... to wish they would stop calling Michael Phelps the 'greatest Olympian of all times'?

[PacificDogwood]

He is great, is achievement is phantastic and I hope he enjoys his record.

But -

does 'the most medals' = the greatest Olympian?

I find the phrase just a lazy journalistic shortcut and it is beginning to grate.

his achievement

Well, yes. How else should 'the greatest Olympian' be judged if not through number of medals?

YABU btw

If you heard the interview with Ian Thorpe yesterday he commented that there are many ways to assess greatness, and success in winning medals is just one of them.

Michael Johnson agrees with you - he didn't like the term "greatest Olympian" either, Phelps is just the one with the most medals.

I think YANBU.

A but unfair to journalists. They have to shorten long discussions to two minute sound bites. Often very annoying.

Oh, I got that

The most successful Olympian would be a better description

Ah, the BBC just said 'the most decorated' - no problem with that.

How else to judge it? Not sure: by effort put it, Olympic spirit, obstacles overcome or summat? Not v countable in absolute numbers, I suppose

As long as he didn't air guitar when he won, I don't care. Showboating makes me ill. Mum told me one year the Americans made quite a fuss about how they'd win a particular race, so when the Aussie's won, they got out and air guitared the Americans to show them how rude and annoying it is.

Showboating (regardless of country, that was just an example) is just..UGH!

/Ends pointless rant.

Well, at the Olympics, medal count is the usual way of assessing success, so yes, I think it's justified to call him the greatest of all time. Other sports have a more subjective approach eg cricket where the "greatest" player of all time is probably more hotly contested.

YABU.

I agree completely. Swimmers have a massive advantage because they can compete in loads of different races and really rack up the medals.

Personally I think Steve Redgrave and Mary King are more in line for that accolade, because of the sheer number of Games they have competed in.

I can't help wondering if Ian Thorpe is just saying that because he won loads of medals but isn't considered the 'greatest Olympian'

Btw I don't necessarily think you're wrong & being an Olympian surely is about being a role model, giving back to the community etc not just winning medals.

My answer was to serotoninbutterfly, btw.

Ooooh, other great Olympians agree with me
Ok, I take my dig against journos back - doing that 'presenting complicated things in sound bites' thing would drive me nuts.

Depends on what you are judging it on. If you are judging on most medals won. Then yabu.
Tbf its the only way to prove it by fact, anything else would vary because it would be based on opinion.
In all honesty why does it bother you that the person who has won the most medals is being referred to as this? Genuine question

Yy, to how different sport give the option of different numbers of medals, Alibaba.

Ian Thorpe does not strike me as somebody who worries about Sour Grapes , MrsHelsBels. And he is a sharp dresser

Lurking

The Americans were so arrogant confident that they would be the Australians prior to that relay, that they said they would 'smash them like guitars'
The air guitars when the Australians won was a direct piss take of that quote.
It was fantastic. Even if Thorpe was a bit late and looked embarrassed doing it

Ian Millar of Canada is at his 10th Olympics., he's equestrian, only ever got one silver though.

Dprince, not 'the most medals' - as you say that's fact, an impressive fact. No issue with that at all.

The Greatest Olympian. Of all time... .

It actually impresses me more that it took 47 years to break the previous record

I think it is hard to find anyone who speaks in more glowing terms about Michael Phelps than Ian Thorpe does tbh.

As a slight aside, I am loving Ian Thorpe. Had vaguely assumed he must be a twat, on the basis of nothing really but he seems a lovely guy and is really adding some insight.

Oh, I misssed the air guitars thing

Ian Millar, is he the chap who is 72 or thereabouts? Sorry, I know nothing to do with horses other than that they tend to have a leg at each corner

I think Eric the eel was the greatest Olympian. He'd only learned to swim 8 months before competing at the Sydney games in 2000 and had never even seen an Olympic grade 50m pool before. His finishing time was around twice that of the race winner and world record breaker, but he garnered the most applause for his efforts.

In the next 4 years he cut his time down by nearly half and was only kept out of the Athens games by visa issues. He's now the national swimming coach for equatorial guinea.

Awesome inspiration.

See, that is Olympic spirit in spades, Faster, just what I ment.
I did not know that he did not compete in Athens because of legal crap.

All the swimmers are about twice as fast as I ever was in my hayday (swimming at county level 10 20 30 years a long time ago)

And those Badminton 'tactics' are the exact opposite of that Spirit...

Tsk! Ian Millar is 65!

My personal fav is Merlene Ottey, I love that woman, 50, 7th Olympics and shes still running, Shes absolutely fab. Mind you, doesnt qualify for Jamaica any more and is now running for Slovenia!

Yy Ali, I love Ian too. He is doing really well in spite of having to co present with Gary Linekar.
Gary keeps aiming for banter but sort of simpering.

Sorry re Ian Miller's age. Who is the 72 year old then?? There is one 'the oldest Olympian'.

Well, hey ho, hey ho, off to work I go. Thanks for letting me rant - I'll feel calmer now if the 'greatest' phrase gets trotted out again. As now doubt it will.

Good day to you all