Michael Phelps vs Usain Bolt: Who is the greatest Olympian of all time?

So who is the greatest? 

So here we are: longevity, personality, dominance and success have all been scrupulously evaluated and judged, and now we face the impossible question – who is the better Olympian?

Firstly, there are a few arguments made by some fools which I would like to quash quickly.

The “Phelps has more events so has more opportunities….” argument: Yes he does, but what one must remember is that he trains for these events. He doesn’t get the Gold for an event he doesn’t race. He swims against athletes who specialise in one or two events, yet he must beat them whilst also training for a further four or five individual events. That is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve at one Olympics, yet alone three or four consecutive games! At Beijing he raced 19 races in 7 days, equating to 2.5 races (roughly) a day. There is a reason no other swimmer competes in as many events – because they simply can’t and won’t attempt it!

The “Without Relays Phelps wouldn’t have the tally he does..” argument: 28 medals in total, 12 from relays, leaving 16 individual medals, of which 12 are gold, 2 silver and one bronze. That individual tally would still make him the most successful Olympian of all time.

The Doping argument: Both Phelps and Bolt are 100% not doped. How do I know this? Bolt has the perfect physical attributes for sprinting – his 6ft 5″ frame gives him a huge advantage over other athletes, henceforth justifying his level of dominance. Phelps, too, is similarly advantageous. But more importantly, both undergo extensive drug testing, more than double the amount of other athletes. Phelps was one of 32 swimmers who signed up for increased drug testing, and has done for more than a decade as part of his work with WADA. In a world where more athletes are doped than not, Bolt and Phelps are the embodiment of clean competing, and don’t let jealousy tell you otherwise.

Now that that’s out of the way, I can proceed to concluding this article.  Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian the world has ever seen. End of. Period. Usain Bolt is incredible – and that’s putting it lightly – and is the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen, but too many facts and statistics favour Phelps.

Not only does he have more overall medals and Gold medals, but he has won the same event (200 IM) at four consecutive Olympics. The Individual Medley is the Decathlon of swimming, requiring a mastery of all four strokes, and his unbeaten record in this event for over a decade confirms his status as the greatest swimmer ever. Bolt has not won the same event four times.

More than that though, there are the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and 4 x 100m medley relay that Phelps has never lost in; and moreover the 200m butterfly and 100m butterfly are events he has won gold in three of the past four Olympic games, with the one exception being a silver in each in one games. This knack of defending titles outweighs even the “treble treble” of Bolt.

Then there is that greater longevity – Phelps has been the best swimmer in the world since 2003, making that 13 years at the very top of one of the most demanding sports in the world. Bolt has been at the top for four less years. Furthermore, the versatility Phelps has shown in his disciplines out ranks the limited events Bolt competes in. Granted, sprinters and strictly that – sprinters. Not middle distance runners, or hurdlers, or long-jumpers. But then no swimmer could realistically medal in every single stroke over a variety of distances either….

If Bolt were to add the 400m, 110m hurdles and long-jump to his schedule, then that would replicate somewhat the achievements of Phelps.

So yes, Phelps wins this one – his statistics, longevity, versatility and dominance is the greatest we have ever seen, or likely will ever see again.

What did our other writers say? 

Dale Ventham – Phelps

Andy Moore – Bolt

Mark Shepperd – Bolt

Omar-Shehata Mauri – Phelps

Ethan Gore – Phelps

Dan Culyer – Phelps

Harry Buckly – Bolt

Aboud Abbas – Phelps

However, regardless of who I select, both Bolt and Phelps are sensational athletes, and admirable role models. Neither man is perfect – Phelps has twice been arrested for drink driving, was suspended for marijuana, and suffered bouts of depression;  and Bolt who’s sexual exploits have leaked into the headlines. But what matters most is that both have risen above adversity, learnt from their experiences, and continue to bewilder audiences world-wide. They truly are one-of-a-kind and will be sorely missed.

Agree with me? Please comment below, or follow me on twitter at @Dan_Culyer or alternatively follow The Sports Lowdown on twitter at @TheSportLowdown