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  • 07/31/2012, 10:22PM ET

Michael Phelps is no where near the greatest Olympian of all time.

San Diego Man (0-1-0) vs Marlins Fan (146-66-32)
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Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time. However, he is not, by far, the greatest Olympian. Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis were far better athletes and Olympians.
Michael Phelps swims in almost identical events. It is like Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens or Osain Bolt competing in the 100 meter race, the 125 meter race, and the 150 meter race. Then, they get to compete in the 400 meter relay, the 380 meter relay, and the 420 meter relay.
Give me a break.


Pretty sure Olympic greatness is measured in medals. Not only does Phelps have the most Gold medals of all time, he's also poised to become the Olympian with the most overall medals of all time, too. He has more medals than either Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens or Usain Bolt. (Seriously... Bolt? What, did you just start following the Olympics in 2008 or something?)

Arguing one event over another is apples and oranges, but I will say that swimming is infinitely more difficult than sprinting.

And as far as your "all of Phelps's events are similar" argument, all the dudes you mentioned are runners. So of I got this correctly, you're saying that swim events are easy and similar bit track events are difficult and vary greatly from one event to the next?

Makes no sense.

Anyway I get the impression that you like running and therefore have put it on a pedestal. But the premise of your entire argument is flawed.

One last thing, don't be a zombie. Zombies are bad, mmmkay...


What is a zombie?

What you are forgetting is that Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis also won the long jump.

For your information, I have been following the Olympics since I was young in the 1960's. Personally, I would like to say that the greatest Olympian of all was Abebe Bekila won won the marathon running barefoot, but that would not be right.

I was first a swimmer, then a runner, and then a shortstop and pitcher.

Get real. Swimming is not more difficult than swimming other than the butterfly is terribly difficult and stupid. Freestyle is the only real swimming event.

Thank you so much for your response. I do appreciate it and look forward for more.


Zombies are people who don't finish their TDs.

Its fine that Owens/Lewis won medals in multiple events. Its remarkable. It probably makes them part of the "Greatest Olympian of all time" conversation. In other words they are potential contemporaries of Phelps; some of the greatest Olympians of all time, guys who deserve to be mentioned when talking about the world's best.

And that's where your argument is fundamentally wrong. You say that "Phelps is nowhere near the greatest Olympian of all time. Thing is, he arguably IS the GOAT, and even if you disagree you certainly have to admit ghat Phelps is on a short list of names.

We can argue the merits of each individual event. We can argue swimming vs. track and field.

We cant argue that Phelps is nowhere near the GOAT. He is, and its inarguable.


Forfeited Turn


Forfeited turn, eh? Thank God. What a nice surprise. Anyway it was fun TDing with you, at least until you stopped.

No point waxing on and kn about this topic anymore.

This was a cool TD, though. Lot of votes. I've never had this many votes before, so thanks.

Comments (189) Add A Comment

August 1, 2012  12:10 AM ET
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"Michael Phelps is no where near the greatest Olympian of all time."

No where near the greatest?

Whether or not one agrees with Phelps being labeled the greatest-ever Olympian, to flat-out state that he's not even in the conversation seems to be folly.

And to also state that Phelps' events are "almost identical" simply because they're all swimming events, even though the distances and the swimming strokes vary greatly during his respective races, is like stating that the 100m dash and the 400m hurdles are "almost identical" because they're both track events.

By the way, there's a huge difference between swimming 100m and 400m through heavily resistant water, as opposed to running those distances through much less resistant air.

August 1, 2012  12:39 AM ET
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In the Olympics, the barometer has to be the medals to determine the greatest Olympian. If the TD was about the greatest ATHLETE ever inthe Olympics , then the decathlon champions could be debated.
That said, Phelps is the greatest Olympian that ever lived ( so far anyway )

August 1, 2012  05:51 AM ET
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Show me the metals!

August 1, 2012  06:07 AM ET
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Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens have all ran in the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m distances.

They're all allowed to get credit for running those varying distances but Michael Phelps isn't allowed to get credit for swimming it?

Comment #5 has been removed
August 1, 2012  08:04 AM ET
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QUOTE(#4):
Originally posted 06:07 AM ET  08.01 by (Un)

Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens have all ran in the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m distances.They're all allowed to get credit for running those varying distances but Michael Phelps isn't allowed to get credit for swimming it?

+1

August 1, 2012  08:52 AM ET
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QUOTE(#3):
Originally posted 05:51 AM ET  08.01 by Formerly from Ewa PGH Fan

Show me the metals!

This

August 1, 2012  08:52 AM ET
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except = Medals

August 1, 2012  09:14 AM ET
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QUOTE(#4):
Originally posted 06:07 AM ET  08.01 by (Un)

Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens have all ran in the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m distances.They're all allowed to get credit for running those varying distances but Michael Phelps isn't allowed to get credit for swimming it?

let Carl run the 100 forward, the 200 backward and the 4x100 sideways and you'd have something similar to what Phelps does

August 1, 2012  09:37 AM ET
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Voting Right: Michael "The Baltimore Bullet" Phelps is pretty amazing.

August 1, 2012  09:46 AM ET
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SD Man...


Is Osain Bolt related to Usain Bolt?

August 1, 2012  09:49 AM ET
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No love for Jim Thorpe?

August 1, 2012  10:14 AM ET
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For someone who claims to have followed the olympics for some 60 years, you don't know $h!t

August 1, 2012  10:16 AM ET
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QUOTE(#10):
Originally posted 09:37 AM ET  08.01 by Double J.

Voting Right: Michael "The Baltimore Bullet" Phelps is pretty amazing.

if he was from somewhere other than Baltimore, he'd probably be even faster....bmore is a $h!thole, not much better than detroit, cleveland, or philly...

August 1, 2012  10:36 AM ET
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I was first a swimmer, then a runner, and then a shortstop and pitcher.

I'm confused! Did you learn to swim before you learned to run? Or was this the order of your participation in the various sports? Your timeline is funky. Because if you claim to have done all this in that order then you spent very little time as a swimmer at a very young age. Quitting youth swimming in age groups when you're swimming a 25yrd race does not give expertise to opine on the difficulty of swimming events now.......Unless the SS and pitcher began with adult slow pitch softball leagues :)

August 1, 2012  11:35 AM ET
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If in the NFL, NBA, and MLB rings are the barometer...then it stands to reason that the barometer for the Olympics are the medals, especially the gold.

Left is an idiot if he can't follow that logic. Vote right.

August 1, 2012  11:38 AM ET
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QUOTE(#16):
Originally posted 11:35 AM ET  08.01 by Sweets

If in the NFL, NBA, and MLB rings are the barometer...then it stands to reason that the barometer for the Olympics are the medals, especially the gold.Left is an idiot if he can't follow that logic. Vote right.

ok, that was subtle Sweets

August 1, 2012  11:39 AM ET
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future zombie

August 1, 2012  11:46 AM ET
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---------------------------------------------->

I don't necessarily think Phelps is the greatest Olympian, but to say he is "no where near the greatest Olympian" is crazy.

 
August 1, 2012  11:49 AM ET
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Yes he is. If not the best, certainly "near the greatest Olympian".

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