Greatest Olympian of All Time: Phelps Wins 10th Career Gold

BEIJING — Michael Phelps has become the winningest Olympic athlete ever, earning his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Games with a world record in the 200-meter butterfly. The American touched in 1 minute, 52.03 seconds, breaking his old mark of 1:52.09 set at last year's world championships in Australia.

It was Phelps' 10th career gold medal, breaking a tie with Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and two others for most golds. He is 4-for-4 so far, setting world records in each of his events.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 1:52.70. Takeshi Matsuda of Japan got the bronze in 1:52.97.

Comments

[Irons]

02:05 AM on 08/14/2008

Greatest Olympian, NOT!

The Frenchman won the 100m freestyle tonight!!! Isn't that like the 100m Dash?

How can Phelps be the greatest if he's not the fastest in the free-style?

Oh, I get it. The MSM is American. LMAO.

[scornflakes]

01:41 AM on 08/14/2008

Sorry, but the greatest American Olympian is Jesse Owens and it's not even close. The courage that he showed in the face of unrelenting racism in this country was Olympian by itself. And then the grace and dignity, not to mention the unprecedented physical ability, that he demonstrated in Berlin in 1936 . . . well, it's absurd that we are so myopic to even suggest that Michael Phelps, even with all his medals, his millions of dollars in endorsements, and his DUI, are greater than that man.

[BillShea]

12:40 AM on 08/14/2008

The lowest-ranked person in the decathlon is superior to the top ranked swimmer. One sport? BFD. Try superiority in ten!

[NotMcCain]

01:47 PM on 08/14/2008

Yes, and gymnasts are amazing athletes, too. Even non-medalists achieve incredible things with their athleticism.

"Greatest Olympian" is just a stupid media creation to hype ratings. In terms of physical achievements, it's meaningless.

[crypled]

08:08 PM on 08/13/2008

Phelps isn't the greatest "athlete" in the Olympics, he's the greatest swimmer. The best all around athletes are on the USA Men's Basketball team. Their quickness, coordination, agility, real-time decision making ability, endurance, power, and skill is unbelievable. No other sport or athletic event demands as much from it's participants.

[Annette]

09:44 PM on 08/13/2008

Everyone has their favorite sport and everyone has a good reason for their choice.

[UncleJimbo]

07:20 PM on 08/13/2008

I eat about 12,000 calories a day too.....But I'm 6' 1" and pushing 300 pounds! Oddly though I am a good swimmer!

[Amalek]

07:54 PM on 08/13/2008

Jimbo, there is a reason whales are made of blubber. It floats!

[Desdemondo]

05:51 PM on 08/13/2008

Nothing could be further from the truth.

[BARRISTER]

06:20 PM on 08/13/2008

Until he soon tests positive for performance enhancing drugs!!

[rwe]

05:33 PM on 08/13/2008

Superlatives are all relative... perfect 10 scores, the greatest ever.... time , conditions, and PR... You have Muhammed Ali, Rocky Marciano or Joe Lewis...Cy Young or Greg Maddux or Roger Clemens.. Greatest Olympian... Read the exploits of Jim Thorpe ... All subjective but a lot more fun than politics

[rwe]

05:50 PM on 08/13/2008

yikes ,,, Joe Louis.... And also Jim Thorpe had his medals taken away after they found out he played a little minor league baseball for $90.00....

[steamboat]

06:23 PM on 08/13/2008

Ali beats Louis by 15 RD decision.....Too fast !

[957]

05:21 PM on 08/13/2008

Who pays for this guys food /lodging/ expenses /training. Do these people ever or have they ever had a real job?

[jsomerville5]

05:54 PM on 08/13/2008

He's only 23.

[Mason]

06:22 PM on 08/13/2008

Try swimming 10,000 meters per day breaking it up into repeat 10 X 200s freestyle with a maximum of 10 seconds rest after each 200. I'm talking swimming hard, not Barbie floating. Rest a minute, maybe two, and repeat the same set BUTTERFLY! Guess what? After you finish the two sets, you haven't reached the half-way point of the workout. There isn't any job more grueling than swim workouts and keep in mind that you can't hear anyone, see anyone, or talk to anyone because your freaking face is in the water except when you inhale and, when you're resting between sets, you're totally focused on expelling all the CO2 out of your lungs and replacing it with O2. You're too tired to say or think of anything, except f**k the coach.

