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Michael Phelps breaks 2168-year-old Olympic record with 13th individual gold medal

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K

kmag

Member
Maledict said:
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!
Click to expand...

Pool Swimming at the Olympics basically gets the same allocation of events as it does at it's world championships aside from the 50m breast, back and butterfly

Olympics
Freestyle: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 (women), and 1,500 (men);
Backstroke: 100 and 200;
Breaststroke: 100 and 200;
Butterfly: 100 and 200;
Individual medley: 200 and 400;
Relays: 4×100 free, 4×200 free; 4×100 medley
Marathon: 10 kilometres
Click to expand...

Track Cycling on the other hand loses about half of it's events.

Olympics

Sprint
Team sprint
Keirin
Team pursuit
Omnium
Click to expand...

World Championships

time trial
individual pursuit
keirin
omnium
points race
scratch
sprint
team pursuit
team sprint
madison
Click to expand...

This is simply a factor of the sports "popularity" (which isn't really popularity at all, it's actually a factor of expected television audience.)

Swimming is peculiarly overweighted but that's largely due to the US's pull.
 
DKehoe

DKehoe

Gold Member
I wonder if he will try and equal Steve Redgrave's record of winning a gold at 5 consecutive Olympic games.
 
C

Confrontation

Member
Weak competition and about a gazillion events to enter in, will do that for ya. Still an incredible feat by an insane athlete which will never be broken probably. Gotta respect the accomplishments.

Shame it wasn't done by a guy who didn't drive almost twice over the speed limit while being under the influence of alcohol.
 
E

Elandyll

Banned
Like I told my wife last night, he is good but a poor example to kids.

We always tell our sons "you need to share!" Specially with the older brother, whom we always tell to set an example.

Look at this: the man has 22 golds, which means 21 other dudes didn't get theirs.

Sad.




. /s if it's not obvious. The man is amazing :).
 
N

Nothing1016

Member
1. Michael Phelps - swimming - 26
2 Larisa Latynina - Gymnastics - 18
3 Nikolai Andrianov - Gymnastics - 15
=4 Boris Shakhlin - Gymnastics - 13
=4 Edoardo Mangiarotti - Fencing - 13
=4 Takashi Ono - Gymnastics -13
=7 Paavo Nurmi - Track - 12
=7 Birgit Fischer - Canoeing - 12
=7 Sawao Kato - Gymnastics - 12
=7 Jenny Thompson - Swimming - 12
=7 Dara Torres - Swimming - 12
=7 Alexei Nemov - Gymnastics - 12
=7 Natalie Coughlin - Swimming - 12

Still quite a feat even with all the events swimming has. It's the fact that he has placed in so many events over the course of 4 separate Olympic events. It's absolutely unheard of. Hell the closest swimmer only has 12 medals.

Edit: missing Ole Einar, biathlon, 13, and Bjørn Dæhlie, cross-country, 12.
 
8

8-Bit Sunset

Banned
ramparter said:
Are we seriously discussing this? lol
Click to expand...

Lol I know right.
Obligatory:
MtZ9N.gif
 
S

Sheroking

Member
I mean, yeah, we get it. Lots of swimming events, etc, etc.

Have any of you actually watched clips from the Olympics from like, the 30's and 40's? Shit was embarrassing. What do you think the ancient Olympics were like?
 
Z

Zombine

Banned
Sheroking said:
I mean, yeah, we get it. Lots of swimming events, etc, etc.

Have any of you actually watched clips from the Olympics from like, the 30's and 40's? Shit was embarrassing. What do you think the ancient Olympics were like?
Click to expand...

The record is older than Jesus. I'm sure it was pretty intense.

Jesse Owens was fast as fuck. He made Hitler sweat bullets. He wouldn't become not fast because he ran in the late 30s vs 2016.
 
U

UnObtainium17

Member
gutter_trash said:
LOL, the conditions of 2168 years ago were way more brutal without the tech, science, medicine, footwear etc
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Who knows. Maybe leonidas has Pete Rose in him. Hey brah, lose this stone rolling race and i will buy 100 clay pots from your wives little shack business 7 sunrises from the day of race.
 
D

Duffman

Member
It's an amazing record but honestly there are too much swimming events in olympics.

It's also pretty fascinating that we know winners and medalists of ancient olympics so accurately.
 
E

Empty

Member
the consistent performances at the highest level over four olympics is far more impressive than the bloated medal count
 
B

BokehKing

Banned
🇺🇸🏊🇺🇸 Legendary Status. 2000 years from now someone will break his record.

America man, proud of what we do in these games.
I'm not a huge sports guy, but I love the Olympics, I love watching them, I don't know why, I guess because it's two weeks and all countries coming together.

Winter Olympics are still my favorite though.
 
S

ShinAmano

Member
Lol at those complaining about number of swimming events to somehow try to distract from the fact that no other person alive or dead will ever be this good.
 
K

King_Moc

Banned
ShinAmano said:
Lol at those complaining about number of swimming events to somehow try to distract from the fact that no other person alive or dead will ever be this good.
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Why lol? People in other sports simply don't have the opportunity to compete for as many medals. Some sports are so demanding that you wouldn't even be able to. Phelps was able to win 2 golds an hour apart. Was Steve Redgrave supposed to be able to do that an hour after rowing 2000m at an olympic standard? No, it would be impossible.
 
S

ShinAmano

Member
King_Moc said:
Why lol? People in other sports simply don't have the opportunity to compete for as many medals. Some sports are so demanding that you wouldn't even be able to. Phelps was able to win 2 golds an hour apart. Was Steve Redgrave supposed to be able to do that an hour after rowing 2000m at an olympic standard? No, it would be impossible.
Click to expand...
So if there was you are saying Steve would win as many events over as long of a period? Good luck with that.
 
W

woolley

Member
Sheroking said:
I mean, yeah, we get it. Lots of swimming events, etc, etc.

Have any of you actually watched clips from the Olympics from like, the 30's and 40's? Shit was embarrassing. What do you think the ancient Olympics were like?
Click to expand...
Its not like they just recently added a bunch of swimming events so Phelps could win medals. These events have been around for a while and just goes to prove how dominant he is that nobody even in his sport have come close to his accomplishments.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Each stroke is distinct and requires its own technique and practice regiment, which is why swimmers usually only qualify for one per Olympics.

A more valid comparison to running would be if they had different distances for forward running, sideways running, backwards running, and running with one foot.

Phelps is just a freak.
 
J

Jugendstil

Member
ahoyhoy said:
Each stroke is distinct and requires its own technique and practice regiment, which is why swimmers usually only qualify for one per Olympics.

A more valid comparison to running would be if they had different distances for forward running, sideways running, backwards running, and running with one foot.

Phelps is just a freak.
Click to expand...

This. As a swimmer, I think it's ridiculous that people are dismissing his accomplishments because he was able to win multiple races back to back. That makes his wins even more impressive. Him and Katie Ledecky are like weird underwater terminators.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
woolley said:
Its not like they just recently added a bunch of swimming events so Phelps could win medals. These events have been around for a while and just goes to prove how dominant he is that nobody even in his sport have come close to his accomplishments.
Click to expand...

Nah, things totally watered down recently specifically for Phelps to coast to breaking this easy baby record.

ahoyhoy said:
Each stroke is distinct and requires its own technique and practice regiment, which is why swimmers usually only qualify for one per Olympics.

A more valid comparison to running would be if they had different distances for forward running, sideways running, backwards running, and running with one foot.

Phelps is just a freak.
Click to expand...

One foot running races? I'm in!
 
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