The Olympics

[Snigger]

Nobody gives a **** about swimming.

So explain Phelp's headlining the back pages of just about every newspaper on the planet for the last 2 weeks.

[Parm]

Usain Bolt is just unreal, great race by him, looks like he got a good start nd finsihed strong as well. man just cant see anyone betaing his time for a long time to come.

[Jayesh87]

So explain Phelp's headlining the back pages of just about every newspaper on the planet for the last 2 weeks.

[anfieldanfield]

So explain Phelp's headlining the back pages of just about every newspaper on the planet for the last 2 weeks.

That's just the standard media olympic bollocks and demonstrates absolutely nothing about the popularity of the sport.

Swimming elicits little if any emotion from me, In four or five days time everyone will have forgotten it exists as a sport. It's dull, crap and completely uninspiring.

What Bolt has achieved will have ten times the impact anything a swimmer could ever do. The image of him slapping his chest, having destroyed the field and smashed the world record will go down as one of the greatest ever moments in sporting history. Fact.

Phelp v Bolt ? Bolt every time and it's not even close.

[marcus50bucks]

That's just the standard media olympic bollocks and demonstrates absolutely nothing about the popularity of the sport.

Swimming elicits little if any emotion from me, In four or five days time everyone will have forgotten it exists as a sport. It's dull, crap and completely uninspiring.

What Bolt has achieved will have ten times the impact anything a swimmer could ever do. The image of him slapping his chest, having destroyed the field and smashed the world record will go down as one of the greatest ever moments in sporting history. Fact.

Phelp v Bolt ? Bolt every time and it's not even close.

Good post fella. But take nothing away from Phelp's achievement.

[BrooklynRed]

Nobody gives a **** about swimming.

In my country they do...

[JohnDoe]

They're both amazing athletes, but Bolt is just... wow.

[BrooklynRed]

They're both amazing athletes, but Bolt is just... wow.

Agreed. They are both amazing in their disciplines. I think there is room in the world for two great athletes and two amazing perfomances in different sports at once. Hell, with women's beach vollyball, we are seeing THREE great performances.

Bolt= Two world records, two races. Two Golds.

Phelps= Seven world records, one olympic record, eight races. Eight Golds.

Obviously, you can win more Golds in swimming, but in the era of stroke/distance specialists in swimming and distance/discipline specialists in track, Phelps' eight is amazing. Bolt's speed is amazing and his dominance in his races is mind boggling, but both are racers, both beat the competition and the historic records, and they are dominant in their era. No question, Bolt is the fastest man ever alive, but so is Phelps.

So, I admire them both. Both provided GREAT drama during the Olympics and thankfully, they both performed on the big stage and delivered the goods.

[Snigger]

That's just the standard media olympic bollocks and demonstrates absolutely nothing about the popularity of the sport.

Swimming elicits little if any emotion from me, In four or five days time everyone will have forgotten it exists as a sport. It's dull, crap and completely uninspiring.

What Bolt has achieved will have ten times the impact anything a swimmer could ever do. The image of him slapping his chest, having destroyed the field and smashed the world record will go down as one of the greatest ever moments in sporting history. Fact.

Phelp v Bolt ? Bolt every time and it's not even close.

so your opinions are facts now are they!

Bolt won 2 golds - Phelps won 8 and is the greatest olympian of all time with a total of 14 gold medals and 2 bronze, 31 world records in his career- those are the facts.

They are both amazing athletes in their field but the fact that swimming elicits no emotion in you is totally irrelevant and if you can't acknowledge his achievement you have no idea what the olympic games is all about. The popularity of the sport is not the point here, the achievement of the athlete is.

[Helios Creed]

In my country they do...

Swimming does seem to be suited to freaks... he's got the torso length of someone 6' 8", but is only 6' 2" (look at that photo - wierd!) - his armspan is larger than his height, and he is double-jointed. That Thorpedo guy had size 20 feet... it's like Crufts and those freaky breed dogs.

OK, so Bolt is very tall, very strong and very quick, but in twenty years, swimming will be dominated by a 7' bloke with four arms, a 24" inside leg, webbed feet and a nose on the back of his head.

[Shaggy]

Swimming does seem to be suited to freaks... he's got the torso length of someone 6' 8", but is only 6' 2" (look at that photo - wierd!) - his armspan is larger than his height, and he is double-jointed. That Thorpedo guy had size 20 feet... it's like Crufts and those freaky breed dogs.

OK, so Bolt is very tall, very strong and very quick, but in twenty years, swimming will be dominated by a 7' bloke with four arms, a 24" inside leg, webbed feet and a nose on the back of his head.

[Joe King]

Swimming does seem to be suited to freaks... he's got the torso length of someone 6' 8", but is only 6' 2" (look at that photo - wierd!) - his armspan is larger than his height, and he is double-jointed. That Thorpedo guy had size 20 feet... it's like Crufts and those freaky breed dogs.

OK, so Bolt is very tall, very strong and very quick, but in twenty years, swimming will be dominated by a 7' bloke with four arms, a 24" inside leg, webbed feet and a nose on the back of his head.

Bolt > Phelps.

[Scratch]

Phelps has the advantage in his ability to win more medals, as swimming has so many races and disciplines...there's only one way of sprinting, and Usain does it better than anyone...but to make him able to compete with Phelps, you'd need to incorporate other events too...maybe a 50m race, a 200m medley (50m sprint, 50m hopping, 50m hopping on the other foot, 50m running backwards) that sort of thing...otherwise all Bolt can win is 100m, 200m (wish he'd entered the 400m as well, cos he's got a good time for that as well) and possibly the 4*100 relay.

[Helios Creed]

Phelps has the advantage in his ability to win more medals, as swimming has so many races and disciplines...there's only one way of sprinting, and Usain does it better than anyone...but to make him able to compete with Phelps, you'd need to incorporate other events too...maybe a 50m race, a 200m medley (50m sprint, 50m hopping, 50m hopping on the other foot, 50m running backwards) that sort of thing...otherwise all Bolt can win is 100m, 200m (wish he'd entered the 400m as well, cos he's got a good time for that as well) and possibly the 4*100 relay.

I wish he'd gone for the 400m as well - also I know it's not the way things are done, but as he has torn up the rule book, he could do the 800m too, Juantorena style... with his height, hurdles shouldn't be a problem, but maybe, even if you had the ability in them all, it just isn't physically possible to compete in 8 athletics events, whereas it has been proved possible by many people in the pool?

[Helios Creed]

Swimming does seem to be suited to freaks... he's got the torso length of someone 6' 8", but is only 6' 2" (look at that photo - wierd!) - his armspan is larger than his height, and he is double-jointed. That Thorpedo guy had size 20 feet... it's like Crufts and those freaky breed dogs.

OK, so Bolt is very tall, very strong and very quick, but in twenty years, swimming will be dominated by a 7' bloke with four arms, a 24" inside leg, webbed feet and a nose on the back of his head.*

* future olympic swimming champion may not have four arms.