THE Greatest Olympian

There is no way that Michael Phelps will not be considered the greatest Olympic Athlete of ALL TIME. What he has done during the two Olympics that he has competed in will (probably not) be ever duplicated or beaten-if it is that will be super-amazing. Pat Forde of ESPN.com wrote a great article on Phelps that is a very worthy read and goes in more depth of what I am getting at-he's the professional This young man broke Mark Spitz's single Olympic record of 7 Gold Medals in one Olympiad, by claiming his 8th Gold Medal in as many swimming events. He destroyed the competition, albeit the 7th race where he won by the slimmest of margins and made it even more exciting. He now claims 16 total medals (14 Gold and 2 Bronze) which is second all time only to a Soviet Gymnast who has 18. Now if he keeps this up and wants to come back in 2012, he will shatter that record and further cement his mark. Only 13 countries have more medals than he has (USA leads overall Medal Count with 65 over China's 61). One question comes to mind with all of this-can Phelps be considered one of the greatest Athletes of all time? Granted swimming is not as popular as some of the major sports in the world, but to live up to the expectations and put on the performances that he has, it is a fair and valid question to be debated for the ages along with those of greatest basketball or baseball player ever (Michael Jordan and ???). I am proud to say that Michael Phelps is an American Athlete, who has represented his country graciously during these Olympics, giving it his best effort never settling for nothing but the GOLD.


On other Olympic news, the Men's Basketball team better win the Gold. If they do not-DISAPPOINTMENT. It was only back in 1992 when the Dream Team destroyed the competition game after game making it look easy and so far this years 2008 squad is doing much the same after defeating Spain yesterday by 37 points.Deron and Lebron in company need to keep it up and leave the competition up in smoke. They have looked pretty impressive so far and they need to keep it up-they are an exciting team to watch and they understand what their mission is and they work hard at on the court. Gold or Bust!