Now there's an American I can respect.

Doesn't he have more medals than some countries?

Just awesome.

Dude's a beast.

Today his performance was crazy. he was in a zone. 200 butterfly was so close but he swam a perfect race. Considering he is 31 which is OLD for swimming he will rate this above Athens or London.

...is the GOAT.

Simply the olympic GOAT! Amazing!

Another great one in the making is Katie Ledecky
She can do both sprint & marathon races. BEAST!

fuckin awesome is he

Gold medal wins since the Olympics began in 1896:

Brazil - 23
South Africa - 23
Czech Republic - 21
Ethiopia - 21
Michael Phelps - 21
Argentina - 18
Jamaica - 17

lmao

phelps and ledecky in 2006

I also read somewhere that he has more medals than 170 countries since Olympics began. Obviously not combined but still...

He does, but most of those 170 are very small countries and/or not members of the Olympic Committee. Still, it is very, very impressive.

Awesome!

The American swimming team has been fantastic so far. Ditto the women's gymnastics.

Phelps is a legend, but swimming is the perfect sport to get a shitload of medals. I should know. I was in it for 13 years. If you're a great freestyle swimmer, then you're also in the relays. Bam that's like 4 medals. Usually freestyle swimmer are also good at butterfly. Wham - another 2 medals. Good at both freestyle and butterfly? Why not try medley? Getting 4-5 medals at some championship for a great swimmer isn't that hard.

Again, Phelps is a legend, but him being a swimmer makes things just a little bit easier for these types of things to happen.

It's true, but don't other sports also have lots of medal opportunities? I think cycling has loads. Rowing seems to have a lot too.

I think Gymnastics may have the most.

But it's much harder to dominate all disciplines in gymnastics given the technique and various strength required for each.

Swimming is certainly easier to dominate with just a few athletes, and there are too many relays; still, what Phelps has accomplished is beyond amazing, mainly for his longevity. As we see with Lochte and Missy Frankin, 4-year is a long time to maintain the top form, let alone 12 years as Phelps has. If he had competed in 400 IM, he may have been able to win 7 golds this year; that's just crazy.

Swimming may be an ideal sport to win a lot of medals, but it doesn't mean it is easy to do so. Before Phelps, the most decorated Olympian swimmer was USA's Jenny Thompson with 12 medals. Phelps has more than *doubled* that with 26 medals won and 22 of them gold. By any measure, Phelps' accomplishment is incredible. Even with the relay medals he has won discarded, he is still the most decorated Olympian of all time.

And, historically at least, Gymnastics has been a discipline that has very much dominated the list of the most decorated Olympians of all time, with 4 gymnasts in the top 7 (and Phelps the only swimmer). And no swimmer has ever held the title of most decorated Olympian of all time - those in Athletics and Gymnastics have dominated that title:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... _medalists

Peace,
Mike

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... _medalists

Sort it by years and you'll see swimming is dominating in the last two decades by the number of multiple medalists. It's just the way swimming has been developing as a sport last 20 years. And I've said Phelps is certainly impressive, but this is like the perfect storm for him.

Any attempt to downplay how fucking incredible he is, is so, so, so, so, so stupid.

It's not downplaying, it's perspective.

Sorting it by years just provides more evidence of Phelps incredible dominance, because you see the most decorated Olympian swimmers of today with a range of 2 to 6 gold medals, and Phelps with a whopping 22 Gold medals. It truly is a case of 'no matter how you slice it' - Phelps is an incredibly impressive athlete and swimmer.

This goes back to my earlier comment about how he has more than doubled the previous record for number of medals won by an Olympic swimmer, so that while swimming certainly is an ideal sport to win a lot of medals, it doesn't mean it is easy to do so. This is further bolstered by Phelps' all-around success and strength in multiple strokes, including individual medleys, and his multiple gold medal wins over a lengthy career.

Peace,
Mike