Thorpe of Phelps?
By dilitha
@dilitha (36)
Sri Lanka
1 response
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
23 May 10
dilitha,
Arguably, Michael Phelps is the best swimmer in the world currently basing on his performances, achievements and records held.
I don't think Thorpe could be compared with him as Thorpe has already retired from competitive swimming. Also, if you are to compare his career performances and records held, you have to agree with me that he is way out of Phelps's league.
Just take the Olympics to compare, I think you have to agree that Ian Thorpe's Olympics medals are way short of Phelps. His best Olympics achievement dates back to the Sydney 2000 where he won 3 golds and 2 silvers of which 2 golds and 1 silver were team relay events.
Whereas, Phelps in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, won 8 gold medals making him the only swimmer/athlete/sportsman/Olympian to win the most gold medals won in a single Olympics surpassing American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at Munich in 1972.
Phelps who won 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian, and is often cited as the greatest swimmer and one of the greatest Olympians of all time as claimed by NBC, MSNBC and ESPN. And his international titles and record breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
So, undeniably I have to disagree with you here, that Michael Phelps is the best swimmer of all times.
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
29 May 10
dilitha,
Well, in that case you may be partially right as both swimmers are specialists in their own discipline.
As far as the freestyle discipline is concerned, the only time both swimmers ever met and competed was in the 2004 Athens Olympics for the 200m Freestyle. In that competition, Ian won the gold medal with a time of 1 min 44.71 s (OR) and Michael won the bronze who returned with a timing of 1:45.32 (NR). And I must say that it was the first and last time both swimmers would meet and compete in the same discipline.
However, after Thorpe retired, Michael Phelps dominated the 200m Freestyle breaking the world record twice in the 2007 World Championships with a timing of 1:43.86 (WR) and in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a timing of 1:42.96 (WR). Whereas, Thorpe throughout his career only managed to break the world record time for the 200m Freestyle in the 1999 Pan Pacific Games in Sydney and his timing was 1 min 46.00 s (WR).
I think you will agree that statistics wise Phelps has a more credible record as compared to Thorpe. So, I would have to say that Phelps could have beaten Thorpe if they were of the same age.
