Buy/Sell Will anyone ever break Phelps Olympics Medals Total Record...

[fishwater99]

I am Selling...
Phelps now has 17 Golds and 21 medals. A team win tomorrow and he will have 18 Golds and 22 medals..
He has won 2 events in Three straight Olympics... They guy is a machine.. Who says Stoners are all lazy??

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

Not bad considering he says he was fat and out of shape 6 months ago. He looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself on the podium last night. Like he was just soaking it in for the last year. Though he could possibly compete in 4 years too, at least in a few events, but he says he's done. We'll see.

Oh, and I'm selling. It's damn hard to dominate for 12 years, which is basically what you have to do.

 

[aTotal360]

<div>For starters, I think they would have to be a swimmer. Not sure there is another sport where an athlete can have the opportunity to win that many medals. </div><div>Maybe a Carl Lewis v2.0 could, but I doubt it. Track's short relays, single events, and field events are the only thing that come to mind and there is no way the same guy that wins the 400m could win the 100m. Not to mention, sprinters only have about 2 Olympics worth of gas in their tank. 5.25 medals at 4 Olympics seems undoable.</div>

 

[seshomoru]

Missy Franklin has the potential to give it a run. She'll leave London with 5 and be .01s away from six. Plus she's only 17, so she really does have a realistic chance to swim in, and be highly competive in four olympics. Wouldn't be out of the question to qualify and be swimming relays in a fifth at the age of 33 either. Burnout, which almost made Phelps quit after Bejing, would be all that stops her I think.

ETA: and don't be surprised if some random Chinese swimmer pops up four years from now and wins something like 12 medals in a single Olympic meet.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

Bolt could probably win the 400 and 100 in his prime, but that's because he's a freak. Carl Lewis won the 100 twice, but one of those was due to Ben Johnson's failed drug test, so that has an asterisk. I THINK he's the only one to do it in recent history.

 

[kimmer]

I think you have to take the whole 'worlds greatest olympian' thing with a grain of salt. It is no coincidence that the guy's record he broke was also a swimmer. There are so many events and strokes and whatnot that obviously require similar skill sets that the opportunities to medal is many times greater in swimming than any other sport.

I've often wondered what is a greater feat? Getting through a qualifying heat or two then winning a gold medal in a single race like swimmers or slogging through a multi game tournament format in something like tennis or soccer or multiple sports like the decathletes?

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I mean Lochte had to swim two medal events within an hour of each other last night. That's pretty impressive. Also, tennis and soccer players barely care about the Olympics. It's not the biggest event in their sports. Don't think the swimmers aren't in huge endurance tests themselves.

But yes, they do compete in the most, though a track athlete can come close.

 

[8dog]

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[aTotal360]

Do you think it HAS to be swimming?<div>
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[seshomoru]

Swimming and gymastics would be the only sports I can think of where you could earn a significant haul each year before you couldn't compete anymore. But even in gymnastics, a mens competitor would have tomedal inthe team, individual, and every single aparatus for three consecutive years.