The 2016 Olympics closing ceremonies signaled the end of an illustrious career for the most decorated aquatic Olympian – Michael Phelps.
Phelps began his Olympic career at 15 years old and has since accumulated 28 Olympic medals, including 23 golds. Despite his impressive career, Phelps should not be considered the best Olympian ever.
Best swimmer? You bet.
I can hear the argument already. How can he not be the best ever? He has more golds and total medals than anyone ever.
Don’t get me wrong. Phelps is the best swimmer in Olympic history, an impressive athlete and has earned each of his medals. But his sport and nationality played a bigger role in his medal count than his skills in the pool.
As a swimmer, Phelps has more chances to earn medals than almost every other Olympian. In each Olympics, he has the opportunity to claim as many as eight medals.
This leads to an inflated medal count.
I’ll concede this fact: there are more track and field events, but events in the pool are not all that different from one race to the next.
Endurance plays a factor in the longer swimming events, but swimmers motions and nuances do not change much from event to event like they do in track.
Jamaican track star Usain Bolt is a prime example.
Bolt is known for his abilities in 100- and 200-meter races, but a recent Time Magazine article revealed he has never ran a mile showing how different events within track are.
The differences between races Bolt participates compared to the longer track races are so great, it would be like asking Phelps to try to medal in fencing.
In swimming, the pool of quality athletes is much smaller than others. Top swimmers like Phelps are able to dominate the rest of the field for years, because it is a specialty sport.
Only 16 countries won medals in swimming events compared to track and field where 42 nations earned hardware.
Another factor which helps Phelps is his teammates.
As an American, when competing in team events he has some of the best swimmers in the world all on one team. In the 2016 games, half of Phelps’ medals came from team events, and 12 of his overall medal count have come in group races.
If he had been born in another country, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have come anywhere close to 20-plus medals
If Phelps doesn’t, who takes the crown? Plenty of names come to mind.
Bolt and Phelps certainly have a claim to the title as do many others. The athlete with the best resumé is a long forgotten field athlete, Ray Ewry.
Ewry competed in the 1900, 1904 and 1906 intercalated games – an event the International Olympic Committee organized to honor the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics, and the 1906 medals are considered official by historians.
He competed in 10 individual events winning gold in each of them, and remained unbeaten in all Olympic events.
Of the undefeated Olympic athletes he leads all of them in the medal department. Bolt is the only one close with nine, but only six of the Jamaicans silverware have been won solo.
It’s an argument that will likely continue as long as the Olympics are around. With rising stars such as U.S gymnast Simone Biles and U.S swimmer Katie Ledecky, the list of names will only get longer.
Again, don’t get me wrong. Phelps is a great talent, but the odds were stacked for him. It was easier for him than most to break records.
And because of that, he won’t ever be the best Olympian.