USAIN BOLT VS. MICHAEL PHELPS---ultimate challenge:who is the greatest olympian?

[holysmoke]

I was thinking about who is the better athlete or Olympian of all time, so I came up with this idea:

100 metre swim/ 100 metre sprint EVENT.

Just like MICHAEL JOHNSON vs. DONAVON BAILEY 150 m sprint back in the 1990's.

This will probably be the biggest HBO EVENT in the history of pay per view.

I would definitely buy to watch this event and this is the time to do it right after the Olympics when both athletes are in the downturn of their careers and it would be interesting to see if USAIN BOLT can even swim , but given that he lives in Jamaica surrounded by the ocean, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to swim.


should I contact hbo to start the contract for these two greatest Olympians of all time?
pay 10 million to the winner and 5 million to the loser for 30 seconds of their time.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

 

[derrick76]

I think people need to leave this alone. This debate will never have an end. Then you have the great competitors in various other sports/disciplines who seem to be forgotten. Bolt is the greatest sprinter ever. Phelps the greatest swimmer. Best to leave it that.

Bolt is considered by far the bigger global star, and if he were American he'd be absolutely massive. Then again, maybe him being American would have been a turn off. Who knows.

 

[ultistar]

Are you sure Bolt even knows how to swim?
Do you know what the avg times are for elite athletes in those events?
Swim is around 50sec, run is around 10sec.
Doesn't make sense.

 

[fuji]

Ultistar is right, Phelps will win. Not because he is the better athlete but because he is the better swimmer. He will have enough time to walk 100 meters before Bolt is out of the water. Bolt's running advantage won't matter because Phelps will cross the finish line before Bolt even starts running.

You would need to even it out by having a longer running component. Maybe a 500m run versus a 100 meter swim.

 

[Brill]

should I contact hbo to start the contract for these two greatest Olympians of all time?

Might be better to contact ESPN, unless you want to have them star in a dramatic mini-series.

 

[nondescriptive]

To see who is the better athlete, you'd have to make them compete in a pentathlon or decathlon type competition, rule out running or swimming, have them compete in say, basketball, cycling, golf , boxing, tennis, tiddly winks...etc

I like these greatest athletes debates , makes great pub conversations

 

[AJstar]

Are you sure Bolt even knows how to swim?
Do you know what the avg times are for elite athletes in those events?
Swim is around 50sec, run is around 10sec.
Doesn't make sense.

Lots of Jamaicans can't swim, hate the water.

 

[ultistar]

Well, just to prolong this ludicrous idea:
They could do a 50m swim in a short course 25m pool (elite time of 20sec) and 200m run (elite 20sec).
IF they ever do it, I have a feeling they may do this in 10+ years when they are C/D celebrities looking to cash in on their past glory. (Kinda like Celebrity Apprentice)

 

[Kazuma_Kiryu]

For Track and Field overall, I'd have to say Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis (Lewis was still busted for illegal substances in '88 remember; dirtiest race of all time was the Seoul Olympic finals) are the greatest athletes. People need to realize Jesse Owens' best clocking at 10.2 secs (Some of the 100 m runner qualifying times still today even). If Jesse Owens had the racing gear of today (clothes, shoes, starting blocks), a rubberized track to run on and today's training methods what do you think his time would be like now? Owens raced on a beat up dirt track (worn out from other races, 5000 m and others) and didn't have the same starting blocks to start the sprint. I bet at his peak Owens could hit 9.2-9.4 secs flat if he were running in the same conditions Bolt was today. De Grasse did a mock race for a David Suzuki nature of things documentary one time and they gave him similar shoes Owens wore, they had him run on a dirt track and took away the starting blocks, he had to start with those foot pits. De Grasse clocked in at 11 secs with the analog step watch. Does that mean Bolt at his peak of 9.58 secs needs approx a 1-1.1 second increase of 10.5-10.6 had he been racing in the same conditions as Owens? The one thing I took away from the clip I watched of De Grasse is his admiration for Owens' incredible leg strength, based on the conditions faced and how incredibly tired De Grasse was afterwards.

