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[Hambulance]

Which Olympics decided to cut the Shield-Carrying Race

 

[Trojan X]

Absolutely fantastic. A legend was born at that moment. Well done, Micheal. Well done.

He just broke the record of a guy named Leonidas. What a badass.

USA USA USA USA USA

 

[Chuck Norris]

Wish we could have seen peak Phelps vs peak Thorpe

 

[matrix-cat]

And Leonidas didn't even have to pass any drug tests. Who knows what that guy was on.

 

[Shmuppers]

Phelps and that 19 year old American boxer both really impressed me this year. Well deserved

 

[KillerBEA]

Which Olympics decided to cut the Shield-Carrying Race

That sounds like a perfect event for a Strongman competition

 

[Trojan X]

Phelps and that 19 year old American boxer both really impressed me this year. Well deserved

Any highlights of the boxer? I didn't get to see him in action.

 

[Obliterator]

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

 

[Qvoth]

I hope Schooling beats him in the 100 Fly. Please.

Looooooooooooool

 

[BizzyBum]

Anyone else find it fascinating we know the results of the Olympic Games from over 2,000 years ago? lol

 

[ScribbleD]

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

It's times like these that make me proud for America! Super great accomplishment.

USA BABY!

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

I'm certainly not saying that he isn't crazy impressive, because he is, .

I guess I was confused because your quote literally said 'not impressive'.

 

[davepoobond]

King Phelps

 

[Reverend Funk]

Since I'm from the same country as this fella I basically did this.Way to go me!

 

[duckroll]

Looooooooooooool

Why are you laughing?

 

[Monocle]

Since I'm from the same country as this fella I basically did this.Way to go me!

Don't make fun of the remarkable accomplishment we achieved while I watched Funny or Die Presents: Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal while snacking on chips.

We did it!

No, that's...that's wrong.

I did it.

 

[Elfstruck]

Watching events he's in is dull. Oh hey, he's going to win again. That isn't exciting to me. It's exciting when things are close, or when people don't win and then they do and it means something.

Plus, I don't really like him on a personal level, so that helps. Not dogging on his fans, and I'm certainly not saying that he isn't crazy impressive, because he is, nor taking away from his accomplishments. I just don't find people/teams who destroy the competition so often to be at all fun to watch.

MP: Sorry guys, I'm too good that no one can compete against me. It's my fault that I made the sport boring.

 

[axb2013]

That schedule 1 narcotic gave him an unfair advantage.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Nozem]

Pfffft. Git gud, USA.

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

I'm certainly not saying that he isn't crazy impressive, because he is

I find him boring, not impressive.

 

[MMarston]

I gotta admit as well that as goddamn incredible as the man is - and I do mean that - the races basically turn into "Press X to Win" affairs when he pops up.

 

[Falcs]

What a legend.
He must be swimming in it...

 

[Brinbe]

Greatest Olympian ever. It was impressive when he steamrolled in Beijing and eight years later he's romping these youngsters. Ridiculous that he's still as good as ever in a sport like swimming that favors the young bucks.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

I guess cupping really does work.

 

[donkey show]

 

[Guardian]

Michael defeated Leonidas's record. Wait till his grandkids hear about how awesome that sound.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Phelps just broke a record that is older than Christianity. I can't even fathom how crazy that is. What a legend.

For his next trick, he's going to walk on water

 

[Diprosalic]

If they add 40 more running disciplines to track and field maybe Usain Bolt could get this many medals too.

 

[Putzweg]

If they add 40 more running disciplines to track and field maybe Usain Bolt could get this many medals too.

Yes i have some suggestions:

125 M
150 M
175 M
225 M
250 M
275 M
100 M with standing start
125 M with a water obstacle
150 M with 5 M backward running
175 M with 10 M backward running

 

[Einchy]

You just posted an American hero standing in front of an American flag.

USA USA USA

 

[Maledict]

If they add 40 more running disciplines to track and field maybe Usain Bolt could get this many medals too.

This is what I don't understand. Why does swimming have so many ridiculous, slightly different variations that allow individual athletes to rack up such a high medal count? Athletes who are equally dominant like Bolt don't stand a chance because there aren't 10 variants of sprinting where the same basic skills can win you every race.

Not to diminish Phelps really - he's clearly the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time. But measuring best Olympian by medal count, when swimming has more medals for basically identical events, seems odd.

 

[Lucumo]

If they add 40 more running disciplines to track and field maybe Usain Bolt could get this many medals too.

Pretty much this.

 

[truestatic]

Congratulations to him. He's one hell of an athlete.

Not to diminish this, but isn't this record possible largely because of the enormous number of opportunities he has to medal, as a swimmer? How many events was Leonidas reasonably able to participate in, as a runner?

Edit: I see I'm late to this train of thought.

