BBC Blog Network

User Profile

We're-Gooner-Get-Ya

Listed below are comments made by We're-Gooner-Get-Ya between Monday, 11th August 2008 and Sunday, 17th August 2008.

«Newer
Older»

A great day for swimming 05:45am on 17 Aug 2008 In all honesty, I got well bored of the Phelps medal bandwagon something after the 5th or 6th medal, great achievement though 8 out of 8 gold medals is. I've just watched it on iPlayer, and he was very excitedly being hailed by the commentator as the greatest Olympic ever and something about that just doesn't feel right.

I was much more impressed by the way Adlington absolutely tore apart the 800m. It was total and utter domination. That, for me, was THE swim event of these Olympics. The coxless four's victory also - what a suspenseful race!
Is Phelps really the greatest? 5:02pm on 13 Aug 2008 An excellently balanced article.

I wish Phelps well and certainly hope he achieves his goals, primarily because I find anyones' quest to be 'the best they can be'... inspiring.

That said, I agree with many of the opinions here which suggest that a bland gold medal count shouldn't be the sole measure of an Olympian's greatness. Their achievements are all relative to the performance standards of the era that they are from, along with many, many other factors... training facilities, diet, social and political conditions, and more.

What some of the athletes of the past have had to go through to get to their respective pinnacles makes them great. Phelps is just another great. We can categorically say that he has more Olympic golds than anyone before him, and that he is one of the finest swimmers the world has ever seen, but greatness (for me anyway) isn't simply a count of medals and world records. Once somebody finds a way to measure the human spirit, then they will all be equal in their greatness in my eyes.
Can US swim star Phelps win eight medals? 4:55pm on 12 Aug 2008 To natsrobinson1988

As a fellow Brit, I agree but only to a point.

I think our athletes, with a few exceptions of course, generally struggle when the expectations of our country are constantly heaped upon them. They seem to perform 'beyond themselves' if that pressure isn't brought to bear by the media and everyone else. How free it must be to compete feeling like you have nothing to lose! Katie Hoff was the favourite for the race that yielded Adlington's gold, and it undoubtedly strengthened her resolve.

I think that as an event, the Olympics is full of exciting sports and the competitors that create a buzz and make history will naturally attract the lions share of attention and speculation. I don't think that this detracts from our own athletes' efforts though. In Phelps' case, I'm sure it will galvanise his direct competitors into trying harder to beat him and create a sensation.
Can US swim star Phelps win eight medals? 3:39pm on 11 Aug 2008 I think that the only risk to Michael Phelps achieving his target are the relay events.

He achieved seven golds at the World Championships and holds individual world records in every event he is entering at these Olympics. Also, if he really swims the mind-blowing distance of 80,000 metres a week during training (quoted here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/swimming/7541618.stm) then 17 races in 9 days would be a snip would it not?? Even if all 17 races were 400 metres in length, (which they obviously aren't) this would still only total 6,800 miles.

I say he can do it, once his relay team can back him up. Question is, can he go one help further and do what Spitz also reportedly did which is to win all of the events and break the World Record in every single event whilst doing so....

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

We're-Gooner-Get-Ya