Michael phelps is NOT greatest olympian ever b/c....

What say you? I say, put them to the test: www.sportspickle.com/.../usain-bolt-and-michael-phelps-agree-to-a-match-race-in-a-marsh

Look at Misty and Kerri over on the beach volleyball court. How many matches do they have to win to get one gold medal??? I don't think medal count is all its craked up to be...if they win this year they will have a total of 3 golds...but that'd be only half the story.

This is not my opinion, but have heard this argued multiple times the past few days He is swimming in a upper class white dominated sport. If swimming were more accessible to inner city black kids then he would have more competition and a deeper talent pool To compete against and he would not come close to his medal count. Everyone can run, so usain bolt or carl Lewis are the best Olympians ever bc they accomplished what they did against the unquestionable best the world could possible throw at them What say you? When you say "inner city black kids," it sounds like we're only talking about the US. Kids that are really fast runners in the US are likely to go into football. It's popular and that's where the money is. So there is no way you can say they are going against the unquestionable best in the world. Soccer is similarly popular around the world. There isn't a lot of money in track & field, just like swimming...unless you're a superstar. I don't think there's a definitive way to compare the two, but my vote is for Phelps :)

This is not my opinion, but have heard this argued multiple times the past few days He is swimming in a upper class white dominated sport. If swimming were more accessible to inner city black kids then he would have more competition and a deeper talent pool To compete against and he would not come close to his medal count. Everyone can run, so usain bolt or carl Lewis are the best Olympians ever bc they accomplished what they did against the unquestionable best the world could possible throw at them What say you? Swimming and tennis and golf were considered country club sports aka white sports 20 yrs ago. Look at the athletes now. Not just Cullen Jones, Lia neal maritza corriera, the bahammian atheltes. What does Color have to do with it? watch the movie about the black coach in pHilly it is a true story about how he motivated the kids to swim. I can't remember the film but they kids wanted to play basketball and he convinced them to start swimming :blah:

Why should running be the arbiter of what great Olympians are made of? It's not as if he's playing some sport like table tennis where winning is based primarily on skill rather than fitness. Let's take Phelps versus Usain Bolt and do a swim-run race because running is the measuring stick here. They both do a 100 meter dash on the track immediately followed by a 100 meter sprint. Like a biathlon. Winner is the best Olympian. Phelps: 100 meter dash: 18 seconds 100 meter swim: 48 seconds Usain: 100 meter dash: 10 seconds 100 meter swim: 68 seconds Winner Phelps. Best Olympian ever. If Bolt could swim 100M in 68 sec I would be very impressed.

Delusional?

I agree, but what's The rebuttal?

If swimming were more accessible to inner city black kids then he would have more competition and a deeper talent pool To compete against and he would not come close to his medal count. I don't know, are "inner city black kids" known to be better swimmers than "upper class whites"? Where did this factoid come from anyhow? It's certainly possible that somewhere out there exists a young man that could have beaten Phelps routinely had they put in all of the work that he has. But of what value is such an argument? Seems pointless and impossible to prove.

If he was a mexican he would have missed the relay medals.....

Same for bolt, re the relays. It's a stupid argument, I agree. So the best LB in NFL history isn't really the best bc all those south American, European, Russian Nd Australian kids didn't get the chance to play? Not to mention swimming is cheaper than club baseball, hockey, soccer, football, etc...