Phelps is the greatest Olympic swimmer, not the greatest Olympian
Columnist By Spiro Zavos, 19 Aug 2008 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
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Michael Phelps is the undoubtedly the greatest Olympian swimmer. The eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics confirms this. At Munich, Mark Spitz swam two strokes, freestyle and butterfly, and collected seven gold medal.
The longest distance he swam was 200m. Phelps swam distances that ranged from 100m to 400m. And he swam all four strokes.
No swimmer – unless it is Phelps himself at London in 2012 – will beat the record he set at Beijing. This is a record for the ages.
“I’m lost for words,” Phelps said, in trying to explain what he had achieved.
Simply the greatest Olympian swimmer ever will have to do.
But the greatest Olympian?
Michael Johnson, himself a candidate for the greatest Olympian, makes this valid point: “If we could do the 200m forwards and backwards, track and field athletes would have won more medals. I’m just putting it into perspective.”
And this is a necessary perspective.
An athlete like Johnson has, at best, a chance of winning four gold medals. A distance runner or field events athlete, where there are no relays to bulk out the medal totals, or a rower, have at best two gold medal chances, but more generally only one.
So the number of medals won should not be the defining statistic in the search for the greatest Olympian.
The Times Online has a fascinating blog written by Calvin Shulman titled: Top 100 Olympic Athletes. Schulman devised a points system based on a scale of 12 points for a gold medal down to one point for an eighth place. Competitors in relays and team events are given half the points.
The 100th ranking athlete under this system was Daley Thompson, gold medal winner for the decathalon in 1980 and 1984, fourth-placed in 1988, seventh in 4x100m in 1984.
And the winner by the Schulman system?
Raymond Ewry (United States), gold medal in standing high jump 1900, standing long jump 1900, standing triple jump 1900, standing high jump 1904, standing long jump 1904, standing high jump 1904, standing high jump 1906, standing long jump 1906, standing high jump 1908, and standing long jump 1908.
Ewry won more gold medals (ten) and certainly moved a shorter distance to achieve them than any other athlete in the history of the Olympics.
The standing events were abolished in 1912. But we can gauge the athleticism of Ewry by the fact that his clearance in the standing high jump in 1904 was 1.60m and his world record in the standing long jump of 3.37m lasted into the 1930s.
With Raymond Ewry we have the sort of concocted array of events that Johnson suggested makes up a large part of the swimming events schedule.
A letter to the Sydney Morning Herald by Ron Sincalir of Bathurst seems to me to be the best comment on this issue of whether Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian: “Is he greater than the Czech Emil Zatopek, who at Helsinki in 1952 won the 5000m, 10,000m and the marathon? Is he greater than the British rower Sir Stephen Redgrave, who won gold at five consecutive Oympics, or the US legend Al Oerter, who won the discuss at four? Or our own Dawn Fraser, who won the 100m freestyle three times in a row?”
Or Raymond Ewry? Or Carl Lewis with nine gold medals over three Olympics in track and field events? Or Paavo Nurmi, with nine gold medals over three Olympics in distance running? Or Larissa Latynina with nine gold medals in gymnastics over three Olympics?
Are there any other nominations for this title?
Photo by Vironevaeh
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August 19th 2008 @ 11:10am
Benjamin said | August 19th 2008 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Longevity is a key issue and Phelps has yet to demonstrate this. If longevity is therefore a measure of success then beyond the obvious candidates Aladar Gerevich, who won gold medals in sabre from 1932-1960, is worth considering.
A female athlete of note is Fanny Blankers-Koen, the “Flying Housewife”, who won 4 gold medals in the running events in 1948. She was barred from entering further events such as the high and long jump. WW2 curtailed her previous involvement.
August 19th 2008 @ 11:55am
chas said | August 19th 2008 @ 11:55am | Report comment
This is a no-win discussion. Only swimmers with their four strokes all of varying distances can possibly hope to rate as the athlete with the most gold medals. Track and Field Running could be extended to include Running Forwards (as we do now), Running Backwards ( to correspond with swimming’s backstroke), Hopping Forwards and Backwards and Walking on One’s Hands ( Forwards and Backwards}. All of these new events have as much right to be included in The Olympics as Beach Volleyball, Synchronised Swimming, Walking ( or Slow Running) or One-Legged Billiards. But their inclusion would bring parity to a programme that is currently unusual,illogical and irrational.
