What are your thoughts on Michael Phelps, being proclaimed the greatest Olympian of All time?
I dont think he is, and i gotta agree with some of Simon Hill on this one
"The reaction to Phelps continues to flood in and Simon Hill, who earlier claimed he shouldn't be allowed to win so many golds, wants to make his point even clearer. He says: "I don't wish other readers to misunderstand - of course I recognise and respect Phelps' achievements in the pool. It just doesn't seem right to proclaim him 'Greatest Olympian' in a very one-dimensional discipline. If pole vaulting had three diffferent run-up distances and two types of pole material then undoubtedly Sergei Bubka would've earned about 18 golds in his career. Unfortunately he could win but one at each Games. As for greatest Olympian what about Fanny Blankers-Coen. A mother of two and aged 30 she won four golds on the track in 1948 and was prevented from entering long jump and high jump for which she held the world records. Maybe it's the awful sycophantic commentary I have to endure here in Hong Kong that deters me from being more enthusiastic about Phelps and his medal haul." Meanwhile Tony Bell says: "Phelps is an awesome athlete, but swimming has far too many events attached to it with all the different strokes, relays and medleys. In track and field you do not have a gold medal for hopping, side skipping and running backwards. In high jump there are not three gold medals - one for the flop, one for the splits and one for the forward roll. It's a simple case of fastest/highest end of story. Medal tables and individual medal tallies are artificially inflated and bias towards events in the pool, and probably Gymnastics too."
hahaha.. Simon Hill's my dude.