 

[Marauder Shields]

This is what I don't understand. Why does swimming have so many ridiculous, slightly different variations that allow individual athletes to rack up such a high medal count? Athletes who are equally dominant like Bolt don't stand a chance because there aren't 10 variants of sprinting where the same basic skills can win you every race.

Not to diminish Phelps really - he's clearly the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time. But measuring best Olympian by medal count, when swimming has more medals for basically identical events, seems odd.

It is pretty silly.

 

[kmag]

It's a pity Leonidas didn't have 10 slight variations of shield carrying to compete in.

Phelps is the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time, but swimming gets away with far too many similar events in the Olympics because of it's appeal to the US and Australia television markets (i.e they're really good at those events so it makes bank). There's just not enough requirement for specialisation needed for each event unlike other sports. It's not just Phelps there's a long line of swimmers who compete and challenge in 8-10 events, that suggests that there too much overlap between the separate events.

 

[Trojan X]

You just posted an American hero standing in front of an American flag.

USA USA USA

That's your hero? lol. Judge Judy? lol.

The intention was to show irony along with the original key message.

 

[Einchy]

That's your hero? lol. Judge Judy? lol.

The intention was to show irony along with the original key message.

You think I would joke about Judge Judy?

 

[Donos]

Kudos to him.

 

[DeSo]

Guy is an absolute freak.

 

[TatteredHat]

It is impressive but like people have said, he had to have been a swimmer for it to even be possible, so it's not really a similar situation at all.

 

[Maledict]

It's a pity Leonidas didn't have 10 slight variations of shield carrying to compete in.

Phelps is the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time, but swimming gets away with far too many similar events in the Olympics because of it's appeal to the US and Australia television markets (i.e they're really good at those events so it makes bank). There's just not enough requirement for specialisation needed for each event unlike other sports. It's not just Phelps there's a long line of swimmers who compete and challenge in 8-10 events, that suggests that there too much overlap between the separate events.

It's frustrating that after Beijing they specifically reduced the number of cycling events because the UK was so dominant at them, and to make it impossible for the same athletes to compete in multiple events at once. Clearly cycling doesn't get anywhere near the TV viewership of swimming!

 

[John Dunbar]

It is impressive but like people have said, he had to have been a swimmer for it to even be possible, so it's not really a similar situation at all.

and even with 13 individual golds, he still only has 1 for being the fastest swimmer.

 

[Randomizer123454444]

I did sound for some Olympic commercials for the London games. It was pretty interesting. Phelps was, by and large, a joke to the other athletes who seemingly unanimously cracked jokes about how humorless and rude he was. My minor interaction with him was pretty negative.

I'm thinking the guy just has a single-minded determination that drives him to be the best, and that rad, but I wonder if he's happy? I'd love to spend a day in his head. What a weird figure. Like, how does your brain have to work to care about swimming that much?

Fucking amazing he broke that record regardless. Literally legendary.

It is not possible to push yourself to the limit like this unless it's something you want. It's simply not possible, you might push yourself out of fear, stress etc. but then your performance will never be 100% of your potential.

He's happy doing what he does. It's very possible that he is pushing himself so hard because it's only thing (or one of very few things) that does make him happy.

 

[NEO0MJ]

All those years of steroids payed off, huh?

 

[mnz]

It is impressive but like people have said, he had to have been a swimmer for it to even be possible, so it's not really a similar situation at all.

There are other olympic sports where the number would be possible

 

[gimmmick]

Watching events he's in is dull. Oh hey, he's going to win again. That isn't exciting to me. It's exciting when things are close, or when people don't win and then they do and it means something.

Plus, I don't really like him on a personal level, so that helps. Not dogging on his fans, and I'm certainly not saying that he isn't crazy impressive, because he is, nor taking away from his accomplishments. I just don't find people/teams who destroy the competition so often to be at all fun to watch.

Is it his fault that he's been so dominate? No one gets on Jordan's case because he won 6 championships in 8 years.

 

[Clydefrog]

poor Usain Bolt can only run 100m

:|

 

[Koodo]

I think the fact that he's been dominant across four Olympics is what could put him in contention for greatest Olympian, rather than the medal count itself – as others have pointed out, swimming has a stupid amount of events that make it impossible for dominant athletes in other fields to even reach half of Phelps' medal count.

 

[Branduil]

This is what I don't understand. Why does swimming have so many ridiculous, slightly different variations that allow individual athletes to rack up such a high medal count? Athletes who are equally dominant like Bolt don't stand a chance because there aren't 10 variants of sprinting where the same basic skills can win you every race.

Not to diminish Phelps really - he's clearly the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time. But measuring best Olympian by medal count, when swimming has more medals for basically identical events, seems odd.

Well, it's mainly because of the multiple types of stroke. If you invented 3 more different ways to run you could have just as many sprinting events.