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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Mike Dragon</b><p>while you guys are here arguing over Phelps being the greatest or not and if he sacrificed a personal life I have read reports that he is currently dating either Amanda Beard or superhot british model Lily Donaldson (google her) I would hardly call either of those two "sacrificing" a personal life.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Bob</b><p>Good article on this very subject from the LA Times<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olygreatest15-2008aug15,0,6214465.story" target="_new" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olygreatest15-2008aug15,0,6214465.story</a" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olygreatest15-2008aug15,0,6214465.story</a</a>><br /><br />I read an article recently that said that not only is Michael Phelps NOT dating either of the above women but he doesn't date in general. I guess next someone will post that he is involved ion a threesome with Paris Hilton and Britany Spears.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Michael Dragon</b><p>article is not on the link. Hey I could be wrong we all know how the tabloids are I have just read several reports that he is linked to either one of those two and he does not talk about his personal life.<br /><br />Personally I think it nobody's business what goes on in a celebrity's personal life, it is very unfortunate that we get all this stuff crammed down our throats all the time.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>JK</b><p>"Tom Seaver and Bill Gates, among others, have a wife and family. So it is possible to be very dedicated towards a goal and still have some sense of normalcy."<br /><br />Phelps is 21 or 22 if Im not mistaken. When he retires from swimming at age 26, Im pretty sure that he will have plenty of time to date, find a wife and raise a family. Moreover, he will be able to do so without any of the financial concerns that affect most Americans on a daily basis. On top of that, my guess is that he enjoys what he currently is doing - how many people can say that about our jobs?
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Martin</b><p>Phelps achievements in these games and the previous Olympics in Athens have been nothing short of phenomenal. Plus, he is likely to compete in London in 4 years time and will be favoured to win at least 5 golds assuming he maintains dedication and is fortunate enough not to get injured. Assuming London is his final Olympics he may exit swimming with 18 or more gold medals which may never be matched.<br /><br />As for greatest Olympian that is really really difficult to determine because as previously mentioned many athletes i.e boxers are only able to enter one event at an Olympic games thus reducing there chances of winning more than one gold medal over the course of their sporting career.<br /><br />I have some more names to consider though (not previously mentioned):<br /><br />Emile Zatopek (Czechoslovakia) 1952 Olympics he won the 5000 metres then the 10000 metres at the last minute entered his first marathon which he duly won - breaking the Olympic record in all three events. In the 1948 games he won the 10000 metres and finsihed runner-up in the 5000.<br /><br />Sir Steve Redgrave (GB) - won gold medals in rowing in five consecutive Olympic games from 1984-2000.<br /><br />Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway) - won four gold medals, including all three individual events and one team relay, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in Biathlon.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>Of all the athletic endeavors in the world I would think the training involved in swimming -- the endless laps in the pool, no scenery, no social component, just back and forth for hours on end -- is the least rewarding.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>John</b><p>"Bruces...do you guy(s) care about anything other than money? Just curious."<br /><br />Eric...good question but hey....<br /><br /><img src="http://photos.imageevent.com/piojohn3/junkforumimages/large/Brucess.jpg">
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>It is interesting to note Eric Heiden not only went on to race in the Tour de France and won the US National Cycling Championship, but got an M.D. from Stanford and is currently a professor of surgery at University of California- Davis. So it's fair to assume he had an overachiever personality by nature.<br /><br />Heiden and I are from the same town. His dad was a surgeon and Eric grew up in one of the richest neighborhoods in the city.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Rob D.</b><p>John,<br /><br />You might try to fit Sir Edward Tiger Woods in that thought balloon.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>paulstratton</b><p>Continuing on with my relentlessly negative ways...has anyone ever met a swimmer who was good at any sport other than those which take place on/in water? I had a few buddies in college who were swimmers and once on land they were basically clumsy and unskilled at all other sports.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Anthony S.</b><p>Johnny Weissmuller could swing a mean vine.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>A track coach once told me that the top pole vaulters are the best athletes in track, as top pole vaulting requires speed, strength and agility.<br /><br />I remember reading an article about two world class marathoners who owned a running shoe store. Occasionally a shoplifter would run away with the unpaid for goods on his feet, and one of the store owners would go after him. The store owners said they often didn't always catch up with a shoplifter right away, but sooner or later they always caught up.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Jay</b><p>Paul--A good friend of mine at Stanford was a swimmer and an All American Water Polo player. He was also a great baseball player, a fantastic football player and in general one of the best all around athletes I ever met.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>With the recent record divorce settlements it might be advisable for Phelps to get a maid and a hooker....then he can send both home when done and still have his money too, except for the few dollars spent on their services........Hey, just trying to help.....
