Michael Phelps is the single most dominant athlete on the planet, bar none

[GirlsAloudFan]

yeah, Phelps is good but the most dominant athlete on the planet?

No.

That title belongs to one man and one man only...

 

[Slipstream]

I'm an arse.....who is that?

 

[No spoken words]

I'm an arse.....who is that?

Please believe me when I tell you that you're not the arse in this scenario.

That's a baseball player named Paul Konerko. He plays for the White Sox, and GAF has a crush on him. He's making a joke.

He lost his wallet and his soul on a recent trip to the desert/Vegas, GAF did, so you'll have to excuse him for a few days as he regains his judgement.

 

[Hewson]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm not an ice hockey fan but I think Wayne Gretzky's stats would absolutely trump anything in sport history in regards to performance.

Wayne Gretzky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

fuck me if i'm wrong but wayne gretzky retired quite a few years ago.

so yea... he's talking about modern day, current athletes.

if you wanted to argue tiger woods, you'd have a debate. wayne gretzky? no. save him for the all time debate.

 

[Dalton]

 

[Hewson]

You had to see this one coming

 

[No spoken words]

Hai guys

 

[Irvine511]

and unthinkable time, about 5 seconds fater than he was in Athens.

eat it, Tiger and Federer. here's the greatest athlete on the planet:

Phelps Gets Off To Record Start, Wins a Gold

By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 10, 2008; A01



BEIJING, Aug. 10 -- There might have been a more spectacular and thoroughly dominant manner in which Michael Phelps could have begun his Olympics on Sunday morning, but that seems unlikely. In an event in which he was supposed to be pushed, he had no peers. In a race in which there was to be stress, he became the picture of relaxation, so at odds with the feat he accomplished.

With President Bush, the first lady and former president George H.W. Bush in the stands waving American flags, Phelps won the 400-meter individual medley at the National Aquatics Center in a world record time of 4 minutes 3.84 seconds -- crushing his old world mark, winning an Olympic gold medal and likely sending chills through the rest of the competitors on hand, many of whom could succumb to Phelps in similar fashion later in the meet.

The victory over Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and fellow American Ryan Lochte gave Phelps the first gold in his first event here, and served as a no-doubt example of how prepared he is. Three other finals were scheduled for later in Sunday's session, and Australia's Stephanie Rice set her own world record in winning the women's 400 IM, taking gold to the bronze of Towson, Md., product Katie Hoff. And the American 4x100-meter freestyle relay team -- anchored by 41-year-old Dara Torres -- took silver behind the Netherlands, ahead of the favored Australians. Still, the focus of the swimming events -- and, in some ways, the entire Olympic competition here -- is on Phelps, the 23-year-old from Baltimore County who seeks a record eight golds.

"To be honest, I didn't really feel that great," Phelps said immediately afterward. That alone is intimidating. Though Phelps trailed at various points during the first half of the medley -- which combines all four of swimming's disciplines: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle -- he faced no threat over the final 100 meters. Cseh, the bronze medalist in 2004 in Athens, and Lochte, who pushed Phelps to a world record during U.S. trials in Omaha earlier in the summer, were both expected to provide stout competition. Yet as Phelps hit his freestyle leg, he grew more distant.

That was not entirely expected. Of Phelps's eight events here, the 400 IM shaped up to be perhaps the most challenging of his five individual races. (He will also swim three relays.) Yes, he won gold in Athens in 2004 in the event, the first of his six gold medals there. Sure, he first snatched the world record in 2002 as a 17-year-old, and he hasn't given it up since, lowering it himself seven times now. And indeed, he now owns seven of the nine fastest times in the race.

Yet over the last 50 meters, not only did the world record feel inevitable -- Phelps beat his old mark by a remarkable 1.41 seconds -- but the opposition appeared almost feeble. By the time Cseh took silver, Phelps -- who arrived 2.32 seconds earlier -- had already looked at the clock and digested his accomplishment. On his face came a smile. The meet, and his quest, had begun perfectly.

"Going into the ready room, I started getting these kind of like chills up my body," Phelps said. "Right then and there, I knew I was starting to get more and more excited. I was pretty emotional after that race."

That in itself is a rare occurrence. All week -- in fact, all summer and even earlier -- Phelps has played down his task, which is merely to make history. In 1972 in Munich, Californian Mark Spitz swam in seven events and won seven gold medals. No Olympian, in any sport, has ever won that many in a single Games. Not before or since. Not in winter or summer.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

That was awesome, I can't wait to see all of his other events

 

[mdw3935]

That was a great race and I cannot wait to see the other races.

I loved seeing him get emotional on the medal stand.

 

[Irvine511]

i'm sorry France, what was that you were saying?

 

[Lila64]

That was frickin' awesome!!! Watched that replay a million times! Didn't USA win by eight hundredths of a second?

Eat it France!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I missed it, couldn't stay awake I hope his other ones aren't at 11:30 or whatever time it ended up being

 

[U2girl]

i'm sorry France, what was that you were saying?

Saved by the last swimmer though. Phelps looked like an ass up there too.

