Does Anyone Else Think Michael Phelps Is A Phony?

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 . . .

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.

*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}

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?

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.


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


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.

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?


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.

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

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 

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 

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

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

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!

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.

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

Bunch of haters on this thread.

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