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Greatest Ever Olympian: Redgrave v Phelps

Who is the Greatest Ever Olympian?

  • Total voters
    14
Melinda said:
:hmm:

Yeah, I remember how 'I told you so' he was after the Johnson positive test. Even as a child I disliked Big Carl, couldnt tell you why other than he reeked of arrogance and had a strange face.

Respected his achievements but never really liked him much tbh.
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i was a kid when lewis and johnson were about.
just had a instant dislike to lewis - he looked wrong - kinda plastic and slimey
whereas johnson was the opposite...

that was an amazing olympic year - defo had more character back then...
 
CharlieAddict said:
i was a kid when lewis and johnson were about.
just had a instant dislike to lewis - he looked wrong - kinda plastic and slimey
whereas johnson was the opposite...

that was an amazing olympic year - defo had more character back then...
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Plastic and slimey- exactly that!! Thats how I saw him when I was little.

It didnt help that he also looked similar to one of the He-Man toys I had.
 
belboid said:
actually four others HAVE done what Redgrave did - although (probably) not the four that Elsie was referring to. And two of them won SIX golds in different Olympics.
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Alright, so we're all aware Lord Cam's Olympic history ain't quite up to scratch :( :p

Anyway, yes, I was referring specifically to what I thought London_Calling was referring to, namely that Redgrave had the same team for each of the games. You've got to think if that were the case why would everyone single Redgrave out :confused: :D
 
Melinda said:
Plastic and slimey- exactly that!! Thats how I saw him when I was little.

It didnt help that he also looked similar to one of the He-Man toys I had.
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...AND he ran with his finger tips pointed.
only evil people like the Terminator T1000 ran like that!!
 
belboid said:
actually four others HAVE done what Redgrave did - although (probably) not the four that Elsie was referring to. And two of them won SIX golds in different Olympics.

1) Hungarian fencer Aladár Gerevich - 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960
2) German kayaker Birgit Fischer - 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
3) British rower Steve Redgrave - 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000
4) Hungarian fencer Pál Kovács - 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960
5) German equestrian Reiner Klimke - 1964, 1968, 1976, 1984, 1988
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Is exactly my point.

No one has done what Phelps has done (Gold medals won) - half way through his third Olympics.


Prob a better idea to compare athletes who have finished their careers.
 
Melinda said:
Starting point for a discussion though, no?
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Maybe but in the end there's no definitive answer is there? It's like arguing that a centre forward is a 'better' footballer than a goalie.

Anyway carry on, am tired and ill :)
 
I think Eric Moussambani is the greatest Olympian ever so ner
 
CharlieAddict said:
...AND he ran with his finger tips pointed.
only evil people like the Terminator T1000 ran like that!!
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He does his psycho robot running in this Pirelli advert. :mad:

Its actually one of my favourite adverts of all time, though Steve Redgrave's Royal Caribbean Cruise ones are *cracking.*

We should judge Olympians through the quality of their endorsements.
 
You can always compare how well they do whatever it is they are supposed to do. And, to some extent at least, the degree of difficulty and physical exertion (or some other factor) required. Frinstance, Klimke just had to sit on a horse, so he should be ruled out. I'd be tempted to say something similar about the fencers - but to win golds over almost thirty years is really quite fucking astounding.
 
JTG said:
Maybe but in the end there's no definitive answer is there? It's like arguing that a centre forward is a 'better' footballer than a goalie.

Anyway carry on, am tired and ill :)
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Sends kisses and cake to JTG. xx
 
What's wrong with Akabussi (apart from that laugh)? Three Olympic medals, seems pretty fucking impressive to me.
 
belboid said:
What's wrong with Akabussi (apart from that laugh)? Three Olympic medals, seems pretty fucking impressive to me.
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I was pointing this out on another thread lately where people were nominating various Olympic medal winners/world champions etc as 'mediocre'

Whole other thread, but I think it's pretty sad that people who spend years of their lives preparing for their events, becoming best in the region/country/continent etc then get slated as 'crap' by people with no idea of the commitment involved to get as far as they have done.
 
belboid said:
What's wrong with Akabussi (apart from that laugh)? Three Olympic medals, seems pretty fucking impressive to me.
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Nothing particularly wrong with him (why, what's wrong with Eric :mad: ), he's just not taken particualrly seriously (mostly due to that laugh) and it was about half three in the morning and I couldn't be bothered to think of a more appropriate athlete :p
 
If he isn't taken seriously because his laugh overshadows his achievements as an athlete then that shows up how shallow our culture is tbh.

My nomination of Eric wasn't tongue in cheek by the way. He trained, he turned up, he had a go. I like that and it's worthy of praise :)
 
JTG said:
I was pointing this out on another thread lately where people were nominating various Olympic medal winners/world champions etc as 'mediocre'

Whole other thread, but I think it's pretty sad that people who spend years of their lives preparing for their events, becoming best in the region/country/continent etc then get slated as 'crap' by people with no idea of the commitment involved to get as far as they have done.
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In my defense I wasn't labelling him as 'crap', it was just the comedy option which now seems mandatory on urban polls, and let's face it, the man is more than slightly comedic.

I was on that same thread defending others, and if I didn't explicitly defend Akabusi then I certainly did in spirit.

So, that's every aspect of this poll objected to; it's harder than it looks this game :(
 
I would certainly argue that being very successful is one of them.

Moussambani certainly deserves a lot of credit, but you can't argue the likes of Phelps and Redgrave didn't train, turn up, and have a go too.
 
Lord Camomile said:
I would certainly argue that being very successful is one of them.

Moussambani certainly deserves a lot of credit, but you can't argue the likes of Phelps and Redgrave didn't train, turn up, and have a go too.
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Given that it's completely pointless to compare different sports/eras etc I'd rather choose someone as a symbol of the Olympic ideal than be forced to make what will ultimately be a fatuous choice between totally different people
 
Between Sydney and Athens, Eric shaved a minute off his time. He would have been only 10 or so seconds off the main field.

But someone bungled his visa aplication and so wasnt allowed to go to Athens. :(
 
JTG said:
Given that it's completely pointless to compare different sports/eras etc I'd rather choose someone as a symbol of the Olympic ideal than be forced to make what will ultimately be a fatuous choice between totally different people
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Fair enough, but surely part of the Olympian ideal is being successful in your chosen discipline? Even if we argue that they each symbolise the Olympian ideal, surely the respective acheivements then come in to play to distinguish who is 'greater (and yes, I realise how loaded a term that is).

You can't penalise the likes of Redgrave and Phelps simply because they didn't face harder odds than Moussambani (including, I would argue, natural ability).
 
Lord Camomile said:
Fair enough, but surely part of the Olympian ideal is being successful in your chosen discipline? Even if we argue that they each symbolise the Olympian ideal, surely the respective acheivements then come in to play to distinguish who is 'greater (and yes, I realise how loaded a term that is).

You can't penalise the likes of Redgrave and Phelps simply because they didn't face harder odds than Moussambani (including, I would argue, natural ability).
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my point being that it's utterly unfair and indeed ludicrous to pick a champion as being 'better' than other champions in different disciplines/eras so we may as well pick somebody else entirely in order to be fair to all.

All Olympians are great, except the ones that cheat obv.
 
I do think Phelps gets it though. He does the Butterfly, Freestyle, Medely and also the Team Relays so there is a lot of variation there in what he does. Plus it's not a case of just turning up for a final, you have to go through a few heats before you reach the final which is bound to push your physical capacity to the limit. 11 gold medals by the time you're 23 is an unbelievable feat. He does have one more Olympics in him so I'm sure he'll get more.

Redgrave of course is up there with the greatest too.
 
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