Re: London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics
With all the talk about Phelps' domination of men's swimming and his individual medal count, it brings to mind the question of who is or was the greatest olympian of all. Winter or summer games included. Our local columnist put up a list of many who probably rank ahead of Phelps due to domination over a longer span in their sport. Swimming skews the total because there are so many strokes and distances.
Here are some of his super dominant athletes over the years.
Al Oerter, discus gold in 4 successive games.
Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens, sprints and long jump golds in successive games.
Mark Spitz, not only because he won gold in each event he entered but also set world records in each.
Nadia Comaneci who turned the gymnastics world on its ear by defining perfection.
Franz Klammer who dominated downhill skiing with reckless abandon.
Bob Mathias, who came out of nowhere to win the decathlon at 17, fresh out of high school with no professional training, then repeated in '52.
There are many more.
His personal pick is the great Czech distance runner Emil Zatopek who took gold in the 10k and silver in the 5k in '48, then came back in '52 to win the gold in both, then decided to enter the marathon which he had never run in his life, and won by 2 1/2 minutes. He set 18 world records in his career and was revered by athletes worldwide.
My personal pick is Michael Johnson, the greatest 400m runner of all time.
Who do you think rates as one of or the very best?
Rick
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