The Gods on Mount Olympus are applauding. Poseidon is clapping the loudest.
It’s 2016, and Michael Fred Phelps II has just broken the record of Leonidas of Rhodes, of 12 Individual Olympic gold medals, which had stood undisturbed for 2168 years.
22 Olympic Golds (over twice that of any other athlete in Olympic history), of which 13 are individual medals.
And 26 medals in total over five Olympics.
These are staggering numbers, in any sport. But that’s just the Olympics.
When you add to that the medals that Phelps has earned at the World Championships and the Pan Pacific Championships, his total haul works out to 65 Gold, 13 Silver and three Bronze Medals, 81 in total.
And the man is now retiring (again) at the ripe old age of 31.
Not bad for a boy who took to swimming at the behest of his sisters in an attempt to provide an avenue for him to vent his excess energy.
By the time he was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 10, he held the national age record for 100m Butterfly. At the age of 15, he became the youngest ever male to represent the United States in swimming, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics,.
The record books would say he came fifth in the finals of the 200m Butterfly Finals.
But he would rewrite those record books like no man has ever done in sports history.
At 15 years and nine months, in 2001 at the Trials for the World Championships, Phelps became the youngest male ever to set a swimming world record in the 200m butterfly, a full 13 months earlier than Ian Thorpe who held the record until then. And then at the World Championships that year in Fukuoka, Japan, he broke his own world record, and became World Champion for the first time.
15 years later when Phelps won his 22nd Gold at Rio, his face showed the same joy and passion at 31 as it did at 15. Not many can claim the same about their job after 16 years!
We have seen the term GOAT being bandied around in the recent past a number of times, and this forum has not been immune to that. But has there ever been anyone who has dominated their sport like Michael Phelps from the day they started to the day they retired, over 16 long years? Does anyone else even come close?
Achievement. Longevity. Ability. Impact. Consistency. Intimidation.
These would be factors one would arguably look at when trying to arrive at the decision.
Tennis fans will bicker over Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and a few others thrown in for good measure.
Cricket fans will trade blows over Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Gary Sobers, and a few other greats.
Football fans will fall over themselves to prove why Pele, Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Puskas, Best or Platini deserve the honour.
And no matter how much we would like to believe that Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth, LeBron James or Muhammad Ali should be a part of this discussion, they would be unlikely to make the cut.
Phelps and Phelps alone ticks every box that counts towards being the true GOAT. No man or woman has ever had a career in sports as this man has. No one has awed and stunned whole generations of sports lovers in quite the way he has done. No one has quite dominated as he has.
For millions like me, when the lights come on in the new swimming pool at Tokyo in 2020, the feeling will not quite be the same without the blue cap with PHELPS written on it, flashing by in Lane four while his competitors fight for the scraps.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Thanks Anindya for appreciating ,I love this mature discussions and agreeing to disagree tyoe of debates. i absolutely agree that contrary opinions will be there. Like say one can say kareem abdul jabbar name can be taken for maximum points, but a contra view can be that he got huge points also as he receoved hell lot of assists from magic johnson and oscar robertson. Many say that Jordan was greatest of his time, and LeBron is greatest of our times. I also agree about the Bradman vs Sachin. In fact that leads me to what is my belief- and its my own. Maybe incorrect, but its my sincere belief, and a certain Kapil Dev shares the view too, that one can be the best of a sportfor a generation- and a generation can be as less than 4 -5 years as well. Edwin Moses i would still specifically keep in my mind simply as he won 100 plus finals and was unbeated in his sport for 10 years As regards Phelps, yes he is phenomenal, no doubt about it. Only that for someone who believes that its difficult to be GOAT of 1 sport, ( you must have read my tennis article on that) it is even more difficult to accept someone as GOAT across sports. Yes, a huge huge round of applause for Phelps to be the greatest swimmer of all time, and Bolt for the greatest sorinter of all time ( This in itself underlines their greatness as in others its best of a time, while they are the best of all time, in my view). Yet, i will stop at calling them as best-across sports. As regards the article, i have alreadt said that i was thinking of a similar one, and would have done 50% justice to what has been done here
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Its a matter of perspective. And again, there is a good reason this is an "Opinion Piece". Those are valid points. I just don't believe any of them have dominated and excelled across time even in their sport. For a Jordan, you have a Lebron James or a Shaq who would beg to differ that Mike was the GOAT. For a Bradman, you would have a Sachin as an example. I believe there have been much more dominating athletes than Edwin Moses. None of the tennis players you mention have been unequivocally dominating or succesful vis a vis their contemporaries or people in other ages in their sport. Phelps has been truly special in all those respects. Hence my contention. And you are indeed entitled to yours! I am glad we have had this exchange for sure!
