I'll give you that Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer ever. Sure. But this bullshit that he is the greatest athlete of all time must come to an end. Phelps does one thing better than anyone, but he swims. Just swims. Bo Jackson played 2 sports at a professional level and was a great track athlete. Dieon Sanders was one of the best football players of his era and a damn fine baseball player. He also ran track in college. Again, Phelps does one thing, yes he does different strokes, but that allows him opportunities to pile up medals. If track had four different racing styles, I'm sure Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis could have had another 10 or so. Imagine if there was a backwards 200M, or a sideways event. Additionally, many of Phelps medals were in relays. Again, track doesn't have so many events at such close distances.
This doesn't even bring up athletes with crazy diverse skills like Jim Thorpe or even Babe Didrickson. Jim Brown who was the greatest running back in NFL history and was supposed to be the greatest Lacrosse player of his era. So, as NBC is forced to talk about someone besides Phelps, lets restore some integrity to this discussion of ATHLETES. Phelps is the greatest swimmer, maybe the greatest Olympian, but once the hysteria subsides we'll all realize he is NOT the greatest athlete of all time.
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