Listening to the Olympic commentators makes me cringe sometimes. Some of these cretins are convinced Usain Bolt is a greater Olympian than Phelps.
No Way----NO FRIGGIN' WAY!!!!
=> Michael has won more total golds and total medals over a longer period of time He Owned the pool in Beijing. Bolt dominated two individual and one relay over two Olympiads.
=> Michael's career has lasted much longer than Bolt's.
=> Michael probably has the aerobic capacity of 3 Bolts put together.
=> Bolt is all fast-twitch fibers - honed to perfection for sure but I'd love to see him try to run a 400 or 800m.Michael is fast and slow twitch fibers.
Former Member
I think that everyone in the 200 fly Olympic final was breathing every stroke. Certainly not (to us Canadian's misfortune).
For what it's worth, the choice of breathing every stroke or every other stroke is one that should come with technical modifications to the stroke, aimed at making you almost as fast inhaling twice as much o2. In other words, it ain't a matter of deciding upon a breathing pattern, as much as a matter of deciding upon the full stroke technique that allows to go for an *every stroke* breathing pattern without loosing speed. Something that our female flyer that tried to move up to the semi-finals didn't seem to understand.
What I mean here is that all too often, we hear swimmers saying I prefer breathing every two strokes because I'm faster this way. One of Phelps' legacy I believe is to invite you to go back to drilling / relearning until you change this.
That's my take, for what it's worth.
Again, same for Bolt. If I'm a 100m specialst, knowing how strong he is in the final 30-40meters, not sure if I would feel comfortable preparing to compete against him, without seriously tackling on the 200m as well.
I disagree.
I 2 agree to disagree. I got sick of this IOC anyway, that "God on earth's" attitude...
The sad thing is that even when there are no rules, they create some on the fly (referring to the Ban of several teams during the Badminton tournament).
As for this particular case, once again, I have nothing against some decent form of punishment for having violated rule #40. But stripping the athlete off his medals would be absolute non sense. Obviously, as big as the IOC think they are, they couldn't strip Phelps from his medals without triggering some of the biggest Olympic scandal ever. So fine it shall be, and I'm not worried for Phelps.
The IOC should revise all these rules and remove any *stripping the athlete from his medal* mention, when not appropriate. But I guess it's not going to happen.
Phelps competes in a niche sport. Every able bodied person who has ever lived has been in a foot race. And Bolt has dominated the foot race like no one ever has and likely no one ever will. Whoever wrote that Bolt is a flash on the pan couldn't be more wrong. He will be the measuring stick for track and field when there are 20 billion people living on earth and swimming is no longer competed because of a lack of water. Shakespeare to, I don't know, John Irving.
The question, who is the better Olympian? Bolts Olympic career isn't even over. I guess I would lean phelps, but we have to see what bolt does in rio.
