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GOHEAVY.COM Debates Forum
The Greatest Olympian?,
Posted By: Ron Fernando (c-24-14-81-182.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
In Response To: Re: Thoughts On Phelps' 8 Golds,,,, (Rob Taylor)
Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008, @ 3:28 p.m.
Phelps is a great swimmer, probably the very best ever , but the Greatest Olympian? Forget it. Don't forget swimmers have a lot more events to win medals at and out of Phelps 8 Golds, 3 of them were relays, and one of those ( 4x100) was because of Lezaks's come from behind over the Frenchman Bernard. But, Still Phelps is being called the Greatest Olympian ever .I heard this several times from the talking heads on TV and got very disturbed as it seems that they have totally forgotten their Olympic History and what Greatness really means. I think of guys like weightlifter Norb Schemansky who worked a brutally hard factory job and also found time to train, and go to the 1952 Olympics and win gold. His reward? He got fired for taking too much time off. Mal Whitfield won 5 Olympic Medals in Track and field including 3 Golds between 1948 and 1952 n the long sprints and middle distance. He had to train at night on deserted air strips while still being a full time Air Force Officer.George Young of Arizona was a schoolteacher and had a wife and family to support. He needed to get up at 330Am for his training and still manged to win a Bronze at the Mexico City Olympics in the 3000 meter Steeplechase. Jim Thorpe, entering the decathlon AND the pentathlon( no longer contested for men)and winning BOTH. By todays ( swimming) terms that's 15 medals folks!Last but never least was Jesse Owens who won 4 Gold Medals in a scenario that defined the term"stacked deck". Guys like that qualify for greatness as Olympians, not Phelps. So Phelps, armed with a battalion of coaches, trainers, massage specialists, as well as multi million dollar sponsorship deals gets his 8 Golds. Good for him, but I would like to see him do the same under the circumstances of a Schemansky, Young, Thorpe or Whitfield. It would never have happened. Finally-I don't know if it was out of arrogance or ignorance, but Phelps never recognized the thousands of Olympians of the past in all sorts of sports including his own that paved the way for him to have the platform to compete in the manner he does and give him the opportunity to win that many medals. To merely inscribe "greatness" by medal count is idiocy given the "watered down" ( a very bad pun btw) environment that is modern day swimming and of course the awesome support team that modern day swimmers like Phelps has at their disposal. Greatness has nothing to do with medals but has everything to do with what has been lost in the glare of commercialism and money- the Olympic ideal. Greatness is the marathoner from a small country who finished dead last ( and by a huge margin)but finished nonetheless. Greatness is Kerri Strug sticking her landing on a broken foot. Greatness is Matthias Steiner coming from behind and winning the 2008 SHW lifting title. Greatness for Phelps was his 1/100th of a sec victory in the 100 Meter Butterfly over Milorad Cavic. But because we are a numbers-based, results oriented - bottom line society, his 8 Golds will be the benchmark for Greatness in Modern Day Olympics. Too Bad.
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