater than those in tennis - with the margin for failure so slight, one cannot but doff your hat to him - he beat others who were prepared and winners in their own right, and he did it not once, nor twice, but 8 times. This against others who likely focused on just ONE race/technique for the previous 4 years? He deserves his accolades.

Whether he is the 'greatest' or not is up for debate, but he is undoubtedly one of the very best competitors out there.

debosky:

I sense a tinge of jealousy here david

Jealous of what? A human fish? puhlease.

debosky:

Let me give you an analogy, Phelps' achievement is equivalent to winning the 100, 200, 400 and 800m events, as well as the hurdles versions, now would any athlete capable of doing that not be worthy of being called the greatest olympian?

Your analogy is not correct . . . it takes a completely different skill, strategy and long term training to compete in the 100m and the 800m. while the 100m is a sprint, the 800m is an extreme test of endurance not for the faint of heart.

Its like assuming Haile Gabreseilase shld have been able to try out for the 100m too.

Swimming is the only sport where 41 yr olds can still come out of retirement and win gold! Try that in the 100m and see how that works.

debosky:

If it were such a dime a dozen achievement, then others would have done it - make no mistake about it, Phelps is one of the greatest competitors at these games, the back to back golds he won with little rest time in between shows you how determined he is to win.

First it was Ian thorpe winning everything, next came Aaron Piersol and now Phelps . . . when "world records" are broken willynilly even in qualifying heats it devalues that competition.

Its not so difficult to swim from one end of a pool and back all day, even little kids with no training do that for recreation. Try running sub 10 seconds three times in one day with just 30 mins rest.

debosky:

Whether he is the 'greatest' or not is up for debate, but he is undoubtedly one of the very best competitors out there.

In terms of setting a target and achieving it i certainly agree . . . everything else is subjective. Where Phelps to be Nigerian, no one would be talking about him being the greatest olympian.

*Scoff* Nlers will always be jealous.
He's not a phony, he has a goal and he's achieving it. something worng with that?
_{Although I think his 7th medal was not his}

KarmaMod:


Mine first

Please, do me the honour of throwing your TV out the window.
You've always been against Team USA, so this is not new.
Abeg, please all of you, go and cry with the CHN jor

some people are just hyped outrageously and some people can't live widout bringing odas down , we just have 2 deal wit our issues first okay?

Ruby_Pearl:

Please, do me the honour of throwing your TV out the window.
You've always been against Team USA, so this is not new.
Abeg, please all of you, go and cry with the CHN jor

Cry over the fact that ONCE again they got gold for diving? or the fact that they made you guys cry during the female gymnatics? where should I start?

davidylan:

First it was Ian thorpe winning everything, next came Aaron Piersol and now Phelps . . . when "world records" are broken willynilly even in qualifying heats it devalues that competition.

when they were winning 'everything' did they manage as much as 5 gold medals? Those athletes you so calmly mentioned were phenomenal, but even at their best never achieved what Phelps did. Whoever said that World records only have to be broken in the final? Its just more dramatic, nothing more.

Its not so difficult to swim from one end of a pool and back all day, even little kids with no training do that for recreation. Try running sub 10 seconds three times in one day with just 30 mins rest.

My answer to that is, why haven't other competitors been able to achieve the same? So easy indeed.

In terms of setting a target and achieving it i certainly agree . . . everything else is subjective. Where Phelps to be Nigerian, no one would be talking about him being the greatest olympian.

Has ANYONE EVER won 8 medals? There might be an element of American hype yes, but that doesn't devalue his achievement. ANYONE who can beat a talented field of athletes in 8 DIFFERENT competitions at the highest level is worthy of that title, nationality aside.

In our entire history we've never won 8 golds, not to talk of one man and in one olympics; there's little national bias in this, his achievement is phenomenal period.

PS My analogy is completely correct, there are short and long distance races in swimming too - some are speed driven, others are endurance driven too. If Haile was as phenomenal as Phelps, then he would be dominant in other races as well.

Phelps won medals in 100, 200 and 400m individual and relay events, now show me ONE athlete who can do that in the sprints.

KarmaMod:

Cry over the fact that ONCE again they got gold for diving? or the fact that they made you guys cry during the female gymnatics? where should I start?

Start anywhere. As long as you start, innit?
Ok o, make I listen.

debosky:

In our entire history we've never won 8 golds, not to talk of one man and in one olympics; there's little national bias in this, his achievement is phenomenal period.

This has nothing to do with national golds. If we had "games" like Ludo, Ayo, police and thief . . . we'd be able to win 8 gold medals too.
The US took 8 out of 19 gold medals from Phelps alone, how many Nigerians swim?

debosky:

PS My analogy is completely correct, there are short and long distance races in swimming too - some are speed driven, others are endurance driven too. If Haile was as phenomenal as Phelps, then he would be dominant in other races as well.

Phelps won medals in 100, 200 and 400m individual and relay events, now show me ONE athlete who can do that in the sprints.

400m is not a sprint neither is the 200m. Both are tests of endurance wholly different from the 100m which requires different skills and strategy. As good as Michael Johnson was he didnt attempt the 100m, that required a fast start rather than merely having the lungs of a horse.

Phelps won 5 of 8 medals from relay events . . . how many relay events are available in the sprints? Most of the swimming races were agaiinst the same opponents time and time again . . . so what was significant?

