OT: Who would you put on your sports Mt. Rushmore. This is harder than it sounds...

[jrlebert]

Very surprised that nobody has brought up this name, and he's not even done yet:

Michael Phelps.

There are swimmers right now who are training 6-8 hours a day in just one event. Whether it is the IM, or butterfly, or freestyle, or a particular distance of any of those, they are training in just ONE event, hours a day, years at a time.

In the 2008 Olympics, Phelps won GOLD medals in EIGHT events, either setting the World Record (7 events) or Olympic Record (1 event) in all eight. That's akin to Usain Bolt winning the gold in the 100, 200, 400, 100 relay, 400 relay, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, and one other event just for good measure.

There is simply no comparison in the history of sport. He is the all-time leader in medals won, 22, with the closest competitor 4 behind, and the closest American 10 (!) behind. He also has the most gold medals of all time, 18, with the closest competitor at 10.

What Phelps has done is simply unreal, and he is going to add to his total, hopefully, next year in his swan song Olympics.

Phelps has to be on there.

My Rushmore:

Michael Phelps, Barry Sanders, Michael Jordan, and Nolan Ryan.