August 19th 2008 @ 12:33pm
Benjamin said | August 19th 2008 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
How analytical. You’ve really distinguished yourself there. You’re right, I’m an idiot. The essence of sports is toughness.
August 19th 2008 @ 12:57pm
Benjamin said | August 19th 2008 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Best, just to clarify…
(i) How can you judge I know nothing about cycling given that there has been no actual discussion about the sport? Premature and optimistic on your part.
(ii) You rather churlishly claimed that cycling was the toughest of sports on the body. No sport can claim that. Perhaps if you were to be more specific then your argument would have merit, but you didn’t even bother to offer how one could judge this ‘toughness’. How many cyclists have retired punch drunk? As aforementioned – every international rugby match affects the body to the extent that the physical stresses experienced are equivalent to two controlled car crashes. Is that the case in road racing? I heard that American Football was pretty rough too. Do you think Joe Calzaghe has experienced a more or less physically stressful career than Lance Armstrong?
(iii) On the basest level you didn’t even bother to differentiate between mental and physical toughness. Thus to say that toughness is the essence of sports is all too generic.
It is probably no coincidence then that your follow up thread is purely vitriolic as opposed to analytical.
August 19th 2008 @ 2:15pm
Zolton said | August 19th 2008 @ 2:15pm | Report comment
Doctor Best, this is a reminder to keep the threads on sport and not on cheap shots at fellow readers. Please take note, Zolton
August 19th 2008 @ 5:41pm
Netrug said | August 19th 2008 @ 5:41pm | Report comment
When athletics have running backwards, skipping and hopping as well as free running ans separate disciplines and as medley relays, you can then compare swimming and athletics.
The greatest athletes are decathlon, pentathlon and triathlon competitors because of the different sports in which they compete.
Maybe there should be medals for each discipline and one for overall as in gymnastics.
August 19th 2008 @ 5:53pm
Scotty in London (late of Gosford NSW) said | August 19th 2008 @ 5:53pm | Report comment
I’d nominate Paul Elvstrom as one of the greatest ever. Winner of single handed dinghy in the Fireflyin 1948, then the Finn in the next 3 Olympics, he revolutionised sailing with his inventions of the hiking strap and the boom vang. And wearing 3 heavy woollen jumpers.. Single-handed dingy in the heavyweight Finn is as demanding a sport as any, and Elvstrom knew it.He devised a bench at home so he could hike out for hours on end watching the TV or reading a book. He was stronger than the rest by a mile, and from strength and intelligence comes speed.
And I’m not sure on this but he came back years later and got a medal with his daughter in the Tornados….
August 19th 2008 @ 5:54pm
eric said | August 19th 2008 @ 5:54pm | Report comment
Spiro, Could you clarify. You say Ewry won the standing high jump in 1908 twice, but you also say there were Olympics in , 1906. I believe these tenth anniversary games are not officially recognised. If so, it puts a different light on Ewry’s achievements.
August 19th 2008 @ 6:02pm
sheek said | August 19th 2008 @ 6:02pm | Report comment
Benjamin,
Longevity? Romans or Greeks? Beatles or Stones? Ella or Lynagh? John or Bennett? Trumper or Bradman?
There’s an argument for both – the shooting comet & the stayer. Phelps’ place is secure as the Olympics most prolific gold medal accumulator & Swimming’s greatest swimmer.
But the debate will rage beyond our lifetimes, I imagine, that he is actually the greatest athlete to compete at the Olympics.
Indeed, I would suggest the queue goes around several blokes, made up of people willing to argue there are more deserving candidates for world’s greatest athlete.
And that wouldn’t change much even if he wins another 8 gold medals in 2012. All that will prove is that there is something fundamentally wrong with the structure of swimming, with too many events similar to each other.
August 19th 2008 @ 7:27pm
Spiro Zavos said | August 19th 2008 @ 7:27pm | Report comment
Eric, there is an interesting Wikipedia article on the 1906 Olympics. You are right to point out that the IOC does not include medals won in these Games as official Olympic medals. But the Times Online article was probably right to include the medals won at these Games as ‘Olympic medals’ given that these Games were better run than previous or some later Games and apparently set the template for the way the Games were organised in the future.