Michael Phelps won his 18th Olympic gold medal in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, bringing his career-haul to 22 Olympic medals overall. 18 gold medals more than doubles gymnasts Larisa Latynina’s career performance.
Is Michael Phelps the greatest athlete of all-time?
Sports analysis can do the math however they choose. Yes, Carl Lewis dominated track and field for a dozen years, and speed-skater Eric Heiden went five for five at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, and Jesse Owens prevailed in-front Hilter at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany…but their achievements, by the numbers, do not compare.
Phelps deserves a seat beside the greatest sports icons of last 100 years: Babe Ruth, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali.
Sadly, Phelps could add more to tally. He’s 27. Swimmers have won medals into late their 30s and early 40s, like Jason Lezak and Dara Torres. Phelps has at least three to four more medals in him. He could certainly medal at the 2016 Olympics in the 100 butterfly, 200 IM, and the 4×100 medley relay.
Phelps put a big exclamation point on his career today, and if you judge an athlete’s greatness by their dominance in their sport, then Michael Phelps is the greatest athlete that has ever lived.
Maybe not the greatest athlete of all-time but he is by far the greatest swimmer and Olympian to ever set foot on the planet. Hard to compare all sports with each other seeing as the all have a greatest and they are all so different. And hand eye coordination is not the only thing that determines a great athlete. Usaine Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Jordan Burrows are three of the greatest athletes there have ever been and they do not require hand eye coordination. Hard work, dedication, and physical ability make you a great athlete
That is a tough question. Who is the greatest athlete ever?
IMO it cannot be a pre integration baseball player. ruth was a beast but baseball was purely american back then and it was also not allowing african americans to participate, so Ruth is out.
Ali is great too but then again boxing was not really integrated back then since the boxers of communist countries who have dominated the amateurs for years were not allowed to compete (especially teofilo stevenson). so boxing was also purely american which rules Ali out (as great as he was).
Jordan is an interesting case but still at this time basketball was not really integrated. it was an american thing then and a single nation… Read more »
Greatest athlete ever should be able to dominate in different sports, not just one sport with different events. Seeing Carl Lewis throw a baseball ruined the idea for me that he was greatest athlete ever. List should be from Jim Thorpe, Bo Jackson and Jim Brown.
I’m sick and tired of the general public/media claiming what Michael Phelps did is inflated because of medal count. If there was a sprint runner that was truly as versatile as Phelps, he/she would be able to walk away with golds in 100, 200, 110 hurdles, 4×1 relay, 4×2 relay, and the long jump. In addition, he/she should be able to jump up to the 400 and 400 hurdles and at least contend for medals (the same way Michael drops down to the 100 fly, 100 free in relays, and is even an elite 100 backstroker).
If you want a more analogous argument, a middle distance runner (analogous to Phelps being more of a middle distance swimmer) has a chance… Read more »
Recovery times are supposedly a lot longer for track events than swimming events, and it limits overall number of events. Although that could be in part because swimmers train harder.
Maybe the measure of “greatest athlete of all time” should be at least partly dependent upon the athlete’s impact on their sport. We’ll have to wait and see, but I bet there are a lot of young swimmers in the world who are training to “be like Mike” (Phelps, not Jordan)!
I knew this debate was going to start back up again the day after Phelps finished his career. It is such a silly argument. Everybody has an opinion, ususually based on his or her favorite sport. I think the great thing for swimming is that Phelps is in the discussion. When has that ever happened? Everybody has their opinion as to what makes a great athlete but one thing we can all agree on–anyone in the debate has to have dominated his/her sport. And who has dominated a sport more than Phelps. As to all around athletic ability, who knows. In some regards the best all around athletes, like decathletes, don’t dominate any one sport. I’ve heard an argument for… Read more »
Jim Brown was arguably the greatest Football and Lacrosse player of all time. And Wilt Chamberlain was one of the top 5 Basketball and Volleyball players of all time, not to mention nearly the entire Kansas track team in the mid 50’s. So to say none of these was the all time best in any sport (or close to it) just doesn’t hold water.
I really loved that story, two great guys!
Greatest All time athlete?
Its hard to say…
For soccer fans, it is Pelé.
For Basketball, the Great Michael Air Jordan(that guy was a beast).
As Olympian, no doubt, but i will put Paavo Nurmi 1924 five golds near Phelps 8 because its probably something we will never see in Athletics again.