Gebreselasie dominated the 10,000m from 1993 to 2000 . . . that is an achievement.

Carl Lewis. . . . long jump, 100m, 200m. . . . that is a real olympic great.

Michael Johnson is an olympic great in the 200m and 400m

Too many medals in swimming. They should have one medal for 100m, 200m, 400m etc. . . . not different medals for butterfly, backstroke, front crawl etc. . . . . . until today, the 60m sprint is not an olympic sport, yet every swimming discipline is.

The one that makes me laugh. . . .do you know that in rowing, they have middleweight and lightweight. . . .haha. . . maybe we should also have 100m lightweight, 100m middleweight, 100m bantamweight, 100m flyweight etc. . . you get the drift.

I dont "trust" the gaps he gets over his rivals and the unnecessary overating and attention the press gives him.Just like marion jones,always several meters ahead of her rivals.It would definitely be a shame if he was in some kind of unknown drugs.Though he won several golds in the last olwpics,there is no reason to harshly judge him, We can also have record breakers if we have events like

40m men
60m men
70m men
120 m men
131.5 meters men
140meter men


10m women
12m women
144m freestyle men and women
Double 100m
Team 100m


45minutes football events
20minutes football events
Just penalty football events

Micheal phelps hollandis

why should anyone suggest so?

he his real, super and humble! wat more?

Here we go again, Nigerians not being able to stand someone doing well at anything.

Phelps is a super hero, the kind that Nigeria will never breed, but needs

debosky:

Phelps won medals in 100, 200 and 400m individual and relay events, now show me ONE athlete who can do that in the sprints.

Swimming sprint is the 50m freestyle. Phelps for swim that one na.

Now have you checked out Daley Thompson's profile? The decathlete won gold medals in 2 consecutive olympics in 10 disciplines! Now I am more impressed by that than relays in the pool.

These are :
Day1
100 metres
long jump
shot put
high jump
400 metres
Day 2
110 metre hurdles
discus
pole vault
javelin
1500 metres

Now I believe the greatest athlete in the world is the decathlon champion.

Athletes that take part in the Decathlon are not world class at any of those 10 events and could not compete and win against athletes that focus on one event.

Daly Thompson was a huge star and I do not want to take anything away from him. His success must have been down to his Scottish, Nigerian mixed heritage

I cant believe this thread.

Whats phoney about a determined guy

who goes forward to accomplish his goals?

chei! some people sef

The question here should not be him being a phony but him being overrated

Overrated = Not living up to the expectations or hype

Phelps has more than lived up to expectations.

He is a 100% Olympic hero and great champion

So now the question becomes, is he the greatest Olympian ever?

The answer to that is no.

Not until he wins even more in London, or does something even more freaky, like pick up a gold in the triathlon.

OK, so maybe the idea of Phelps on a bike or taking a run after a swim is a bit far-fetched. The point is that swimming medals are so plentiful that it’s the only sport where someone can even think of winning more than a handful in any given Olympics.

As good as the U.S. basketball team is, the players will get only one medal when they finish off their Olympic run this week. And as awesome as Usain Bolt runs, the fastest man on the planet will go home to Jamaica with no more than three gold medals, for the 100 and 200 meters and the 400 relay.

Phelps was able to win eight golds in nine days because, yes, he’s the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time. It also helped that his toughest race came first in the 400 individual medley and he excelled in events that were spread out at just the right intervals.

Give that nod to Carl Lewis, who won nine gold medals over four Olympics, including the long jump four games in a row. Unlike Phelps, Lewis won his medals doing two very different things, using his speed to win the 100 and 200 meters and his leaping ability for the long jump

Dude is over hyped. . . . . . and now im getting pissed! Greatest what??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, lets put him on the gigantic huge list of Nigerian Olympic superstars

It is a really sad fact when you shoot down extremely successful people like Phelps due to your own sour, depressing non existent lives

In Nigeria - Success = Jealousy

Jealousy = Self Destruction

Self Destruction = Being Nigerian

But Surely he is only winning so many medals because theres so many races in Swimming?

Im sure if others had as many races as he did they would be others with so many medals.

Congrats to him though let the cash ROLL IN!

So where are all the Nigerian swimming stars?

Someone has won 8 gold medals! i repeat, 8 gold medals!!!!shattering world records (both in and out of the pool in doing so) and someone on earth thinks he is phony?!!! You have got to be kidding me



I guess all those things they are say are true, that no matter how good you are and what good you do, you cannot please everybody.

I don't see the need to insult anyone. We are all entitled to our opinions, it's our right. People are only excercising that right here!

wch rait r u esasizing? i beg mek wi yia word.

Okay,okay no nid for the bile,let's me try & put a handle on this situation.That guy Phelps try sha but the hype too much.My fear is this shldn't turn into anoda Marion-Gates scandal.Americans are well known for their uncanny habits of using PEDs.From IAAN meets to Tour de France to the Olympics the story is the same.Very few American athletes have ever retire without havin their names soild in 1 scandal or the other.I wldn't want to see Phelps returnin medals som yrs 4rm now.

Bunch of haters on this thread.

Stand up for the champion, for the champion,stand up!!!

onyinye2:

Bunch of haters on this thread.

onyinye2, it think its safe to say you love mischief a lot.

mekk:

onyinye2, it think its safe to say you love mischief a lot.

Nna, o gini?