Bolt edges Phelps for int'l media athlete of the year

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: lupi

Originally posted by: Baked
I'm sorry, but the swimming competition in this past Olympic is such a hoax. New space age skin tie full body swim suits that repels water and make the swimmer more buoyant? Really? Should runners be allowed to wear rocket propelled running shoes in the Olympic as well? I can't believe the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) allowed competitors to use these swim suits, it's cheating, plain and simple.

i'll have to remember that the next time I watch him being topless on like half his races.

exactly. I think he was wearing the suit in maybe 1 or 2 of his races, iirc. I think he was always competing against swimmers with the supposed "advantage" over him.

If I remember right he didn't like them for certain races because it inhibited range of movement and he swam slower with them.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Does personality enter into it? Because Phelps has the personality of a bag of concrete.

It probably does, being that this is a world-wide recognition title. Again, this is about INTERNATIONAL athlete. I'm sure plenty remember that last-second touch from Phelps. I bet everyone remembers the cockiness and swagger that Bolt displayed THROUGHOUT his competition. I think that attitude resonates far more in the international community than does Phelps more-or-less stoic approach before each event.

Also, So many posters here have their heads too far up their asses to even consider what this recognition is all about. That, and likely stupid/blind enough to think that the rest of the world would even care about an athlete from the US as much as an American would.

Sure, I think a lot of the international community gives Phelps a lot of credit for what he achieved, but as has been said before, track is far more of an international sport than is swimming. Just about every country has the resources and potential to produce track and field athletes. Not nearly as many have access to swimming pools or the resources and experience to put up a swimming team--let alone the desire.

Anyone who is arguing for Phelps should look at it in this light: You're basically arguing that Peyton Manning should be considered the top International athlete over Ronaldhino. Make sense now?

EDIT: the royal "you," not you, JM 😉

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: phreaqe
where is the stat of how far phelps actually swam during all the events? i remember a announcer mentioning it at some point. He did not do all short events like bolt did he did long and short with a variety of strokes. the ability to put 100% in through all 8 events is an accomplishment all on it own. as impressive at bolt was i think phelps has the edge.

edit: just totalled it up. 1250 meters for the all events. based on wiki.

Sprinters and Distance runners ARE NOT THE SAME. While there are swimmers that focus on distance competition over short swims, and vice versa, with running it's a physiological issue. The type of muscles an athlete is born with explicitly determine the type of runner they can become--especially at the Olympic level. This is something you are born with, and no amount of training can overcome.

You can't possibly compare distance and sprint runners with the same type of swimmers, as this absolute physiologic determining factor does not exist in swimming.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: slayer202
both stupid sports IMO, but swimming is definitely the harder of the two. running might be the more "flashy" sport, but phelps did a shit load more than bolt did.

I don't know what makes either sport "stupid". They are about as basic and pure as you can get for human competition with running being the even more "primitive" form. It's basically you vs. a group of other people going balls to the wall for whatever distance you are racing.

Sprinting takes the nod because it doesn't have any gimmicky styles/strokes. It's simply you launching yourself out of a stance and letting you do whatever you need to do to be faster than the other guys next to you.

It's simplicity is it's beauty.

Swimming being just about the most "perfect" exercise for one's body, as well.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: PokerGuy
Bolt. So the guy won 8 medals. If there were 8 different events extremely similar to the 100 and 200, I'm sure bolt would have won them as well.

You mean like the 100m and 200m hurdles?

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Does personality enter into it? Because Phelps has the personality of a bag of concrete.

It probably does, being that this is a world-wide recognition title. Again, this is about INTERNATIONAL athlete. I'm sure plenty remember that last-second touch from Phelps. I bet everyone remembers the cockiness and swagger that Bolt displayed THROUGHOUT his competition. I think that attitude resonates far more in the international community than does Phelps more-or-less stoic approach before each event.

Also, So many posters here have their heads too far up their asses to even consider what this recognition is all about. That, and likely stupid/blind enough to think that the rest of the world would even care about an athlete from the US as much as an American would.

Sure, I think a lot of the international community gives Phelps a lot of credit for what he achieved, but as has been said before, track is far more of an international sport than is swimming. Just about every country has the resources and potential to produce track and field athletes. Not nearly as many have access to swimming pools or the resources and experience to put up a swimming team--let alone the desire.

Anyone who is arguing for Phelps should look at it in this light: You're basically arguing that Peyton Manning should be considered the top International athlete over Ronaldhino. Make sense now?

EDIT: the royal "you," not you, JM 😉

Um, both Phelps and Bolt competed in international competitions..I don't see the comparisons.

