Phelps

[Firewa11]

Heh...

[MattStrada]

He obviously didn't inhale.

[milesmiles]

should have done speed...he would have had even more medals

[DarcShadow]

I hate that title of most decorative olympian of all time. Yes it's true, but there was another swimmer that in his day was easily the best and would of won as many medals as phelps, if they had that many events. There are more swimming events now than in the past. Kind of the same arguement made over baseball records, of course the home run record is higher, they play more games.

[Rhino]

That's not just in swimming though, it's across all events. So he has beat out the skiers, the runners, etc. that have a ton of events to compete in as well.

[DarcShadow]

Actually, swimming is the only sport where you can win that many with out drasticly different skill sets. If you could do hurdles, sprints, and long distance you might be able to win more but that's about the only way.

[Rhino]

I don't know, I think that it's similar to running. You have different distances of a few different styles.

It's still an athletic feat to have conditioned your body to do well in all of those different strokes for different distances in a relatively short period of time.

[DemonDuck]

Look Phelps is a beast ... plain and simple. Is he the only beast? ... no Still a beast none the less.

[Firewa11]

I hate that title of most decorative olympian of all time. Yes it's true, but there was another swimmer that in his day was easily the best and would of won as many medals as phelps, if they had that many events. There are more swimming events now than in the past. Kind of the same arguement made over baseball records, of course the home run record is higher, they play more games.

Phelps holds the world record in the following events for the fastest time:

200 m freestyle
100 m butterfly
200 m butterfly
200 m individual medley
400 m individual medley

And he was on the relay team that holds the world record for fastest time:
4 x 100 m freestyle relay
4 x 200 m freestyle relay
4 x 100 m freestyle relay

No other world record holder for fastest time in swimming has more than 1 record to themselves. Phelps holds 5 world records on his own, and even in the team events, he was the only swimmer in all three of them, he had different team mates for each event.


So, had they had the same number of olympic events, could there have been another athlete to hold more medals? Possibly. But you can't really compare apples to apples. In the 1912 olympics the same swimming techniques didn't exist. They didn't shave like they do today, nor did they have the rubber / silicone swim caps. They didn't wear the same swimwear.

Fact is, we will never know if there has been a past Olympian could have held more medals. The fact is, they didn't. And one day Phelps will likely pass on the honor to someone else. But for now, you cannot deny, that Phelps is one of the best Olympic athletes of all time, currently holds the record for medals won, holds many world records for swimming that will be hard for others to beat (nobody has broken them this year), and did all of this, and smoked the reefer!

[DemonDuck]

The dude had to smoke the reefer to be able to eat all the calories his body required ... lol.

[dufremle]

I saw him win #20 last night, and I think he had one more event left. Did he get 21?

[Stardog82]

Making a generalization based on one case study isn't the proper way to draw a conclusion. Just sayin'!

[DemonDuck]

Making a generalization based on one case study isn't the proper way to draw a conclusion. Just sayin'!

What generalization are you talking about?

[shilka99]

All generalizations are bad mmkay?

[DemonDuck]

True but I was really trying to find out what he is talking about... Or if he posted on the wrong thread.

[Firewa11]

I'm pretty sure the generalization that all pot smokers are lazy, useless, dirty, liberal tree hugging hippies.

[DarcShadow]

That's a generalization?

[Telomere]

I'm pretty sure the generalization that all pot smokers are lazy, useless, dirty, liberal tree hugging hippies.

Fact! If he wasn't so lazy, he wouldn't have walked home with 22 gold medals. He would have had more but he decided to hit the pipe instead.

[DemonDuck]

I agree Telomere.... lol Im just upset that he is not gonna be back next time. I think he would have hit 30.

[DarcShadow]

Just heard this, medal winners get a cash prize as well. $25,000 for gold, that means this year alone phelps has won over $100,000, not bad for a stoner. ha!

[Stardog82]

No, the generalization I was referring to is that doing drugs and breaking the law is suddenly ok because one guy was able to win a buncha medals

[Teresa]

Sorry, guys. 82 refuses to understand that illegality doesn't imply immorality... he actually told me that breaking the law is NEVER moral. This is strange to me, being that I'm totally sure that he knows about the American Revolution, which of course was 100% illegal. When he refused to surrender this bizarre opinion, I told him that if he were ever bleeding to death, I would make sure to follow all posted speed limits while driving him to the hospital.
Phelps is a friggin' superhero... and the bong makes me like him more, not less.

[Telomere]

Don't forget to take the back country roads when driving him. OH, and he needs to go in the bed of a truck so he doesn't bleed all over the inside of your car.

[Striple]

82 refuses to understand that illegality doesn't imply immorality...

There have been some people in history that were banking on people with that exact mindset. Its a convenient way to implement social darwinism, for instance.

[DemonDuck]

I do have to say my child would have a near death experience if I ever found out...... Not that I am against legalization because that would change nothing in my house. I have had plenty of friends in my day that put down several fields alone I would say and more power to them.... they where all good people and I would never think different of them either way.