Originally Posted by
apricissimus
I think calling any one athlete "the greatest" is a mistake when there are so many different sports involved. You just can't compare them.
I also don't understand why humans seem to have a tendency to rank people, events, feats, in some kind of linear order. Not everything fits in a linear order so neatly. The fact that there are numbers involved (eight gold medals) makes it seductive though.
my 2 cents:
Some sports only have one gold medal. In swimming (as in track and gymnastics for example), athletes can win medals in closely related disciplines. Swimmers can often be trained in freestyle and backstroke for example. Gymnasts can be trained in floor exercise and the vault. Runners can be trained in both the 200 and 400 meter distance. Taking this into account, it is "easier" for Michael to win more gold medals than say.....a tennis player. Does this make it any "easier" though? No one else has done this in swimming, in track, in gymnastics............
What you have to remember though is two things: 1.) swimmers are much more specialized now then they were in the days of Mark Spitz. Michael not only has to go against "butterfliers", but swimmers who ONLY concentrate on the 100 meter or the 200 meter distance. The range of events that he does is amazing. No one else in swimming even comes close to his range. 2.) The races are shorter than the Tour. There is not a lot of room for error. If Phelps has a bad day, he loses 1-2 medals on that day and maybe the chance at qualifying for another on the next day. If Lance has a bad day, he can make it up on the next. Michaels consistency is amazing.
That being said, Lance certainly has overcome so much and was so awesome for so many years. Michael has also be awesome for so many years. They have both changed the face of their sports. THIS is the most important part about both of them IMO.
There is something to be said about lining up with the best in the world at ANYTHING and saying "lets go" and then coming out on top. over and over and over again. In this department, Lance and Michael are the same. Both amazing.