That's your mantra.

Anybody on this blog want to sign-up for that duty at 0-dark-30 every morning without pay in hopes that maybe someday you'll be good enough to have a shot at wining a gold medal at the Olympics and then be fortunate enough to pick up a few corporate endorsements so that you can keep training and keep your dream alive instead of turning into a working stiff at some lousy job.

[daddydamon]

06:50 AM on 08/14/2008

All athletes train very hard. No one is saying that his achievements are insignificant, only that the American media's coverage of them are disgustingly superlative.

[YouDisgustMe]

04:33 PM on 08/13/2008

really? of ALL TIME?.....give me a break

he's a great athlethe but we must remember that the only reason why he can win that many medals is because there are so many swimming races

[UncleJimbo]

07:26 PM on 08/13/2008

I agree there! Maybe they should have One race...Pick a lake or any body of water a couple of miles wide,let them all jump in and the guy (or girl) who makes to the other side first gets the Gold Medal! That's all folks,now go home!

[daddydamon]

06:50 AM on 08/14/2008

I love that idea!

[bronceye]

04:14 PM on 08/13/2008

Has there been a single swimming event that hasn't set a new record?? Not to take anything away from the individual competitors for they all have access to the new technologies. Should we just keep the old records as one thing and start with these new records in a seperate book? By the way, swimmers are swimmers, athletes excel at many sports. Can Phelps run, jump or throw with anything other than normal ability? If he were an exceptional athlete, he would be in the decathlon and the pentathlon. He's the best swimmer, and he makes a good living at it. How good would he be if he had to get up every morning and go to work like these past amateur athletes. Kinda like being a competitive eater. Mark Spitz got a few endorsement deals and went on to be a dentist. He was a swimmer.

[Destin]

05:47 PM on 08/13/2008

It's all to do with the "skin suits" they wear that are modelled after sharks I believe. Something like slick as glass in one direction, like sandpaper in the other. I'm not a current olympic swimmer, lol, so I have no idea what exactly it's made of, but I do know that there has probably been more money spent on those special swim suits, than has gone into cancer research. ;)

[TMAN]

08:53 PM on 08/13/2008

The technology came from NASA, the space program, air flow, lift and drag, resistance.

[john85msy]

03:47 PM on 08/13/2008

That's a bit of a stretch.

[legalclubs]

03:40 PM on 08/13/2008

After reading through many of your posts I think I've figured out why many of you have such a problem with the "Greatest Olympian" phrase. HuffPost, being an extreme leftwing blog, attracts individuals of a similar liberal mind set. Liberals appear to hate it when one person is deemed as better than another - it just offends their sensibilities about the world. However, this doesn’t reflect reality. In truth, some people are more intelligent then others, some are better athletes, some are harder working, and so on. In other words, we are not all equally blessed, especially in the exact same areas of life. Also, if we are not all equal (I certainly can’t swim that fast) then doesn’t it stand to reason that for any single aspect of life that someone must be the “Greatest” at that aspect. And isn’t it also true that the measure of success at the Olympics is medals, particularly gold medals. How many athletes have you seen interviewed who said they were trying for 4th place? I haven’t seen any – in fact this is often seen as a failure. So, if the only objective measure in the Olympics is winning medals, particularly gold medals, and Phelps has more than anyone else in the history of the modern Olympics, then by definition he is the “Greatest Olympian”, because by definition success (i.e. greatness) is defined by the medals won.

[Destin]

05:43 PM on 08/13/2008

I don't think it has anything to do with a liberal mindset, lol. I've been called a liberal ever since i showed up here, even tho I consider myself as just an ordinary American. But hey, if people think I'm a liberal cause I like my freedoms, fine with me, I'll wear it as a badge of honor. ;)

That said, I have no problem with people winning, and lots. I have no problem with Phelps doing it. And I defending Michael Schumacher, arguably the greatest racing driver on the planet, in the Universe, or all-time or ever will be in any time period. While he did win like 13 of 16 races one season, and won 5 world titles in a row, which nobody had ever done, racking up a total of 7 when the old record was 5, and previous record 3..... does that make Michael Schumacher the greatest of all-time, really?? Who knows, there is no way to compare what Fangio did in winning 5 World Titles in the 1950's, to Schumacher's winning 7 in '93'94 and 2000-2004. Completely different cars, tracks, driving environments, safety regulations and most of all, performance from the cars.

