Posted on 08/02/2012 7:57:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Lord Sebastian Coe, two-time British Olympic gold medalist, revered British Olympic long-distance runner, and chief of the London Olympic organizing committee, has said the unthinkable.
Michael Phelps, in his estimation, is not the greatest Olympian of all time.
Later today, American officials are expected to announce the termination of all diplomatic relations with Great Britain, withdraw embassy staff from London, and issue a new deck of "most wanted" playing cards with Lord Coe as the joker.
For the record, his exact words, as reported by the Associated Press, were: "He is certainly the most successful. That goes without saying.... But whether he is the greatest? In my opinion, probably not."
How could Coe possibly say this? How do you argue with 19 medals – especially when three more are certainly are not out of the realm of possibility here in London. On the all-time Olympic medal table, Phelps is threatening to lap the field.
Well, the argument goes something like this:
Imagine you are the best triathlete the world has ever seen. You win gold in every Olympics you enter, and you do it emphatically. You run faster, you cycle faster, and you swim faster than everyone else in the field. You compete, the world gasps, and your competitors are left to suck the fumes of your greatness.
In the end, you will win, what – three gold medals, at the very most? On one very important level, you are equal with Phelps: You are the greatest athlete in the history of your sport. In the great medal argument, however, you are not even a bug on Phelps's windshield.
Coe, it would seem, would be particularly open to this argument as a runner in the 1500 meters – not an event that allows athletes to pile up the Olympic hardware.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I’d have to go with Eric Heiden as the great Olympics athlete ever. I mean, the man won a gold medal at EVERY single distance in speed skating. No one has ever done it before or since. It’s like a running winning the 100-meter sprint, the mile, and the marathon in the same olympics.
But Phelps has to be in the top two or three. I know, that’s a domination of the Americans in the “best ever” categories. But the reason for that is if someone with Heiden or Phelps’ ability had been born in China or the old Soviet Union or East Germany, they would have figured out what event he was best at and had them focus on that. Those countries haven’t produced a lot of individual athletes who won a slew of golds. (Except in gymnastics, where you have to compete in everything if you want to compete at all.)
Agree with Coe that he’s the most medalled in swimming but that’s as far as it goes.
Haven’t you been watching your Animal Kingdom (or whatever)?
Plenty of animals work together, whether by pack or otherwise.
world record index = # of world records x length of time held
My vote is for Paul Elvstrom.
Agree, Thorpe has had no equal, although the Pentathlon has changed
How many medals would Mark Spitz won if they had as many swimming events back then as they do now? The criteria should be the percentage of Gold Medals per Events entered.
I would tend to agree. He was as dominant as anyone could be.
It was his use of the word “successful” that tipped me off. Brit-speak for PUSHY, AGRESSIVE AND OVER HERE.
I was merely pointing out his jingoism. It's a common trait, affecting the citizens of most nations, including the US.
American sports fans, the media and experts are the most insular and parochial there are.
Can you document this claim in any way? More so than Brazilians? Chinese? French?
I'd be interested to see your evidence for your contention.
I have followed US sports (NFL esp) for 30 years. I follow US sports media (ESPN, NBC sports) via satellite/cable and the internet. And I lived in the US for nearly two years. Which btw I loved.
American sports fans and the media ignore and dont care about world sport. I found most to be more insular about sport than others. Not all, but more insular than sports fans in the UK and Europe. And the Aussies, Canucks, Springboks and Kiwis I have met. Although the Canucks can be just as bad.
Yep.
Standing up for my country.
That a problem?.
Actually Phelps is well liked over here and thats because he comes across as not that type. Not in the in-yer-face, cocky type, but just a polite midwestern type American. The type we Brits love.
Not to mention, most decathletes are "jacks of all trades, masters of none." They do a bunch of skills well, but in most of their individual events, other people excel far better.
Actually I find the media much worse.
At least your average US sports fan is just a normal guy or gal who follows sport whilst earning a living. The media, its their job, and with that comes the arrogance of ‘experts’.
Jim Thorpe won the Decathlon (10 events) AND the Pentathlon (5 events). You can make a pretty strong argument that Thorpe was the greatest Olympic athlete ever.
Agree he’s my favorite
Though I will recognize M Phelps on the basis of medals alone.
This could be settle by simply stating the obvious. M Phelps is now the All Time
Medal Winner in the Olympics.
So you agree that “successful” is a code word for Pushy, Agressive and Over Here, right? And that adds up to typical sour grapes.
Best was probably Jim Thorpe, but serious consideration must be given to Abibi Bekela.
No, I dont.
Thats your interpretation.
Funny how you are bashing the Brits for being their usual snarky Limey selfs, where all I see is Americans looking for anything that they can shriek ‘anti-american!’ at....
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