The whole discussion of who the "greatest all-around" athlete is has always struck me as ridiculous. Honestly, I could care less how fast Michael Phelps runs or how well Usain Bolt plays tennis. Domination in a single sport qualifies someone as a great athlete, in my opinion. Arguing whether Bolt or Phelps is the "better athlete" seems completely pointless. They both kick ass in their sports of choice.
Completely agree with you, Kirk. The only problem is that we get people like Hersh saying it is impossible to dominate the sport of running like Phelps has in swimming because running is so "physically demanding."
I remember back a long time ago ABC Sports had a diverse collection of sports and athletes for some funky "battle of the superstars" series. This was before pro contract prohibited things like that. It was always comical to see the athletes compete in areas far away from their regular sport. I seem to recall that track and field and football atheltes tended to do the best. Ask Fort, she's much older than me and can probably remember back that far.
I remember back a long time ago ABC Sports had a diverse collection of sports and athletes for some funky "battle of the superstars" series.
en.wikipedia.org/.../Superstars
I would argue that Phelps' accomplishments completely outweigh Bolt's:
Bolt one two sprint events within Track and Field.
Phelps won 5 events within Swimming....and remember he used to compete in both Backstrokes as well.
As soon as Bolt does something along the lines of Lewis or expands into some other Track and Field event.....he is just the world's best sprinter right now. Phelps can and has dominated several aspects of swimming.....to me....Phelps takes it for now.....
Don't forget Bolt wins Taunting
Score: Bolt -2 Phelps- 0
Maybe "Michael Phelps is not the greatest Olympic athlete in history"
YET
this writer wrote this to stir up controversy
It depends how you keep score.
I invite him to come to the pool put on a suit and develop an appreciation for training and competition.
he argues, "It is easy to win multiple medals in swimming."
not so most swimmers can't
he wrote: "New pool and suit technology have made swimming's world records meaningless"
Not so
"Swimming allows an athlete to race two finals in 29 minutes, as U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte planned Friday morning."
This is a rare extremely difficult thing. Lochte made the best of a bad situation.
I didn't know that
"Track and field is so much more physically demanding."
It's hardly shocking that a bunch of swimmers find that what Phelps did is the greatest thing ever. Phelps is a great swimmer, Bolt is a great runner. Comparing the two is pointless.
I propose an alternate question, what was the story of the Olympics, from a sporting perspective? Bolt had to earn his storyline in a field of potentially 3 or 4 legit contenders. Phelps was THE STORY going in and received a bunch of hype, which he certainly lived up to. I was thankful to have a DVR to go through the endless puff pieces on Phelps. I would have preferred to see a few more prelims than yet another story on him or a replay of the 4X100 free relay.
I really think at the next Olympics, NBC should have a puff piece channel where you can watch all the tear jerking stories about the hurdles each athlete has overcome. Or it could be PPV and come with a barf bag, which is what I needed. "Raised by a single mother in an affluent suburban neighborhood, this athlete had to choose daily between which mall to frequent for lunch."
It's possibly correct to say Bolt is a better all around athlete than Phelps - depending on how you measure better athlete.
The only fair way to measure athleticism would be to have both athletes compete in some sort of all around competition involving multiple athletic disciplines. Phelps obviously had a huge edge in the water, Bolt on the land. Bolt is most likely physically stronger (i.e could bench press more, squat more, and so on). Bolt would most likely have an edge in pretty much every land based competition - as in, Bolt would most likely take Phelps in a game of one-on-one basketball.
The only other way to measure who is the best all around is dominance in their respective sports. The simple answer is that Phelps did more events, won more gold, and thus was more dominant than Bolt. Getting into the technical details of which sport requires more skill or talent, or who had better competition is at best a toss up and in the end a matter of opinion.
I am curious how you make the assumption that just because Phelps is a swimmer that Bolt would "most likely have an edge in pretty much every land based competition"?
Being a swimmer and still being able to run 5 to 5 1/2 minute miles myself when I was younger I don't see how you can make that assumption.....
Can you please explain how you came up with that?
I don't think it is any different from assuming that Phelps would have a distinct advantage in any water based activity. Bolt is the fastest human on the planet so it is not illogical that he would have a significant advantage in land based activities.
That is why I asked him to explain his "assumption"....what is he basing his assumption on? And I don't just mean running....he made the statement that it would include "every land based competition"
The whole discussion of who the "greatest all-around" athlete is has always struck me as ridiculous. Honestly, I could care less how fast Michael Phelps runs or how well Usain Bolt plays tennis. Domination in a single sport qualifies someone as a great athlete, in my opinion. Arguing whether Bolt or Phelps is the "better athlete" seems completely pointless. They both kick ass in their sports of choice.
I would argue that Phelps' accomplishments completely outweigh Bolt's:
Bolt one two sprint events within Track and Field.
Phelps won 5 events within Swimming....and remember he used to compete in both Backstrokes as well.
As soon as Bolt does something along the lines of Lewis or expands into some other Track and Field event.....he is just the world's best sprinter right now. Phelps can and has dominated several aspects of swimming.....to me....Phelps takes it for now.....
