Michael Phelps has now won more Olympic medals than any other athlete, and he deserves praise for doing so. But this feat alone doesn’t automatically hand him the title ‘greatest Olympian ever’.
This isn’t to be disrespectful to Phelps at all. In fact, he could very well be the greatest Olympian ever and his performances in London have only added to his reputation as an outstanding athlete.
Rather, this is just a reaction to all those who, as soon as his medal count ticked over to 19 with a win in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay, decided that now he was the best.
As if this one single statistic is the only thing that matters in such a debate.
What crap. You have to remember that swimmers, unlike athletes from a lot of other sports, have the opportunity to claim multiple medals at the one Olympics. In fact, swimming as a discipline has 34 events at these Olympics, second only to athletics with 47. (Aquatics as a whole actually has 46.)
In comparison, there are 17 disciplines or sports at the London games that have only two events, one for men and one for women.
It’s rare for an Olympian to have as many opportunities to medal as a swimmer does. Of course, Phelps is limited by gender (ruling him out of half of the 34 swimming events), preferred strokes and time, so it’s not like he can enter every single event. But eight events per Olympiad seems to be his norm.
At the time of writing, Phelps had participated in 21 Olympic events since his debut as a 15 year-old in Sydney.
In comparison, Olympians from many other disciplines could only enter four events in the same timeframe.
Obviously, it’s just an unfair comparison. You can’t have a proper debate when the majority of Olympic athletes don’t fit the criteria.
If you find that harsh, Sebastian Coe – the man in charge of London 2012 and a two-time Olympic gold medal winner as a middle-distance runner – happens to agree.
“You can probably say that clearly, self-evidently, in medal tally he’s the most successful. My personal view is I am not sure he is the greatest, but he is certainly the most successful. That goes without saying,” Coe said.
“Who is the greatest Olympian of all time? I could go around this whole room, we’d all come up with different interpretations on that. But you have to say he’s up there. But whether he is the greatest, in my opinion, probably not.”
Unsurprisingly, a few Americans got a bit angry about these comments.
My favourite response came from sports business writer Darren Rovell on Twitter.
“Bonehead of the day goes to Seb Coe calling Michael Phelps the most successful but not necessarily the greatest Olympian. Ok, buddy,” he tweeted.
“Michael Phelps has competed in 19 Olympic events & has won gold 79% of the time #endofstory
“Phelps had to deal with suit technology that made so many better than they were. Seb Coe & others never had that challenge.”
Then, after being reminded Phelps has actually participated in 21 events: “Official Phelps tally is 19 out of 21 races with medals 15 (71% gold).”
Sorry, but it’s not quite #endofstory. There are athletes out there with 100% gold records, but they haven’t had the same opportunity to accumulate medals as Phelps has. Which just proves it’s a pretty poor basis for a “greatest ever” argument.
And if that doesn’t sway the most patriotic of Americans, well, just look at the previous supposed ‘greatest’.
Larisa Latynina, the 18-time Olympic medal winning gymnast from Russia, has been walking around London virtually unnoticed. She even offered to hand Phelps his 19th medal, but the International Olympic Committee declined.
Is that the sort of treatment the greatest ever would receive?
So no, winning the most medals doesn’t make Phelps the greatest. Stories about what he’s had to overcome (and unless he volunteered to race in his budgie smugglers, the swimsuits don’t count) and the quality of competition and a whole bunch of other factors must come into it.
Can you call Phelps the most decorated Olympian ever? Absolutely.
The most successful Olympian ever? Why not.
The greatest? Unless you can bring more to the table than his medals, no.
Aaron
Guest
greatest olympian ever...first and foremost, it should be someone like vanderlei cordeiro de lima, who was leading the marathon in 2004 before he was tackled by a spectator. he still won the bronze medal, and won the pierre de coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
iz
Guest
Yes, that is crazy. Sprinters run. Throwers throw. They are not related in any way other than they happen at the same place. It's amazing that you try to compare sprinting to throwing. It's called Track & Field for a reason. Field events are not in the same category as track events. Unless you trying to say that Phelps should also be great at water polo. He can swim fast, so surely he would be great at throwing a ball into a net. Idiot.
Tyrion Lannister
Guest
It's a far bigger stretch for a runner to compete at the top level in the 100m compared to the 400m. The body requirements are just to different, while it's not as big a transition for a swimmer to compete at those varying distances. Fair play to Phelps - he's the greatest swimmer of all time beyond any possible doubt, but I think there's more deserving candidates of the 'Greatest Olympian of All Time' tag.
Andrew
Guest
One question when looking at it simplistically from a Phelps vs. Bolt point of view: How many people went out of their way to watch Phelps over the past week and a bit? And how many went out of their way to watch Bolt this morning? I'm not even sure I saw Phelps swim a winning race (I think I saw replays of his silvers) but I sure as shit was up at 6:30am this morning with my iPad at the ready to watch nine and a half seconds of Usain Bolt.
mushi
Guest
Even then JJ you need to look at the allocation of resources is the best possible sprinter choosing to be a sprinter or a footballer, NFL player.
mushi
Guest
that is where PLANTS grow BETTER - END OF STORY
Droppa
Guest
wowo ..inane at best
jameswm
Guest
Firstly, Al Oetrter won the discus at 4 successive Olympics. Secondly, what proportion of the world really take swimming seriously? Every kid in the world tries to run his fastest, so if Bolt can go the 100-200-relay treble again this Olympics (looking likely now), he'd be in at least the same class as Pehlps. If he does it again at Rio, he's tops in my book. Greatest ever is entirely subjective and medals are one of the factors. As the author said, swimming have so many edals the same people can compete for and it's so much easier because the water supports your weight. Imagine in athletics a hammer thrower trying to win the 1500. Shows how ridiculous the swimming comparison is straight away.
jameswm
Guest
Sheek's right. Running takes a much bigger toll on your body and it's harder to back up.
jameswm
Guest
A bit less of an if now...
Seriously, Who says Oi?
Guest
phelps, you hit the nail on the head with that one. "If he was aussie youd be saying 100% ,stop been a sore loser" So true.
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
An amazing story on Jim Thorpe was published today, coincidentally: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/the-battle-for-a-champions-body-20120804-23m5j.html
c
Guest
Maradonna
phelps
Guest
Greatest ever no doubt If he was aussie youd be saying 100% ,stop been a sore loser Swimming is an original olympic sport not like half the joke ones that are in now ,the guy hasent just won most of his events hes been unstoppable Take into account he makes a guy like ian thorpe look ordinary ,and thorpe is a great
Mango Jack
Guest
It's pretty pointless, really. As onside states above, agreeing on the criteria alone is almost impossible, let alone an objective assessment. One criteria I don't think mentioned above, is the breadth of competition across respective sports. Swimming is basically a European-North American sport, with Australia, Sth Africa and an emerging China thrown in. Athletics draws from a far bigger pool for competition.
Gleeso
Guest
Phelps is awesome. But to me if Bolt is good enough to win the 100m and 200m and a couple of relays he is already the greatest of this era. Not sure about other era's. Sprint running is the pinnacle of world sport - everyone has run a one hundred metre race and if they are any good at it they have stuck with it. ie. Bolt has beaten everybody in the world. Who has swam butterfly ?
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
Thanks for sharing the Jim Thorpe story guys, amazing stuff.
JJ
Guest
Agreed.
Johnno
Guest
I think you are forgetting the men's marathon or 10,000m they are phenomenal athletes JJ. And are just as important to the olympic movement the IOC as the 100m and sprints.
JJ
Guest
agree with you 100%