Who is your Greatest Olympian

First topic message reminder :

Its started with a big, I'm sure you are all looking forward to a magnificent Specticle over the next month. Let's hope the rain holds off, though judging by so many teams wearing anoraks and cagouls as part of their national team colours, maybe others are less optimistic.

So who is your favourite Olympian....?

I have suggested a number of legends in my eyes and I am sure many of you could add more, please make suggestions and if we ask kindly I am sure a moderator can add a name to the poll here or there.

Pyrros Dimas and Naim Suleymanoglu .

I think for us the Evers-Swindell twins had a magnificent achievement. Not only did they win gold in Athens and Beijing, they actually proved to the world that there are two hot girls in NZ.

Lumbering_Jack wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:I mean what is the point of a walking race.

To see who can walk the quickest over a set distance. Is it that difficult to understand?

Yes, when other options are faster, such as a light jog.

You're choosing to miss the point here, aren't you? You'd get from one end of the pool to the other quicker in a speedboat, so should we not bother with the swimming?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:I mean what is the point of a walking race.

To see who can walk the quickest over a set distance. Is it that difficult to understand?

Yes, when other options are faster, such as a light jog.

You're choosing to miss the point here, aren't you? You'd get from one end of the pool to the other quicker in a speedboat, so should we not bother with the swimming?

No, becuase that is using technology to go faster.

For the record I think front crawl is the only worthwhile swimming event. The rest you are just swimming is a way which is slower than another option.

Phelps is the greatest Olympian - 18 golds speaks for itself (of course swimming is a bit of a crappy sport, but hey ho. )

Yes I know a lot of those were in team events but so were all of Redgrave's medals.



emancipator

No, 18 gold medals make him the most successful Olympian. Success and greatness aren't the same thing.

Phelps' dominance of a sport for so long is pretty unheard of especially considering it's a young man's game. (Redgrave in rowing but you can go on in that till your 30s). We have seen this year the Phelps' achievements were stunning. He is my greatest, he has dominated the sport in a spectacular fashion and done it in the different disciplines too.

I think the way he pulled himself up after the initial dissapointment of these Olympics was great.

After the first couple of races it looked like it was going to be a down Olympics, but he came back and was it four golds in the end?

Thomond wrote:Phelps' dominance of a sport for so long is pretty unheard of especially considering it's a young man's game. (Redgrave in rowing but you can go on in that till your 30s). We have seen this year the Phelps' achievements were stunning. He is my greatest, he has dominated the sport in a spectacular fashion and done it in the different disciplines too.

I don't think we can say Phelps is the greatest Olympian: how many Olympic events has he been in and lost? I think of those on the list, Phelps is the biggest loser: he has lost 6 times.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:No, 18 gold medals make him the most successful Olympian. Success and greatness aren't the same thing.

In that case greatness is governed by an entirely subjective criteria which cannot be judged, particularly since we are talking about different disciplines, ergo this whole conversation becomes null and void.

By any objective criteria Phelps is way out there - and I have zero interest in swimming.

No one else even comes close.



emancipator - There is a shadow in the East. It is rumoured that the evil entity BOO is rising again. Be warned oh minions.

Its all down to personal choice as to who we all will think is the greatest Olympian ever. Personally i admire the multiple eventers. People like Daley Thompson who competed in 10 events every Olympics for only one reward.

I dont really look at medal counts but there is no way i can discard Phelps for his medal count and the fact that he won the same two events over 3 Olympics. Thats special and may never be beaten.

Paavo Nurmi - the Flying Finn.

9 Gold and 3 Silver across 3 Olympics. Another Legend.

emancipator wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:No, 18 gold medals make him the most successful Olympian. Success and greatness aren't the same thing.

In that case greatness is governed by an entirely subjective criteria which cannot be judged, particularly since we are talking about different disciplines, ergo this whole conversation becomes null and void.

By any objective criteria Phelps is way out there - and I have zero interest in swimming.

No one else even comes close.



emancipator - There is a shadow in the East. It is rumoured that the evil entity BOO is rising again. Be warned oh minions.

You are a strange one aren't you?

Phelps is certainly the most successful Olympian, but then if running had running backwards, running hopping, running clapping your hands then I'm sure plenty of sprinter champs would have lots of extra golds too.

eirebilly wrote:Its all down to personal choice as to who we all will think is the greatest Olympian ever. Personally i admire the multiple eventers. People like Daley Thompson who competed in 10 events every Olympics for only one reward.

Problem with multi-eventers is you risk the "jack of all trades, master of sod all" tag. At least with Ennis her hurdling is up there with the best individual hurdlers in the world (her time equally the Beijing individual gold time).