Don't get me wrong I agree that he's the fastest swimmer in the world but why are there so many swimming events?
Most of the other events if you lose you go home.
Just curious if I'm the only one who thinks like this.

Impressed yes but it sure doesn't make him the greatest ever Olympian. Michael Johnson live the BBC coverage last night said he had been there a week and was bored and couldn't wait for the proper stuff to start. When castigated by the presenter he basically said that if the sprinters could do the 100m forwards, backwards and every which way they too could win bags of Golds. Interestingly swimming has 38 medals against track and fields 50 something.

Sort of like the same as winning gold in the Laser dinghy and winning cold in the Europe dinghy.

Wouter

Here is my take: As my kids swim on teams I've been exposed to the sport (But I'm no expert...)

1.)Each event is very short. If you didn't have many events it would be over in a flash then you go home... not very interesting.
2.)Its a small(ish) arena you can pack spectators all around to see the action.
3.)Short attention spans of spectators need constant stimulation and action... this will do it. Its like getting my wife to watch sailing on TV or even at an event. She says its like watching grass grow. Things seem to happen too slow if you're not on the boat.

Just my thoughts. And having seen his event times and compare them to the meets I've been too... dang!. Of course I'm only involved in elementary and high school levels.

Clayton

Phelps has now won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay and now the 200m medley, all in world record time

I am not sure I would say he is the greatest Olympian but Johnsons’s argument is pretty lame as there are also many opportunities to win multiple medals on the track 100m, 200m, 400m, hurdles 110m & 400m, relay 100m & 400m. etc.

Gareth

Is there any other events in the Olympics other than beach volleyball, swimming, and diving? Cause that's all I've seen on the TV. Boring...

I suppose it depends on you perspective and background. I swam competitively through college and to me this is very cool to watch. The media coverage and their constant press on Phelps is extremely old though. The guy is a freak of nature and a lot like Lance Armstrong IMO in his drive to punish those pitted against him, just witnesing someone who can dominate by that much has its own appeal.

Track and field puts me right to sleep, but has the same draw to see people compete at such an eleite level. The events where they have judges are the ones that need to go. Synchonized diving and even gymnastics... whos to say whose flip with 2 twist is .05 pt beter than the other guys twist with 2 flip. What we need is for them to put 2 sets of rings together and see who can knock the other guy off - Then we have competition. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The other night ~12:30am I was channel flipping and came across Badmitton! Now thats an exciting sport!!!!!

C

Four years from now the Olympics will have "flip cup", and "beer pong". I'm going to start training now. I just hope it's early enough. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Dude you're way off on this one. 100m is way different from 400m which are totally different from 110m hurdles. Different events with totally different athletes.

I'm with Matt dump the sports decided by judging,be it diving, boxing or gymnastics.

Fred

I have a kid who aspires to Olympic swimming trials in 2012. The times posted by the Olympians are remarkable by comparison to even the best collegiate atheletes. By comparison to this elite Olympic group, Michael Phelps is truly a phenomenon.

There will be very few chances to ever see such an elite athelete in a lifetime. I am happy to have the chance to see so much swimming. (Could live without so much synchro diving and volleyball, though...would rather see more other stuff.) As for forwards and backwards running, I'd say that's a pretty glib simplification of the sport of swimming. Why then, has not a previous swimmer since Spitz, way back in the 70's, won 'bags of Gold'? An ignorant remark, I'd say.

If they ran the sailing events in sequence, how many events could the likes of Ben A, ian Percy, bundy and Ashby win?

More than I'd say.

Ben or Pearcy could probalby win the Laser and Fin each and team up and win the Star. Bundy and Ashby could probably have a good crack at most of them!!!

But it would never happen because the sailing events do not run like that.

Womens beach volleyball boring!? Are you freaking kidding me!

I agree with Matt - I too used to swim competitively and to see someone that does so well at the different disciplines of swimming is pretty cool to watch. I know the disciplines don't appear to be all that different but to race something like butterfly and then go to breast stroke...it's a big change.

They probably say similar things about sailing..."why are there so many different kinds - it's wind and a sail...how different can it be?".

Phelps is pretty cool though. Did you see his press interview after winning the most ever Golds when he read out the last text he received before the race from a mate back in the states. "Dude, how many times each day do I have to see your ugly mug on TV.." At least the guy doesn't seem to take him sefd to seriously.

I think that it's the ability to interact that separates a "sport" from an "exhibition". Call it offense vs. defense if you want. In sailing, at least you can block or head-up the other guys and affect the outcome. But if you're alone on the floor or rings or golf course or bowling alley, where does the competition come in?

In swimming, as long as they're restricted to lanes, who cares if Michael Phelps is swimming alone or against 20 others? I say take away the ropes and let them block or grab; then see who's really the best swimmer! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Even if he had only won one gold medal, and didn't get a world record, I would be impressed. But, he won 6 with 6 world records (and counting). On top of his 6 previous gold medals, and countless world records. That's amazing. Sure there there are skills that transfer from one event to the next, but the silver and bronze medalists in each event aren't the same, and few people in the finals of each event are the same, so each event definitely has different criteria for success and different skills. If they ran the swimming without any overlap Phelps could probably win a few more medals as well.

Sure, swimming lends itself to winning more medals than other sports. So does track and field, especially for the sprinters. But why do we have to compare him to every other athlete? Why isn't it enough that he is the best swimmer in over three decades? That he may have a better olympics than any swimmer, anywhere, ever?

Michael Phelps is a once in a generation athlete in his sport, there is no way you can argue against that. You don't have to watch, but to not be impressed is ridiculous. You don't have to like swimming to appreciate his accomplishment.

Why can’t you just appreciate the man’s talent, and self discipline, to get to his level of performance?
Who among the attackers here, has any major accomplishment in their life that can compare?

This is EXACTLY the problem with sailing as a spectator sport, and why it will never be televised in its current state.

The only type of sailing that any Joe six-pack MIGHT watch would be Team Racing, with the 8-minute courses (Digital N).

Mike