Bolt. And that’s taking nothing away from Phelps’ greatness. But, IMO, Bolt, and it’s no contest.
I’ll give Bolt the edge in sprinting, but Phelps is the better swimmer.
This might be true if Phelps only competed in one swimming discipline.
It’s true regardless.
Bolt > Phelps, because track matters more than swimming. Track matters more than swimming because, as pointed out by @up_the_junction, track is a more inclusive sport than swimming. There are fewer barriers to entry in track than in swimming. Therefore, track is a more global sport than swimming. Therefore, track has a greater depth of competition than swimming. Therefore, a track medal means more than a swimming medal.
Therefore, the greatest runner in the world is a bigger deal than the greatest swimmer in the world.
Therefore, Bolt > Phelps.
Is the world’s greatest racewalker a bigger deal than the world’s greatest swimmer?
As far as “one swimming discipline,” the point of a race is to see who’s fastest. The only way to see who’s fastest is in the race with the fastest stroke. There’s nothing impressive about being able to swim with these suboptimal strokes. If there was a 200m-while-running-backwards race, or a 200m-while-running-sideways, Bolt would probably win those, too. Or having a 4x100m Individual Medley, where you run the first 100m backwards, then run 100m sideways, then run 100m hopping up and down, like a frog, and then run the last 100m like a normal person. But those races don’t exist, because they would be stupid. And, quite frankly, FINA and the IOC awarding medals in the breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly are stupid, too.
The only swimming races that matter are the freestyle, and the freestyle relays, because those are the only races that actually tell you who’s the fastest. For his career, Michael Phelps is 7-for-10 in those (.700), Usain Bolt is 8-for-8 (1.000).
Bolt > Phelps.
Greatest racewalker =/= greatest runner.
Tell that to someone who fell off of a boat.
They seem about even to me. There is usually one black person in each swimming event, and one white person in each running event.
Of course, I know what you mean - almost everyone can run. But I don’t know that more people have access to running tracks and coaching either way. My high school didn’t have either a pool or a track, and neither a swim or track team. Based on my observance at local school sport events, there are more swimmers than track runners. In any event, I think it’s supremely silly to say running is “more important” or “more inclusive” than swimming to try and elevate Bolt compared to Phelps.
I know. But everything in that post would’ve applied just as much to racewalking.
To digress slightly: I know people generally ridicule racewalking, and in some ways it seems silly to impose such artificial restrictions on a sport (and it certainly looks silly), but the men’s 50K gold medalist won in 3:40:58, which is a little more than a seven minute mile, sustained over 31 miles while walking. That is pretty fucking impressive.
And 5 miles longer than the marathon.
It’s a fools errand to host an Olympics event and I’m sorry a handful of politicians took their city down that rabbit hole. But no, it’s not the Olympic spirit. Lochte is a self-absorbed jackass who got as much attention for his hair and teeth as his medals. If there’s a consolation prize it will be a significant loss of any sponsorship.
Compare how many qualifying heats there are for running to swimming. Compare the number of different countries that win medals in running to swimming. How many South American nations have won a medal in swimming? How many sub-Saharan African nations besides South Africa have won a medal in swimming? How many Middle-Eastern nations have won a medal in swimming? Sport doesn’t look very inclusive to me.
Jee, by your logic soccer isn’t inclusive. Besides 3 SA nations and 5 Euro nations, how many countries have won a World Cup?
Your strawmen wouldn’t even get out of qualifying.
A lot more participate than participate in swimming, though. Why do you think that is?
So, in the 50km men’s racewalking final, a Canadian was bumped by a Japanese and knocked off-stride. The Canadian finished fourth and the Japanese finished third. Canada appealed, and within hours the appeal was upheld and the Canadian was awarded the bronze. The Japanese appealed the appeal, and within hours that appeal was upheld, the Canadian was stripped of the bronze and it was given back to the Japanese.
Is it just me, or was that a completely bush-league handling of the situation? I certainly don’t claim to know racewalking well enough to say whether the final decision was correct or not. But overturning the final result twice, both times within hours of the event, seems unnecessarily cruel. Why is there not a single appeal with arguments heard from both sides?
It certainly seems disorganized. Is the same decision-making body responsible for both appeals?
The Olympics site has the Canadian as the bronze medallist.
The second appeal decision was announced in the last 20 minutes or so.
Now says Japan again for 50km bronze.
Meanwhile, back in the pack of the racewalk, the current world record holder was struck sick, crapped his pants, fainted and collapsed flat on the pavement, and still made it to 8th place. Now that’s spirit.