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>paulstratton</b><p>Jay-sounds like an interesting guy, maybe he was a football/baseball player who could swim and not the other way around.<img src="/images/wink.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />Leon-Now that's some good advice.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Jim VB</b><p><< I guess next someone will post that he is involved ion a threesome with Paris Hilton and Britany Spears.>><br /><br /><br />Yeah? So what? Who isn't? <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br />
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>Sheesh Leon as moderator you should be setting a higher standard than the rest of us clowns.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I just got home from work....Give me a little while and I will be setting a higher standard......(I thought it was pretty good advice too)
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Anthony N.</b><p>If we're throwing out alternatives to Michael Phelps as the greatest Olympian of all time, I'll enter the resume of Duke Kahanamoku into the mix<br /><br />He won a gold and silver in the '12 games, a pair of golds in the '20 games, and a silver (the gold went to Weissmuller, the bronze to Duke's brother Samuel) in the '24 games. He also made the US Water Polo team at the '32 Olympics. Had there been an Olympics in '16, at his prime, he certainly would've medaled in it as well.<br /><br />Additionally he brought the sport of surfing to both the mainland US and Australia. He is in the surfing hall of fame, the swimming hall of fame, and the US Olympic hall of fame. <br /><img src="http://photos.imageevent.com/griffins/1933sportkings/icons/SportKings014.jpg"><br />
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Cobby33</b><p>"Look at the mega law firms." LOL. Yeah- the very few, making money hand over fist, on the backs of the rest of the working fools. That's a great model to follow.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Peter_Spaeth</b><p>Jackie Joyner-Kersee has to be on any short list. Medals in four Olympics, silver-gold-gold in the heptathlon, and a long jump gold.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Robert Klevens</b><p>Guo Jingjing gets my vote!<br /><IMG src="http://www.klevens.com/jing.jpg">
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>DMcD</b><p>Right on, Anthony!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/June08/PC_DukeK.jpg"> <img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/June08/SK_DukeKahanamoku.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/June08/PHS_DukeKahanamoku1.jpg"> <img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/June08/PHS_DukeKahanamoku2.jpg">
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>No doubt Phelps is a fine athlete, but a team of 13 basketball players wins one Gold Medal while a swimmer can win 9. So comparing cross sport individual medal counts is often comparing apples with oranges. Even a straight medal comparison between swimming and track doesn't work, as there will never ever ever be a runner who wins the 100 meters and 1500, much less the 100 meters and 10k. We could someday see a 100m winner also win the 400 meters, but that's as far as it will stretch.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>To some extent I agree with David, but then again it's not like all the events are the SAME in swimming. Phelps, competing for the most part against guys who focused on one stroke or even one race, won not only in two different strokes but also in an individual medley swimming all four strokes. That is a pretty wide ranging accomplishment, maybe not the equivalent of winning the 100 and 800, but maybe not that far from it either.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>That it hasn't been done before in swimming says it's a feat. No doubt the mere act of swimming that many events, even if the same event, takes its toll, especially when competing against specialists. Thought it isn't coincidence that the second most single athlete medals ever in a single Olympics (Spits) was also in swimming. There's something(s) about the swimming events, that is conducive to winning many medals. Rafael Nadal couldn't win 8 medals, as there aren't 8 tennis events, women's and men's combined.<br /><br />I'm a Heiden fan, but even I am aware speed skating isn't as popular a sport as basketball or soccer or track-- so it's hard to compare the accomplishments one-on-one. I'm sure Michael Jordan didn't seriously consider speed skating before choosing basketball .... Though Americans should also realize that a sport obscure in the US doesn't make it obscure in other countries. My dad worked in Trondheim Norway one winter, and he said residents cross country skied to work and school. Likely 100% of able bodied Norwegians cross country ski. Being the fastest known cross country skier in Michael Jordan's North Carolina might not signify much. But being being picked out as the fastest in the little country of Norway means something, as you beat out a few million skiers.
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OT: Michael Phelps
Posted By: <b>Brian Lindholme</b><p>I'm pretty sure this Rookie Card of Michael Phelps ends the argument. It's obvious that he's the best swimmer...<br /><br /><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1219465764.JPG">
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