Who is the best Olympian in Beijing? Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt?

Question

***PLEASE, don't say Phelps because he has 8 golds and Bolt has 3.

The individual most defined by gold, of course, was Michael Phelps, whose eight gold medals included dramatic finishes in the 100-meter butterfly and the 4x100 freestyle relay.

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, certainly did all within his preternatural power to match Phelps’s global impact: winning the 100 and the 200 and the 4x100 relay in world-record times and giving his ailing sport its latest shot of adrenaline.

I think Bolt was better. Comes from a country with 2.5M people and a GDP that is less than what Bill Gates has in the bank.

Answer 1

Bolt. If Bolt could participate at 50m,100m,115m,150m,170m.....he would win all these medals. I'm not saying Phelps's not great but I prefer Bolt

Answer 2

Phelps

Answer 3

michaelphelps<3

Answer 4

The 40 year old mom from Romania who won the marathon.

Answer 5

I dont think anyone has earned the honor of best olympian bec u have to be like rele hard core , i wanna say usain bec runners train more and harder than swimmers , but i wanna say michael phelps bec he's been at it longer . but i rele dont know prob phelps bec he puts his body through alot and he keeps getting better and better evertime!

so yea

Answer 6

I'll say Phelps because of the overall strength and athletic display in different disciplines of swimming.  

Answer 7

Michael Phelps.

Here's why: a lot of the races he competed in, the relays in particular, he was competing against people who were specialists in certain types of swimming (i.e. butterfly, breastroke, etc.) and he beat them.

Plus, it's hard to live up to expectations, which Bolt didn't have to do.

Answer 8

Usain BOLT

Answer 9

That's comparing apples to oranges, really.

Each was the best at what he did.  Each was thrilling to watch.  Each made his country very proud.

I don't know how you could say that either is "best" when they don't compete in the same sport.

Answer 10

Michael Phelps

Answer 11

Michael Phelps, hands down no contest...

Answer 12

Wow really? I don't understand how this question can even be asked.

It's Phelps, hands down.

You will not likely see another swimmer be tat good at so many different swimming events.Take it from a former coach. Most swimmers at that leve are 'specialists' at what they do... whether it be sprinting, or the IM, or a certain stroke. Phelps does it all. Usain bolt just sprinted every time. To compare, Bolt would have to win races of diffrent running styles (which their aren't) and in distances that aren't considered a 'sprint'. Not to mention Phelps covered WAY more distance than Bolt.

Don't get me wrong what Bolt did was Amazing. The guy is Amazing. However, at this games. It was Phelps... any argument otherwise is incredibly feeble.  

Allow me to do it "without looking at golds", as you state:

Phelps 7 world records across several swimming disciplines: sprinting, mid-distance, butterfly, and individual medley (all 4 strokes.)

Bolt 3 world records all in sprint running.

Any questions?