Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have stolen a large portion of the headlines covering the Rio Olympics. Bolt made history when he won the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay in three straight Olympics. Michael Phelps pushed his total medal count to 28, and his gold medal count up to 23. Both of them also claim that this is their last Olympics. A debate has broken out about which one of them is the better Olympian, and subsequent best Olympian of all time. I’m going to try and break this down.
Michael Phelps
Rio marked Phelps fifth Olympics. In 2000, he competed in the Sydney Olympic Games at the age of 15, where he reached the 200 meter butterfly final and finished fifth. It was at Athens in 2004 where he made a name for himself winning 6 gold and 2 bronze medals. Everyone knows the 8 golds at Beijing in 2008. Of his 8 wins at those games, 7 of them set a new world record, and the other was an Olympic record. Although he tallied 4 golds and 2 silvers at London, it was kind of seen as a disappointment. He then retired from the sport, but made a comeback for these 2016 Rio games where he finished with 5 golds and 1 silver at the age of 31. At these games, when he won his 12th individual gold medal, he broke a record that was set in 152 BC. He then added another for good measure. His career totals now sit at 28 total medals, 23 golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronzes.
His longevity is unprecedented, spanning 16 years between his first and last Olympics. It has been these past four Olympics though where he has won all of his medals. He has therefore been the best swimmer in the world for a 12 year period. That is just unheard of. With 7 world records (3 individual, 4 relays) he holds the most world records in men’s swimming. Another testament to his longevity, he became the oldest person ever to win gold in an induvial swimming event. He also became the first swimmer to win an individual event 12 years (4 Olympics) apart.
Usain Bolt
Little known fact, this is actually Bolt’s fourth Olympic games ever. He competed in the 2004 Athens games, where he finished fifth—in a heat. In Beijing he won golds in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. In London he won golds in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. In Rio he won golds in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. In 2012 he became the first person to ever win the 100m at consecutive Olympics, and now has done it back to back to back. Bolt holds the world records in all three of these events, which will likely stand for a long time to come, as track world records have a tendency to do. He holds the 3 of the fastest 100m times ever, and 4 of the top 7.
Usain Bolt’s longevity is also new to track. As previously mentioned, he is the first to ever win consecutive 100m races, and is the first person to win gold in three events three times consecutively. This feat has been coined the triple-triple. This makes him the fastest man in the world for 8 consecutive years. He claims he is done with the Olympics, but some are speculating that he could return for the 2020 games.
The Verdict
On the surface, it’s easy to say the Phelps is the best Olympian ever. He has the most medals ever, most golds ever, and most individual medals ever. If Phelps were his own country, he would have the 37th most golds at the summer games all time, tied with Brazil and South Africa. That puts him ahead of hundreds of other countries. Bolt, with nine medals, all gold, is actually one of three track athletes with 9 nine golds. So, based on total haul, Phelps is clearly the superior Olympian.
However, there is an issue with this logic. What this really comes down to, is a comparison of track and swimming. There are many more opportunities for a swimmer to win medals because there are four different strokes, and many swimmers swim multiple strokes. Phelps then beats Bolt in term of versatility, as he has won gold in 5 unique individual and 3 different relay events, where Bolt has only won gold in three different events. Bolt only runs 2 distances, doesn’t do hurdles, the 400m, or any jumping events. But, on the other hand, track is definitely the more popular sport, and therefore people argue that this makes Bolt’s feats more impressive. There is some merit to this, as there have been 34 different nations to medal in track, while only 18 different nations medaled in swimming.
The differences between track and swimming make this comparison pretty difficult, but at the end of it all, Phelps comes out the greatest Olympian of all time. This conclusion is clear when thinking about these athletes in their respective sports. Bolt is the first track athlete to ever pull off the triple-triple, which speaks to his longevity. But, three gold medals is not the most ever by a track athlete, as Jessie Owens and Carl Lewis actually won four golds in a single Olympics by adding long wins in long jump. This is a knock against bolt, as he is not the most versatile track athlete ever. His nine gold medals is only tied for the most ever by a track athlete. This makes it hard to definitively call Bolt the best track athlete ever. This however, is not the case for Michael Phelps. He has won more golds than any other Olympian, including swimmers. He has won more golds at a single Olympic games than any other swimmer. He has won four gold medals in a row in a single event, a feat not matched by any other swimmers, or Bolt. Phelps’ dominance within his own sport, superior longevity, and his record medal haul are what make him the best Olympian of all time.
