The LEB Sports
Dallas Sports News & OpinionsMichael Phelps is Not 40…
but he is all man.
I’ll just go ahead and say what everyone else is thinking, Michael Phelps is the most dominant olympian, athlete, competitor, or any other thing you can be dominant in of not only our generation, but ever. Sure that may sound like a pretty hot HSO to some, but if you look at the facts, it really isn’t that bold of a statement.
Not only does he now have more gold medals than any olympian ever, he isn’t even done with his olympic career. Not only is he a perfect 5 for 5 in his medal races (so far), but the man has completely dominated the previous world records…in every single race.
Everyone keeps saying that all of these races will take a toll on him, but it seems to be getting easier. I find myself looking for someone to hold me after one of his races because the world that I know keeps getting rocked. I mean, why was the 4×200 relay even held? Seriously. How degrading is it that the race is literally completely over as soon as Phelps comes up out of the water directly after entry?
So lets just go ahead and end this debate before it even starts. Tiger, Your Airness, “T.O. Sexy”, and every other “Greatest Ever”, please step aside for Mr. Phelps. Thank you.
Nate said on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 6:18
amen to that. this guy could win a gold medal swimming drunk.
Dan said on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:22
I wonder what it is about Olympic sports heroes that make their overall impact on sports get minimized? For instance, when MP was being heralded as the next person to get 9 Olympic gold medals, and they mentioned that 4 others were already at that level, I could not bring a single name to mind of who the others were. I remember what a hero Mark Spitz was after the ‘72 olympics and how he was on all the talk shows and variety shows as a special guest and the Wheaties box, etc… But over time you never heard about how dominant an athlete he was, even though he set so many world records on the way to his gold medals.
I agree that Michael Phelps is awsome. And your comment about Best Ever is a valid opinion. I will be interested to see if time is kind to him and our 2008 Olympic hero is still considered so dominant in 30 years.
Mark said on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:31
In my opinion, the reason that Olympic athletes are not given their credit as “best athlete in the world”, even though they are because this truly is a global competition, unlike our “regular” sports, is because their stage only comes around one time every four years. All of the major sports that have lasting figures have major coverage, even entire networks devoted to them, year round.
Lets face it, covering every swim meet would cause ESPN’s ratings to absolutely tank. They just won’t do it. And covering only the events that Phelps would swim in wouldn’t make sense because it would be so inconsistent that you could never grow a following.
This doesn’t really work well in a society of “what have you done for me lately” spectators. So enjoy the Phelps coverage now and soak up as much as you can, because 6 months from now, not even the local Baltimore paper will be knocking on his door for an interview.
Joe M said on Thursday, August 14, 2008, 14:15
I also agree that Phelps is awesome, maybe the best “swimmer” ever, but “the most dominant olympian, athlete, competitor, or any other thing you can be dominant in of not only our generation, but ever.”? I’m not so sure.
It seems to me that “the most dominant athlete ever” title should be very, very rare. Spitz was just as dominant as in ‘72. What about Carl Lewis? Jesse Owens? Jim Thorpe? Tiger Woods? Jordan? I’m sure a case could have been made to crown each of them (and others) “most dominant” in their day.
Tap the brakes a little and let’s look at this thing after the excitement of the moment has waned a bit…