If anything, the 100m finals were made up of nothing but Americans and Carribean countries. Where's the diversity in that? In the 200m there was one guy from the UK and one from Africa. There were no other European or Asian countries at all in the competition.

If you look at Phelps competitions, there were a plethora of Western + Eastern European, Asian, African, and Australian athletes that competed with him.

Explain again how track is more international?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Does personality enter into it? Because Phelps has the personality of a bag of concrete.

It probably does, being that this is a world-wide recognition title. Again, this is about INTERNATIONAL athlete. I'm sure plenty remember that last-second touch from Phelps. I bet everyone remembers the cockiness and swagger that Bolt displayed THROUGHOUT his competition. I think that attitude resonates far more in the international community than does Phelps more-or-less stoic approach before each event.

Also, So many posters here have their heads too far up their asses to even consider what this recognition is all about. That, and likely stupid/blind enough to think that the rest of the world would even care about an athlete from the US as much as an American would.

Sure, I think a lot of the international community gives Phelps a lot of credit for what he achieved, but as has been said before, track is far more of an international sport than is swimming. Just about every country has the resources and potential to produce track and field athletes. Not nearly as many have access to swimming pools or the resources and experience to put up a swimming team--let alone the desire.

Anyone who is arguing for Phelps should look at it in this light: You're basically arguing that Peyton Manning should be considered the top International athlete over Ronaldhino. Make sense now?

EDIT: the royal "you," not you, JM 😉

Um, both Phelps and Bolt competed in international competitions..I don't see the comparisons.

If anything, the 100m finals were made up of nothing but Americans and Carribean countries. Where's the diversity in that? In the 200m there was one guy from the UK and one from Africa. There were no other European or Asian countries at all in the competition.

If you look at Phelps competitions, there were a plethora of Western + Eastern European, Asian, African, and Australian athletes that competed with him.

Explain again how track is more international?

Yeh, the finals were dominated by American/Carribean runners but go back and look at the prelim heats and it's smattering of runners from all over the place.

If there were prelims for a marathon you'd have a "finalists" of runners primarily from Kenya and Etheopia.

Every type of olmypic event has a few standout countries that usually dominate year after year. This isn't anything new.

 

[cyclohexane]

Bolt, because he has a kickass name

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Does personality enter into it? Because Phelps has the personality of a bag of concrete.

It probably does, being that this is a world-wide recognition title. Again, this is about INTERNATIONAL athlete. I'm sure plenty remember that last-second touch from Phelps. I bet everyone remembers the cockiness and swagger that Bolt displayed THROUGHOUT his competition. I think that attitude resonates far more in the international community than does Phelps more-or-less stoic approach before each event.

Also, So many posters here have their heads too far up their asses to even consider what this recognition is all about. That, and likely stupid/blind enough to think that the rest of the world would even care about an athlete from the US as much as an American would.

Sure, I think a lot of the international community gives Phelps a lot of credit for what he achieved, but as has been said before, track is far more of an international sport than is swimming. Just about every country has the resources and potential to produce track and field athletes. Not nearly as many have access to swimming pools or the resources and experience to put up a swimming team--let alone the desire.

Anyone who is arguing for Phelps should look at it in this light: You're basically arguing that Peyton Manning should be considered the top International athlete over Ronaldhino. Make sense now?

EDIT: the royal "you," not you, JM 😉

Um, both Phelps and Bolt competed in international competitions..I don't see the comparisons.

If anything, the 100m finals were made up of nothing but Americans and Carribean countries. Where's the diversity in that? In the 200m there was one guy from the UK and one from Africa. There were no other European or Asian countries at all in the competition.

If you look at Phelps competitions, there were a plethora of Western + Eastern European, Asian, African, and Australian athletes that competed with him.

Explain again how track is more international?

Yeh, the finals were dominated by American/Carribean runners but go back and look at the prelim heats and it's smattering of runners from all over the place.

If there were prelims for a marathon you'd have a "finalists" of runners primarily from Kenya and Etheopia.

Every type of olmypic event has a few standout countries that usually dominate year after year. This isn't anything new.

This. Those that make the finals smoked the lesser athletes in the prelims as with any other event. The finals, as they should be, are the creme of the crop competing against each other, yet again. So, it's pretty silly to simply look at only the final heats, as essentially everyone who qualified for each event are competitors. It's like this in both sports. Bolt smashed all of his competitors, at any level.

Phelps had a few squeakers, not to mention that if it wasn't for what's his face carrying the final leg of that 4x4 (100?), Phelps really wouldn't stand out as much as he had. In direct comparison; again, Bolt demolished his competition compared to what Phelps did.