 

[Irvine511]

Saved by the last swimmer though. Phelps looked like an ass up there too.

yes, Lezak was brilliant. by far the fastest split in history.

but Phelps swam his best 100 free by .4, swam the third fastest time in history, and broke the american record in his leadoff.

and this from a guy who's best event is the 400IM.

it was a team effort. everyone deserves equal credit.

an ass? i'd have done the same thing. and you can bet that if France won, they'd be every bit as obnoxious, just like the (admittedly hot) south africans were in 2004.

 

[U2girl]

"To his credit, Bernard was gracious in defeat, clapping when the Americans received their gold medals and shaking the hand of Michael Phelps after the ceremony."

Somehow it gets lost in all the internet "haha France" talk I saw on other sites.

 

[Dalton]

"To his credit, Bernard was gracious in defeat, clapping when the Americans received their gold medals and shaking the hand of Michael Phelps after the ceremony."

Somehow it gets lost in all the internet "haha France" talk I saw on other sites.

talking trash + losing = necessary to be a gracious loser

 

[Irvine511]

"To his credit, Bernard was gracious in defeat, clapping when the Americans received their gold medals and shaking the hand of Michael Phelps after the ceremony."

Somehow it gets lost in all the internet "haha France" talk I saw on other sites.

a lot of this has do to with the French trash-talking beforehand.

in 2000, Gary Hall Jr. got a tremendous amount of attention in Australia because he said that the US relay was going to "smash [the Aussies] like guitars." nevermind that he spent most of the rest of the op-ed talking about how much he loved Australia and Australians. and what happens? he gets chased down by Ian Thorpe at the very end of another sensational race, the Aussies beat the US (the first time that had ever happened) and what did they Aussies do? they turned to the US and played air guitar right in their faces.

was that gracious? no. understandable? yes. was the US more gracious than the Aussies? yes. were the French gracious in defeat yesterday? yes.

and, i'm sorry, but Bernard has come out of nowhere the past year or so. i will state that i am suspicious of his performances, because most male swimmers simply don't look like this:

 

[Dalton]

i will state that i am suspicious of his performances, because most male swimmers simply don't look like this:

Irvine, I think a lot of swimmers look like douchebags.

 

[Irvine511]

Irvine, I think a lot of swimmers look like douchebags.

this was the first time i've laughed today.

 

[anitram]

You know every time you have a douchebag like Bernard or Gary Hall Jr., I feel really bad for the rest of the team. They didn't say anything, they weren't being obnoxious but nobody cares.

 

[DaveC]

When this thread was first created, I thought to myself "Irvine's a nice guy, but he should stick to FYM, maybe."

Now, I'm starting to think he might be the smartest man on Interference.

Shit, I'll admit, even I was rooting for the Americans yesterday night, and there was a Canadian team in the final

 

[U2girl]

talking trash + losing = necessary to be a gracious loser

Not really. France said they'd smash the US, and they would have were it not for the spectacular swim from the last US swimmer. France team's statements before the race are only an issue because US got a lucky win and now some are rubbing it in.

 

[No spoken words]

Not really. France said they'd smash the US, and they would have were it not for the spectacular swim from the last US swimmer. France team's statements before the race are only an issue because US got a lucky win and now some are rubbing it in.

Oh Hai U2girl!!! You make a lot of really great points in this thread!!!!!!

And, of course the win was lucky. The United States cannot win anything, anywhere, without a major amount of luck. When you're a nation of perpetual fuck-ups, luck is reallly your only ally. Thanks for crystallizing this for us all!

I might start a petition asking the US gold medal winners from last night to return their medals. That's really the only honorable thing to do, since the win was based on luck and luck only. I always ask myself WWFD (What Would France Do?), and in this instance, I know the French would give their medals to whomever got robbed of the Gold.

U2girl, will you sign my petition?

 

[U2girl]

a lot of this has do to with the French trash-talking beforehand.

in 2000, Gary Hall Jr. got a tremendous amount of attention in Australia because he said that the US relay was going to "smash [the Aussies] like guitars." nevermind that he spent most of the rest of the op-ed talking about how much he loved Australia and Australians. and what happens? he gets chased down by Ian Thorpe at the very end of another sensational race, the Aussies beat the US (the first time that had ever happened) and what did they Aussies do? they turned to the US and played air guitar right in their faces.

was that gracious? no. understandable? yes. was the US more gracious than the Aussies? yes. were the French gracious in defeat yesterday? yes.

and, i'm sorry, but Bernard has come out of nowhere the past year or so. i will state that i am suspicious of his performances, because most male swimmers simply don't look like this:

Lots of ego driven athletes say "I'm gonna smash my opponent and win" (Muhammad Ali, for one).

 

[Dalton]

Not really. France said they'd smash the US, and they would have were it not for the spectacular swim from the last US swimmer. France team's statements before the race are only an issue because US got a lucky win and now some are rubbing it in.

Wow. I never thought we'd have a world record holder right here on interference, but I checked with the judges and that was in fact the dumbest post in the history of posts.

 

[anitram]

I've been trying to figure out who he reminded me of and I finally got it.

It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger's body (circa Conan the Barbarian), but with Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

 

[Dalton]

It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger's body (circa Conan the Barbarian), but with Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

Yeah. I just laughed out loud.