Comments on: Michael Phelps Wins Eighth Gold Medal http://donklephant.com/2008/08/16/michael-phelps-wins-eighth-gold-medal/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:07:11 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: TheMiddle http://donklephant.com/2008/08/16/michael-phelps-wins-eighth-gold-medal/comment-page-1/#comment-413476 TheMiddle Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:16:34 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=6913#comment-413476 I'm not prepared to anoint him the best ever, as Gold Medal counts alone aren't a particularly fair way of judging Olympic athletes given that Swimming gets many more medal opportunities than essentially any other sport. I'm not trying to say the he, definitively, is NOT the best. Only that 'best' in this case, where you're always left comparing apples to oranges, is unfathomably subjective. Suffice it to say that there is no legitimate way of determining who is or was truly the greatest Olympian or athlete ever. But that you could take a handful of competitors throughout the ages and say that their names deserve to be amongst that extremely small group that constitutes the uppermost echelon of Olympic athletes. Either way, kudos to him, his teammates, and his coach for all of the incredible things they've accomplished. It will definitely go down as one of the greatest athletic feats of all time, and should set a precedent that wont soon be bested. I’m not prepared to anoint him the best ever, as Gold Medal counts alone aren’t a particularly fair way of judging Olympic athletes given that Swimming gets many more medal opportunities than essentially any other sport. I’m not trying to say the he, definitively, is NOT the best. Only that ‘best’ in this case, where you’re always left comparing apples to oranges, is unfathomably subjective. Suffice it to say that there is no legitimate way of determining who is or was truly the greatest Olympian or athlete ever. But that you could take a handful of competitors throughout the ages and say that their names deserve to be amongst that extremely small group that constitutes the uppermost echelon of Olympic athletes.

Either way, kudos to him, his teammates, and his coach for all of the incredible things they’ve accomplished. It will definitely go down as one of the greatest athletic feats of all time, and should set a precedent that wont soon be bested.

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