Who is the King

[Thiele]

Who is the King of these Olympics Bolt or Phelps

[JAS]

Probably a dead heat but purely on the grounds that I personally prefer track to pool....Usain Bolt

Regards
JAS

[Dirko]

Bolt.

Every country runs, not every country swims...

[Thiele]

Bolt

[rod_rooster]

Needs a poll. Bolt for me.

[Tassie Blues]

Phelps by about 5 gold medals i would say no contest really no matter what sport 8 gold is a very big Olympic effort

[rod_rooster]

Phelps by about 5 gold medals i would say no contest really no matter what sport 8 gold is a very big Olympic effort

Give Bolt another 5 races of similar distance where he has to run backwards, skip, somersault then sprint and he'd win those too. No comparison really. Bolt is the far superior athlete. Not taking anything away from Phelps because he is one of the all time greats but Bolt is just in another dimension.

[rod_rooster]

Anyway it's a silly question. Steve Hooker is the king of the games now

[Thiele]

Anyway it's a silly question. Steve Hooker is the king of the games now

yes he is

[Wedgie]

Bolt then daylight

[rod_rooster]

Bolt then daylight

Just as he won each race.

[Psyber]

Bolt - Yanks aren't allowed to be Kings!

[Adelaide Hawk]

My sense of history always dictates that the "king" of the Olympics is the winner of the Marathon.

However, the athlete of the Olympics is undoubtedly Bolt. As someone else said, come up with a few other events where he could run in different styles, he'd win them as well. I've always thought it a little ridiculous that someone can be able to win 8 gold medals at the same Olympics when he only competes in one sport.

The people in team sports must wonder what it's all about. A guy swims up and down a pool ... gold medal. Comes out an hour later, swins up and down the pool .. another gold medal. The team sports are out there for 2 weeks having to win a number of games just to compete for ONE medal.

[Tassie Blues]

Bolt - Yanks aren't allowed to be Kings!

i think that why most people are saying Bolt. If Phelps was Canadian and Bolt a yank whould Bolt still be king?

If Bolt is so good why didnt he go in the Long Jump like the great sprinter Lewis and Owens?

[rod_rooster]

Bolt - Yanks aren't allowed to be Kings!

If Phelps was Canadian and Bolt a yank whould Bolt still be king?

Yes. Phelps has a huge advantage being able to swim in so many different styles.

If Bolt is so good why didnt he go in the Long Jump like the great sprinter Lewis and Owens?

Because he isn't Lewis or Owens. No-one is arguing whether he is as good as Lewis or Owens the question is who is the best athlete of this Olympics. Phelps, as good as he is, just simply has not captured the imagination of the public like Bolt has.

Usain Bolt, King of the 2008 Olympic Games.

[Adelaide Hawk]

If Bolt is so good why didnt he go in the Long Jump like the great sprinter Lewis and Owens?

Or the pole vault maybe ... or even sycronised swimming perhaps? He didn't enter the sailing or the table tennis either .. you're right ... Bolt must be a dud!!!!!

[Cambridge Clarrie]

Bolt.

Every country runs, not every country swims...

I tend to agree with this rationale. Winning the most gold medals doesn't mean you are necessarily the best. Phelps is certainly one of the greatest athletes of all time though...

Greatest athlete of all time is a toss up between Carl Lewis or Paavo Nurmi... The time period between some of Nurmi's finals was incredible, but I'd slightly lean towards Lewis... He could run and jump. I think Lewis probably participated in a more 'professional' and competitive era too...

[Cambridge Clarrie]

Bolt - Yanks aren't allowed to be Kings!

i think that why most people are saying Bolt. If Phelps was Canadian and Bolt a yank whould Bolt still be king?

If Bolt is so good why didnt he go in the Long Jump like the great sprinter Lewis and Owens?

I think Bolt could win at Long Jump if he wanted too... He's so young, he could compete at the next two games.

[Hondo]

Phelps, as good as he is, just simply has not captured the imagination of the public like Bolt has.

I think this sums up why people feel the need to do this comparison. Phelps has the runs on the board in terms of most medals yet we want to find someone else to be our champion of the games. Phelps just isn't a popular winner. But this shouldn't be a popularity contest.

IMO, both have done outstanding things in their events. Yes, Phelps has had more opportunities for medals, but he still had to do the deed 8 times. Plenty of others have gone in multiple events, particularly in the pool. No-one has basically won everything they have competed in .... other than Bolt.

Bolt has the charisma, Bolt is the underdog from the small country. Phelps is the quiet achiever and he's from the USA. But has Bolt been any more dominant in his field than Phelps? I don't reckon.

I call it even let's applaud both and not try to rank them.

[Hondo]

The people in team sports must wonder what it's all about. A guy swims up and down a pool ... gold medal. Comes out an hour later, swins up and down the pool .. another gold medal. The team sports are out there for 2 weeks having to win a number of games just to compete for ONE medal.

So does that count against Bolt as well? Using your logic, Bolt just runs a couple of sprints and gets 2 medals for about 5 minutes work across the whole games?

As for team sports - the reserve who gets 5 minutes game time gets a gold medal same as the star of the team.

Really, you could argue about every medallist once you start trying to compare different events. That's before people start picking their favourite events or who they like better or who was more gracious - it becomes never-ending speculation.

As I said in my last post - all anyone can do is compete in their events and do the best they can. No-one is more deserving than another.

What's next - Rice v Hooker for Australian of the games?