Could Michael Phelps be the greatest athlete ever?

Question

I am usually an advocate for Lance Armstrong as the best athlete of all recorded history, but Mike Phelps is setting world records, has more gold than any Olympian and more golds in one Olympic game...........is he catching up?

Answer 1

um, yeah, i'm pretty sure it's safe to say that phelps is the greatest athlete ever.  

Answer 2

This is left to the unknown, where the future will bring us even more amazing athletes. It will be too early to crown him the greatest athlete ever. The word "greatest" should be measured in accordance to strict measures, gauging the person's sportmanship, acheivements and many other tiny factors. He is an extraordinary athelete in swimming. If he can compete in other sports and yet can achieve Gold medal for Olympics, he will be then graded as one edge above the others. 8 golds does not mean anything. He got it because the swimming game has far more events and combinations of it compared to other sports. How about looking at the rest of the other gold medalists especially rising China sport persons first before drawing a conclusion? Just any 5 examples.

Guo Jing Jing of China beat her Russian Counterpart in the games who won the gold medal 4 years ago. Guo won by a far margin of more than 17points.

Rafael Nadal won Olympic gold as he destroyed Fernando Gonzalez in the tennis men's singles final.

Usain Bolt of JAM created a new WR of 9.69sec in 100m race, beating his personal best as well.

Zhang Ning of China badminton's woman single preserved her Olympian Gold even at an age of 33 years old. ( Note : Michael Phelps is only 23 now .)

Tao Li of Singapore , only 18, though 20cm shorter than many woman athlete, beat her personal record and set new Asian games record, first time attending Olympics, got 5th in 100m butterfly.

A lot of aspects are needed to be factor in to give the extraordinary international agreement of who should be the greatest athlete ever. :)

Answer 3

No...Phelp's hasn't' done anything out of swimming.

Answer 4

I'd say no, because although he did very well, and holds a couple of records, his personal best times are only separated from the competition by a microscopic margin.

In order to be the world's greatest, at least in my book, a person would need to beat the opposition by a measurement that is actually visible to the naked eye. Maybe if he'd won by a couple of seconds, but not a couple of thousands of a second.

Answer 5

yes, he could!