I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Michael Phelps is amazing. He’s now won 11 career gold medals, more than any other Olympian in history. He’s won 5 in Beijing alone, and will probably win 3 more to beat Mark Spitz’s record of 7 golds in one Olympics. It’s incredible. I read a story on ESPN this morning that said: “He’s not just the greatest athlete in Beijing, and he’s not just the greatest swimmer ever. He’s the greatest Olympian ever.” And he truly is awesome. But is he really the best? Ever? I mean, how can you judge that? Can you really say that a single person in a single sport is the best out of everyone, ever? There are tons of Olympic sports. Why swimming?
Here’s my point: All of the “greatest ever” taglines are being made based on medal count. And with 11 gold medals, Phelps is on his way to his own personal Fort Knox. But I can only think of a couple other Olympic sports where an athlete even has the potential to even compete in 8 events, much less win.
Gymnastics? Team competition, all-around… I guess if a male gymnast could compete in all six individual events, plus wins the all-around, plus his team wins a medal, he could end up with 8 medals in one Olympics. Highly unlikely, but possible, though I think the equivalent of a gymnast pulling that off would be Phelps winning with every stroke…not just the 200 freestyle and butterfly, for instance, but the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke as well. And for a female gymnast, it’d be impossible because they only compete in 4 events.
And team sports? Basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball? The greatest team players in the world can only win one, count it, one single medal per Olympics. Accumulating eight medals would take 28 years!
I’m not entirely sure because I haven’t found any count of medals available in all sports, but I would venture a guess that swimming awards more total medals, by far, than any other Olympic sport except perhaps track and field.
Track and field? Eight medals would also be possible there I guess, but it would be insane. You’d have to be both the best sprinter in the world (winning the 100m, 200m, and 400m) and the best short distance runner in the world (winning the 800m, 1500m, and 5000m), and then also pick up medals in the relays as well.
That may sound doable, but my running readers know how impossible that would be. To be good enough to be in medal contention for everything from 100m to a full 5K? I’m not sure it’s ever been done, at least not in the modern era. Maybe if they added multiple track and field events at the same distance, since in swimming there are 4 events for each distance corresponding to the 4 different strokes. 100m skip, anyone? 200m backwards run? 400m bunny hop?
None of this is intending to imply that Michael Phelps is not an absolutely incredible athlete. It’s awe-inspiring to see him make winning look so easy. I mean, he doesn’t just win — he crushes his competition.
There are some track and field athletes and gymnasts who have won 7, 8, and 9 career medals over the course of multiple Olympics. Carl Lewis had 9, spread over 4 different Olympic Games from 1984 to 1996. But in order to win the most medals ever in a single Olympics, your only real choice is to be a swimmer.
That is a great post…and now I have everyone in the office thinking about it.
All this greatest talk makes me think of Will Ferrel accepting Tiger Woods trophy at the Espy’s. LOL.
Hi Sarah,
I generally agree with you, though gymnastics & track are bad examples since two of the most decorated athletes are from these disciplines – Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis.
In T&F, you win long jump, triple jump, 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x200m, 400m, and 4x400m. (Remeber Marion and the quest for 5 golds?)
I think the reason nobody wins all 8, though, is because T&F is more competitive than swimming. Only wealthy countries swim, as a general rule. Everybody runs.
Actually, I think gymnastics and track and field are the best examples — they’re the only 2 sports I can come up with where an athlete even has the opportunity to enter 8 events in a single Olympics, so they’re the only sports to which you can really compare the accomplishment.
As for track and field, there is no 4x200m relay (at least not in 2008 — I looked it up and was surprised) so that’s not a medal option. You’re right, you could do long jump and triple jump instead of the longer events like the 1500 and 5000. In fact, there are 7 events that are 400m or less — 100m, 200m and 400m sprints, 110m and 400m hurdles, and 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Win all of those and add a medal in long jump and triple jump and you’d actually have 9 medals. If you’re not a hurdler, you’d have to run the 800m to even get to 8 medals, and 800m isn’t really a sprint anymore.
But you’d have to run — and medal in — 100m, 200m and 400m events before you thought about anything else. And even Phelps doesn’t do something comparable to that. He doesn’t swim 100, 200, and 400 in any single stroke. He swims the 100m and 200m butterly, but not the 400. He swims the 200m freestyle, and the 4×100 and 4×200 free relays, but not the 100 or 400 individual events. He probably could, but he doesn’t. I don’t know why.
Darn wikipedia! it led me astray on the 4×200. Regardless, I agree with your basic point. It’s also a reason why counting up to see which country wins the most gold medals is silly.
I remember doing swim meets, and fatigue really wasn’t a factor in terms of doing multiple events. However, in track & field in HS, fatigue was a major factor in running multiple events.
Yeah, I totally agree on that point — it seems easier to do lots of events in swimming than in track & field due to the nature of the sports. Swimming is so much easier on muscles and joints due to the lack of pounding.
And I do feel the medal count by country is also pointless — but I still pay attention to it and want the US to win the most. 🙂 Ah well.
I have a LOT to say about this post…but I will keep it to myself but I will say that I disagree with your arguments (or lack thereof).
This morning though, on the television, this interview says everything I want to say (with my extra being not written), and then some.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26195324#26174911
Bottom line is I DO think he is, and this guy gives his reasons (which were MY arguments as well).
Greatest swimmer ever? Sure. Greatest athlete ever? No. The entire media dialog that Phelps is the greatest athlete ever drives me insane!
I’m excited as everyone else to watch him swim. Phelps is an amazing athlete, but just because you dominate one sport, you don’t automatically earn rights over broad terms like, “greatest athlete ever”.
The list is limited, yet a few athletes have crossed over into other sports and still excelled… those are the people who deserve such phrases.