I was talking to my kitten earlier, who was also in an airport awaiting a flight, though hers was to somewhere else and she had the added benefit of dealing with her girls. In the course of our often interrupted discussion, we chatted a bit about Michael Phelps.
She's not a huge fan of this blog, I need to tell you. She's not as convinced that the world needs to hear my opinions as I am, and since she disagrees with so darn many of them, she believes I'm largely just exhibiting my stupidity. But I think that my creation of this blog has unlocked in her some long-time suppressed voice of commentary. Today she chose to unburden herself on Michael Phelps.
Her position? That while he's certainly a great athlete and a great Olympian, his feats are not anywhere near as worthy as they are being made out to be, largely because he really is doing the same thing over and over again, with some minor modifications. His dominance is manifest, she says, but the reason he is racking up so many medals is that there are so many medals available for doing essentially the same thing. She asks hypothetically about the great soccer player, who may play on two gold medal Olympic teams in a row, but who "only" has two gold medals to show for it.
I'm inclined to agree with her on this one. Phelps is clearly great, perhaps the greatest swimmer of all time. But let's not confuse medal counts with dominance.
Your thoughts?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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9 comments:
i don't know about michael phelps, but i'm trying to figure out how i'm going to tell my wife that i'm leaving her for dara torres.
I'm partial to the women divers....
interesting that you felt you had to say "women divers" when i would have gotten that with just "divers". of course, with sen craig's recent step out of bounds to the next stall, i guess even conservatives now need to specify their preference.
Hey, hey, hey. He just had a "wide stance".
I watched Mark Spitz win 7 at Munich and I have to say I never thought I would ever see it equaled let alone surpassed. What we witnessed at the pool in China is in my opinion the most amazing sport triumph ever accomplished.
Having been a competitive swimmer most of my life and having swum two of the events that Phelps medaled in (200 & 400 IM) in college I have to roll into your "kittens" reasoning that it is the same thing over and over. No, nope, nothing like that. To win the 400IM & in world record time demonstrates mastery of all 4 of the competitive strokes and the combination of endurance and speed necessary to win. To win the 200IM & in world record time demonstrates not only mastery of the 4 competitive strokes it also demonstrates complete sprint speed in each discipline. The amount of training to maintain the technical, aerobic and anaerobic skills in each discipline is amazing!
Most IM specialists have one maybe two strokes that they are also world class in. Phelps is world class in three and holds the world records in two of them (Butterfly 100 & 200 distance and Freestyle 200 distance & at one time the american record holder at 100 as well as 200 Backstroke). Of course he needed support to win on the relays--truly team swimming he did hold his own.
Now combine that with the sheer amount of swimming he had to do to just get to the finals in each event and you have a swimming marathon.
Team sports such as what your "kitten" mentioned are just that a team competition and once chosen requires the discipline and chemistry to rise to the top of the sport; but as a team. Not so in swimming. Discipline yes. Training yes. Individual competition YES.
It would be great to best in the world in one event and set a world record would be icing. To be the best in 5 individual events setting 4 world records and one Olympic record while combining with others to be the best in the world in 3 other events and all in world record time holds no comparison and most likely will not be accomplished again in my lifetime at least not in the sport of swimming.
I watch with interest in other sports for anything even remotely similar. I find none!
Alibi 1
In thinking of dominance statement I can only liken it to Lance Armstrong 7 Tour victories; Tiger Woods 4 Majors in a row; and, Federer in Tennis. Probably other dominating events but only ones that I think might compare.
Alibi 2
In the modern history of the Olympics only 2 have won 7 Gold and only 1 has won 8. If it truly is just a repetition then why haven't others done it or even come close?
Alibi 3
In the history of the Olympics which athlete has won the most total Gold medals? Answer: Michael Phelps
Alibi 1
In thinking of dominance statement I can only liken it to Lance Armstrong 7 Tour victories; Tiger Woods 4 Majors in a row; and, Federer in Tennis. Probably other dominating events but only ones that I think might compare.
Alibi 2
In the modern history of the Olympics only 2 have won 7 Gold and only 1 has won 8. If it truly is just a repetition then why haven't others done it or even come close?
Alibi 3
In the history of the Olympics which athlete has won the most total Gold medals? Answer: Michael Phelps
Great post, thsntht. I'm glad someone piped up with a rejoinder. I thought more about this, and I guess I began to think that this was akin to one man winning the 100 meters, the 100 meter hurdles, the 200 meter, the 400 meter, the 800 meter and the 1600 meter races in Olympic track. Such a person would indeed be considered an amazing athlete, if not the best ever.
I need to think on this a bit, but your point is well made.
Phelps is by far the most dominant Olympian in history, and he will participate in at least 1 more olympic games before he is through. He might land 20 gold medals before hes done.
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