The best Olympian ever?

Question

Is Mikey Phelps the best Olympian ever?

He has won 13 gold medals and he is going for more.

Does this make him the best?

Answer 1

If Phelps isn't the best i'd like to see who is. He's unstoppable and a one of the best athletes i've ever seen.

Answer 2

In terms of olympic medals of course is the best, but is not easy to declare him the best for sure, because there have been great athletes that couldn't have the opportunity of winning such a number of medals just because they compete in sports with only one or two possibilities of medal, for example, tennis.

Answer 3

No.

Now before people start going hysterical - Olympian covers all athletes in attendance.

Is it correct to say a runner who has won Gold in both his events 3 Olympic games in a row for a total of 6 medals is less of an Olympian because he only has two races he can run per games in when Phelps has 8 he can swim in?

He is arguably one of the best Olympic Swimmers ever - but the Best Olympian ever is a title that is actually impossible to give to anyone because of the undeniable differences in all the Olympic events.

Answer 4

No.

The Greatest olympian ever was Australia's Fatso, The Big arsed Wombat.

Answer 5

Yes, he's the best Olympian ever.  He owns the most medals of anyone ever.  People claiming that he gets to swim in 8 races somehow gives an advantage are ignoring the fact he has to actually qualify for all 8, they don't just go "Hey, you wanna swim in this race?  Yeah?  Ok, you're in."  He had to qualify before the Olympics to even attempt them, then when he gets there he has to go through prelims and semis in order to even get to the final and go for a medal.  The comparison is doing 8 track & field events, not 2 for 3 different Olympics.

Answer 6

Well, if you're speaking history-wise, then yes, he has won the most Olympic golds in history.

But that doesn't necessarily make him the best. That makes him that best of his current competition in swimming, but you can't really compare an athlete in swimming to an athlete in, say, gymnastics, because a country like China would focus their gymnastics athletes more than their swimming, you know? So.. yeah.  

Answer 7

i don't know, he's kind of lacking in silver and bronze medals, something like 0 and 2 respectively?

oh wait...13 golds and probably 2 more this year in his early 20's, yea i'd say so

Answer 8

Michael Phelps u mean?

O yeah he is the best ever based on the no. of golds he has gotten.

Answer 9

Yes, because Phelps has won more gold medals than anyone else. Since gold medals are the highest rank of medals, whoever has the most is the best. If he isn't the best, he is the best swimmer at the very least.

Answer 10

Maybe. What people don't realize is that it's a lot easier to win 8 gold medals in swimming as opposed to a sport like track and field, where it's virtually impossible. A lot of the distances Phelps swims are the same, just a different stroke. So, hypothetically, if a person could master the strokes of swimming like Phelps has done, they could win as many medals as he did too. It's not definitely not easy, but it is possible, as shown by Michael. Now lets look at track: there's only one way to sprint a 100 meters. Same with the 200, and the 400. Plus all of the races are vastly different. You're not going to run a 100 the same way you'd run a 400. Sprinting is different from running as well. You're not going to see Usain Bolt run the 1500 or 10, 000 and win them. They're just way too different from his specialties. The only way I could see a track athlete compare to Phelps is by winning the 200, 400, 4x4 and a field event like long jump. Or maybe the 100, 200, 4x1 and long jump. Possibly if they could master hurdles, the 400m hurdles and 100/110m hurdles, it could add to the medal count. But that would be insanely difficult to do, considering the amount of work it takes to perfect a hurdler's technique, much like swimming strokes. And Michael Phelps did set a WR's in 7 of his 8 events. To break that many in track is just unthinkable.

So Michael could be the best Olympian of all time, but hey who knows. We still have many years to see what new, talented athletes are to come.