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
i revisited the Phelps Article. Superbly superbly written. However i would not agree to the GOAT across all sports. Regarding number of medals , swimmers and gymnasts have an edge over other sports. Yes no other swimmer has done what Phelps has done and hence he is the best swimmer ever. But how can we say he is better than say edwin moses who chose just 1 discipline and excel at it, by winning 2 golds (missed 1980) and winning 100 plus races at a stretch. How can we say that he is better than say a basketball player like Jordan or magic johnson or Bolt who has now won an unprecedented 3 consecutive 100m in Olympics apart from the various other things he has done. As i am a cricket fan primarily i would also argue how can Bolt and Phelpps be better than Don Bradman. As a tennis lover how can Phelps be better than Federer or Rafa who won 9 French Open or Djo who outlasted both Federer and Rafa on his way to various feats. Hence my final conclusion remains the same, one can be GOAT of a sport ( preferably Greatest of a time , i.e a generation) but its difficult to have a GOAT across sports. I respect the view of course that Phelps tick marks the boxes but would request to disagree that other champions in their sports tick mark the boxes too
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Completely different Ritesh. They use completely different muscle groups, different joints are impacted, the breathing techniques are different, the toll it takes on your body is different. As an example, the 200m individual medley is swimming in four different styles using 4 different techniques and sets of muscles in the same race. That's incredibly difficult. It's like asking a 100m sprinter to run the 1500m right after followed by the 5000m from a muscle and technique perspective.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Like 800-1500-5000-10000 etc are like separate events n disciplines requiring different skill sets is it the same about different events of swimming
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thanks and my reply should clearly read 16 Years not 16 Olympics. Apologies.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Excellently replied. Thanks
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Absolutely! Could not agree with you more Chinmoy.
Chinmoy Jena
Guest
What I meant was the will, the deternination to succeed.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
950 Swimmers from 174 countries participated at these Olympics. 196 countries are participating in track and field. Not all of them are running. But it is not all about numbers as I have taken pains to explain, notwithstanding the number of medals won. You may disagree as this is indeed an opinion piece, but I hope 1) you enjoyed reading it and 2) no one will denigrate his achievements because one does not consider Swimming a "mainstream sport". There is clearly the temptation to do that.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Ritesh - First, this is an opinion piece, so yes, opinions will differ and I don't expect people to blindly accept what I write. However, there is a certain logic to what I have said above. I think Phelps' greatness and achievements far transcend the Olympics. Remember he has won 83 Medals, including 66 Golds in major world competitions, including the Olympics. So it's not like for 16 Olympics he has just been showing up every 4 years. He has been dominating throughout. I lay out a few parameters above. He has ticked all those boxes every day of those 16 years. Phelps leaves no superlatives unexpressed with his medal haul, but to be labeled the greatest, he perhaps fulfills all the criteria better than anyone who has walked, swum, run, jumped, thrown, kicked, punched, hit a ball, or dived.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thanks so much Chinmoy. 950 Swimmers from 174 countries participated at these Olympics. 196 countries are participating in track and field. Not all of them are running. But it is not all about numbers as I have taken pains to explain, notwithstanding the number of medals won. Yes Phelps leaves no superlatives unexpressed with his medal haul, but to be labeled the greatest, he perhaps fulfills all the criteria better than anyone who has walked, swum, run, jumped, thrown, kicked, punched, hit a ball, or dived.
Chinmoy Jena
Guest
Another well articulated and well-researched one, Anindya. To the question that how many countries run or playfootball - my answer is - plenty. Even in India during the Rural Games, swimming is the biggest attraction hence to say that very few people swim is unfair. As for the other athletes like Nurmi, Moses or Carl Lewis are equally great but the sheer number of medals won over a period of sixteen years makes him the GOAT. This is my opinion.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Could he be the greatest sportsperson of all time- across all sports. Or let us first restrict to Olympics. Could he be the greatest Olympian of all time. Definitely he will be a contender. Huge number of medals is the first aspect. Yes. Swimmers and gymnasts will have more medals than others as forinstance there will be lot of relays etc. Yet Phelps it is who could get more than twice the medals than others. Among other sportspersons one has to discuss paavo Nurmi who ran races from 800 m to 10000 m which is a superhuman feat, considering that many restrict themself to only 1 race in their life time or max a 800-1500 or say a 5000-10000 combo ( maximum). What about someone like Sergei Bubka or Edwin Moses who had single minded dedication for their sport. What about Carl Lewis who combined sprint with a highly technical sport-long jump. what about Usain Bolt who has set his own standards. The debate can go on n on
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
So Phelps finishes his Olympics career with 23 Gold Medals, 13 Individual Golds and 28 Medals overall. What a man!
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Plenty. And that makes the achievement even more notable. Thank you.
Smell the fear
Guest
How many countries swim compared to run or play football ? Thank you