Much like there is no way to compare, really, which is better, Spitz or Phelps, since they race in vastly different era's wearing vastly different equipment and competing against vastly different competition.

After all, it's not Phelp's fault that Ian Thorpe retired, the man who pwned him in Athens. ;)

[legalclubs]

06:59 PM on 08/13/2008

Actually you can compare. The water hasn't changed and Phelps can still break Spitz's records in the the old fashioned speedo.

[daddydamon]

06:53 AM on 08/14/2008

Amen brother. I just hate it when people say that Bush isn't a great president. I mean, he's done so many great things. He brought democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, showed that our puppet leaders in other countries are actually useful, holds up the American flag in the correct way, speaks eloquently (and has even made some of the greatest American speeches by any president), and has generally made the image of America shine in the hearths of the people of the world. I think that every country now wants a US occupation force in their neighborhood. He's the GREATEST LEADER OF ANY COUNTRY OF ALL TIME!!!!!! Since success is measured by medals won in the Olympics, success as a president should be measured by enemies killed! Bush is #1!!!! Whoohooo!!! USA!! USA!! USA!!

[Destin]

03:33 PM on 08/13/2008

I don't wanna take anything away from Phelps here, lol. I have been watching the past few days, and I see where he is in phenomenal shape, and an outstanding swimmer.

What I find hard, is to be overly excited about it. All summer I been told by the media he was gonna sweep, like he's doing. And that he would be a new gold medal record holder for the amount in both total and individual, etc, etc, etc. I guess you see what I'm talking about right?? So, since it's pretty much an afterthought, how do I get really pumped up and excited about it as a viewer?? The best and most exciting race I saw so far, was that relay in which his teammate on the final leg made that amazing rally to help them win gold.

I guess, for comparison. It's not like it's gonna be say, a Dan Jansen moment where someone overcomes age, heartbreaks and bad luck to finally win a huge, almost miracle gold medal that has everyone screaming cheers, leaping up off the couch, spilling beer in bars, people hugging and jumping and crying. Those are the moments that stand out to me.

But to take nothing away from Phelps, is he so good that he's making it routine?? ;)

[trdoe]

03:33 PM on 08/13/2008

I suspect minor acromegaly.
I suspect that many in the US know this and have done everything to keep the topic off the table.

If it is that, then he shouldn't be competing and his records stricken.
I hope for him that it isn't but his face has too many signs of unnatural protrusion and elongation.
It should be demanded of him that he is tested for this and the results made public.

[jpcline004]

05:03 PM on 08/13/2008

Phelps has had that goofy look since he was 15. And they test for doping every single day of the Olympics.

[trdoe]

06:07 PM on 08/13/2008

Acromegaly isn't doping - it's a syndrome
André the Giant, Gheorghe Mureşan, etc.

Abnormal production of growth hormones in the body should be considered equal to the injection of hGH.

[emstrem]

03:19 PM on 08/13/2008

Michael Phelps may be the best athlete ever (let alone Olympic athlete). The only reason he wont get his due is because he's a swimmer. When he performs you cant see him, he has goggles on and a cap over his bean...plus he is half underwater surrounded by other like-looking swimmers. Phelps is up there with the Jordan's, Gretzky's, and Montana's of the world.

And for those of you who think Jesse Owens was the greatest olympian I would strongly disagree. He wouldn't even make the list of top 100 sprinters. Today's athletes are light years above what they were in the 1930's.

[FanofPaine]

04:06 PM on 08/13/2008

But what kind of technology are sprinters utilizing now that he didn't?

[steamboat]

06:26 PM on 08/13/2008

weight training.......diet.......faster tartan and synthetic tracks......films breaking down technique........superior competition

[steamboat]

04:12 PM on 08/13/2008

and because he is an American male and White. Therefore, the PC-crowd will diminish his achievment.

[MadJeffersonian]

01:14 AM on 08/17/2008

Bullcookies!