shawngoat23 wrote:Usain Bolt, not even close
1. Sprinting is a more global endeavor, the crown jewel of the Olympic Games, and one that draws a larger competition pool. There is a reason the first thirteen Ancient Olympiads featured just sprinting, and never included swimming.
2. While swimming requires elite athleticism at such a level, sprinting is a better representation of one’s athletic ability. It’s no coincidence the rest of the English-speaking world refers to track and field as Athletics. If you had to traverse any distance by running or by swimming, you would naturally choose to run: it’s the most efficient method for humans.
3. Phelps has a much higher medal count, which is legendarily impressive within his discipline, but it is foolish to compare medal counts across different sports. Imagine swimming had only the freestyle and running had the current events labeled as a freestyle, plus for each distance, useless modifiers such as “running without swinging arms”, “running without a starting block”, and “running while showboating”. Bolt’s medal count would easily triple Phelps’s, while neither of their accomplishments would have increased or diminished in true magnitude.
4. Those who favor Phelps are probably either swimmers or American. Imagine Phelps were from a small island while Bolt were American. Or you don’t need to imagine; compare how celebrated Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis are in the United States compared to Mark Spitz, and the answer becomes abundantly obvious.
Excellent post!
