I wondered aloud on Twitter why it seems like every swim is capped with the the top three or four finishers beating the world record green line, and got a ton of answers right away. Many of them linked me to this article. In short, it’s a “fast pool,” because it’s deeper and has empty lanes on either side. Couple that with the new shark-skin style Speedo LZRs, and swimmers are going faster than ever. Some people think this pool will eventually be controversial. The question becomes: will that taint Michael Phelps’ accomplishments? In my eyes, you wouldn’t be able to argue with his medals, but you might be able to dispute his times. Visit site »
Alex Giron linked me to this after I posted a tweet which called into question the media’s (coughNBCcough) haste in naming Phelps the greatest Olympian of all time. It’s a nice, balanced piece on the matter.
My tweet apparently rubbed Phelps fans (of which I am one!) the wrong way, and it wasn’t intended to. I think Michael Phelps is absolutely amazing, and I’m thrilled and honored to be around to see him do what he is doing.
My only point was this: gold medal count may not be the best criterion for selecting the greatest Olympic athlete ever. Swimmers have much greater opportunity to win medals than many other athletes because swimming has lots of events. For example, it isn’t possible for a basketball player to win more than one Olympic gold medal per Olympiad, even if that basetkball player is every bit as great an athlete as Phelps.
As a commenter on this BBC piece mentioned, Cassius Clay, Steffi Graf and Michael Jordan are all examples of gold medalists who aren’t ever talked about in “greatest ever” discussions — but I would say all them are just as great sportsmen as Michael Phelps, despite the fact they have far, far fewer medals. Wouldn’t you agree? Visit site »