I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the 2008 Olympics. Before I get to my favorite moments, let me give you my thoughts on the claim of the "greatest Olympian" debate. While I think Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete, I also don't want to give him a title just yet. And here's why. Swimmers have the opportunity to win multiple medals. Most Olympic sports do not have that option. For many Olympic sports, there is only one medal to win. Consider Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. They played games throughout the 2 weeks of the Olympics and ultimately won the gold medal. But there is only one gold available for them. Most team sports are like this, except for Gymnastics. Swimming gives out more medals than any other Olympic sports. So while Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete, it's hard for me to compare him with other great Olympians in other sports. What do you think?A Few Favorite Olympic Moments:
- Men's swimming relay team come from behind to win Gold
- Beach Volleyball - USA Gold in men's and women's
- Dara Torres missing Gold by .01 second (she's 41 years old)
- Women's 4x400 relay for Gold - another come from behind to win race
- Watching the fastest man in the world run
1 comment:
I have to agree with some of your points on greatest olympion. I am not quite sure I am ready to call him that either but for talking points here are some thoughts. In comparison to a team sport athlete he is an individual competetor, the fine line of failure and success lies just on his shoulders (and the Lord's) and he carries that day to day event to event. The mental toll of that is much greater than people realize. Team athletes have others to fall back on when things get tough or they don't perform at their top that game. I also think it is impressive that he was able to break the number of world record times that he did. I think if they were just medals it wouldn't be so great but the fact that he broke all but 1 world record time gives him a few extra points. In the same regard if you are individual performer and can do what he did you derserve the accolades where as a team sport player plays for the team and recieves the same enjoyment in the teams success as he probably did as an individual. You learn growing up if you chose to go the team route you sacrifice self promotion and recognition at times. I guess it is kind of like trying to vote for an MVP. Is the MVP the best individual player of the league or the player who is morst valuable to their team?
Favorite moments:
1) Men's indoor volleyball team and the trials they pursevered through.
2) Jason Lezak swimming 1 sec faster then his fastest time ever to secure Phelps a gold in the freestyle relay.
3) Women's beach volleyball (I'm a little partial to the sport)
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