2008 Beijing Olympics Thread

[Smitty34 0]

6 for 6 (you know who). 6 WR's.

And amazingly...still not boring.

I agree, it's never boring when he's in a race. Its also amazing when an athlete can be so dominant like Michael Phelps is.

[mik3 1]

The Team USA girls are getting effed here on the scores.

[Chadd 916]

The Team USA girls are getting effed here on the scores.

As if you expected anything other than a Chinese win.

[mik3 1]

It's been conspiracy levels of bad though.

Meanwhile Chinese swimmers are all of a sudden topping their personal bests by about 1/10th.

[adam14 182]

made me laught this morning on sportscenter when the online poll was " who will win more medals, Canada or Phelps? 90% said phelps.

[mik3 1]

If Nastia doesn't take the lead there then I'm probably changing the channel.

[Jason Harris 31]

It's been conspiracy levels of bad though.

That's why I have a hard time accepting gymnastics and figure skating as sports, versus exhibitions. There are times it seems that one athlete clearly had a superior performance, but the second athlete appears to be rewarded by the judges for having paid their dues.

[Jason Harris 31]

Spitz has a totally valid point though that there was no 50m freestyle in his day or else Phelps might be just trying to tie his record. I think Phelps is amazing, of course, but everyone is getting a little carried away. Swimming is one of those events where he can win all those golds because they have so many different events. LeBron or Kobe can only win one gold at most because they don't have a 6ft slam dunk, 8 ft slam dunk and 3 point contest at the Olympics. And yes freestyle is different than butterfly which is different than whatever but it's all in the pool and he's obviously a freak of nature in water.

That's a little bit like saying alpine skiing is like nordic skiing is like aerial skiing because they are all done on the snow with skis.

I think what Jesse and Carl did are just as impressive but many are ready to anoint Phelps greatest Olympian ever.

I think it's the domination over two Olympics that is so amazing. Carl gets great points for his longevity, but if Phelps is willing to put in the hard work for another four years, has an opportunity to obliterate past records.

Actually, I've always felt the most impressive performance in a single Olympics was Eric Heiden in 1980. He won the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m, four of them Olympic records and one a world record. I don't know what the comparison would be for track and field, but let's just say that maybe it's somewhat equivalent to winning every distance between the 100 meter dash and a 5K race. Remarkable.

[lawryde 0]

Interesting article from the Chicago Tribune as to why Phelps isn't the greatest Olympian of all time.

Kind of like how hockey isn't as punishing on the body as football. Football players could never play two games a day or two apart, it would destroy their bodies. It's the basic phyics of the sports. They are all great athletes, but to excel in one that destroys your body over a longer period of time is more difficult to do.

[mik3 1]

I refuse to agree with any article that puts two guys in boats ahead of Phelps. I can buy Lewis, that's about it.

[LkptTiger 1]

I started reading it...but decided it was too poorly written for me to waste my time with, since I probably would just write it off, anyways.

[mrusse01 0]

Dumb article. He is just placing longevity over quality.

And does anybody seriously think Phelps isn't getting at least a couple more gold medals in 2012 London?

[lawryde 0]

His point was that swimming is low impact and if you're good at it there are a lot of available metals to be had for someone who is better than their piers. It gives you more oportunity to win more metals.

[mik3 1]

That's well and good, if that's the main part of his argument then Carl Lewis can't be #1.

[kilner 0]

Nice to see GB got the gold in the Cycling, by smashing those dirty frenchies.

Looking forward to the mens 100m semi final

[GoHawks 0]

Micheal Phelps > Philip Hersh (author of that POS article)

also, a quote from that article:

"You can't compare track and swimming. In swimming, you can recover. You can do five races in a day and get world records in all of them. That's impossible in our sport."

lol

"Three of swimming's four strokes -- everything but breaststroke -- might as well be the same." WRONG

"Nearly every good freestyler can be a good butterflyer, and vice-versa." Absolutely wrong

My guess is this guy has never swam in his life, at least not competitively.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Micheal Phelps > Philip Hersh (author of that POS article)

also, a quote from that article:

"You can't compare track and swimming. In swimming, you can recover. You can do five races in a day and get world records in all of them. That's impossible in our sport."

lol

"Three of swimming's four strokes -- everything but breaststroke -- might as well be the same." WRONG

"Nearly every good freestyler can be a good butterflyer, and vice-versa." Absolutely wrong

My guess is this guy has never swam in his life, at least not competitively.

I'm not an elite athlete..and I don't even know how to swim, but I can tell that those strokes are very different and there is (obviously) a reason that the same 10 swimmers don't swim every discipline.

The track athlete who said that is an ass, IMO.

And, isn't it fact that Lewis was juiced (mind you, who wasn't then...)? Yeah, great Olympian.

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

Yeah, pseudoephedrine. He was banned from the 88 Games and the USOC overturned as he said it was inadvertent, as he was taking it to get rid of a cold.

[RadioGaGa 162]

7 for 7...no WR this time...he did get an OR though. Craziest finish Ev-AH!

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

Timed his stroke just right that he caught the wall on the end of the stroke, while the other guy tried to extend to the wall.

[kovalchuk71 212]

I still dont see how the other guy blew it. I mean his arms were extended before Phelps was finished with his last stroke.

[Juice_Slowjamz 0]

They just filled an appeal.

You knew that was coming.

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

DENIED. LOL

[Juice_Slowjamz 0]

DENIED. LOL

It would be a ball buster for him to lose in his final race tomorrow.

[Smitty34 0]

I just saw it. That was unbelievable. Hopefully he can get number eight tomorrow.