Swimming takes a lot of core power and requires more energy for propulsion and endurance, I think I'd have to give the edge to Phelps in this case then. Bolt has fast legs for sprinting, but swimmers have to utilize their upper body (core muscles) and legs in unison for further propulsion through greater resistance (pool water). For sheer entertainment factor (charisma, showmanship) and ridiculous unbridled speed Bolt wins by a long shot. For freak of nature consistency and endurance I'd have to go with Phelps if we can't decide between the two of them...

 

[fuji]

This got me curious so I did some digging.

The average senior year highschool male can run the 100m in about 15 seconds, and a time of 12 seconds or so is considered good. State champion runners do it in around 11 seconds. Usain Bolt does it in just under 10. So the difference between a good sprinter and an olympic champion is about 2 seconds.

Michael Phelps swims the 100m butterfly in about 51 seconds. The average highschool student swims it in 2 minutes. Good competitive swimmers aim to do it in just under a minute. So Phelps is about 9 seconds faster than a good competitive swimmer, and a full minute faster than the average highschool student.

So it's closer than I thought. If both of them train for this and, being good athletes, achieve at least a good time, Phelps will exit the pool with a 9 second advantage, while Bolt will catch up by about 1 or 2 seconds in the running portion.

Phelps wins by 7 seconds owing to the larger differences between a champion swimmer and a good swimmer.

 

[Kazuma_Kiryu]

To see who is the better athlete, you'd have to make them compete in a pentathlon or decathlon type competition, rule out running or swimming, have them compete in say, basketball, cycling, golf , boxing, tennis, tiddly winks...etc

That would be incredibly boring though, as these other sports are probably not their forte at all... Phelps may suck at sprinting or long distance running and I can't picture Bolt in a pool either, it would be a total mismatch. You just have to compare prowess and achievements based on both of their respective athletic areas of expertise...

All the medals Phelps has won was unmatched, he basically conquered everything to do with shorter distance swimming and relay swimming, vice versa for Bolt. A quick dash down a track is more exciting to watch than a swimming race in my opinion though. Other people may prefer swimming races, instead. I think consistently fast swimming is harder work on the body compared to fast running, which is a more inherent skill in humans.

 

[Mr Bret]

There was a made for tv competition back in the late 70s or early 80s with pro athletes from a number of different sports.
They competed in a number of various athletic tests.

Does anyone else remember this?

Bonus if you remember who won and what sport he played.

 

[nondescriptive]

There was a made for tv competition back in the late 70s or early 80s with pro athletes from a number of different sports.
They competed in a number of various athletic tests.

Does anyone else remember this?

Bonus if you remember who won and what sport he played.

World Super Stars, Canada's , the late Brian Budd won it 3 years in a row, then they banned him, he was just toooo good. He was a soccer player.

 

[blopar]

Two greatest olympians ever. That's all you need to know.

 

[Drizzt]

Bolt? Phelps? Nah. Ryan Lochte. He showed the world that hes not only a fast swimmer, hes a fast runner too.

 

[Mr Bret]

World Super Stars, Canada's , the late Brian Budd won it 3 years in a row, then they banned him, he was just toooo good. He was a soccer player.

Top marks nd for your good memory, or google skills.

Bolt? Phelps? Nah. Ryan Lochte. He showed the world that hes not only a fast swimmer, hes a fast runner too.

Gold medal to you for a great solution. LMAO

 

[nondescriptive]

Top marks nd for your good memory, or google skills.

lol, I'm an old fart with a great memory!

 

[Yoga Face]

their accomplishments are great but

gymnasts , decathlon and other events, some from winter games, need to be considered

which Olympic event has the best over all athletes is the first question that needs to be answered

just running, or swimming, the fastest is not the ultimate athletic challenge

 

[basketcase]

Ashton Eaton deserves a mention. Two consecutive decathlon golds.

 

[Ref]

Who do you think has the bigger cock?

Bolt has that black advantage, but Phelps has a size 14 foot.