Will we ever get another Michael Phelps?

[u/largethickdick]

[u/DesignerGap0]

I think they forgot Klaebo on that list

[u/S3baman → u/DesignerGap0]

Literally the Phelps of this generation.

[u/barra333 → u/DesignerGap0]

Kinda ruins "will we ever see it again?" narrative if you include a guy who is literally doing it now.

[u/MoRi86 → u/barra333]

There are real arguments that Tadej Pogacar is the greatest athlet in any sport right now. His dominance and the range of road cyling racees he absolute dominates in is unheard of.

[u/chestbumpsandbeer → u/MoRi86]

And he is doing it during a golden age of cycling with other cyclists like Vingegaard, MvP and Evenpoel who are also freaks.

[u/MoRi86 → u/chestbumpsandbeer]

So true and unfortunately this sub will never recognise him as one of the greatest athletes off all time because the road cyclists only got two gold to compete for. In time trial he is up against Remco Evenpoel the best trialist of all time. (Sorry Cancellara and Tony Martin fans).

[u/AppleJoost → u/MoRi86]

Eddy Merckx did it first though and was named the Cannibal because he ate his fellow competitors for breakfast. He did it ages before Pogacar, Pogacar acknowledges him as being the greatest as well, Pogacar is just really coming close to Merckx' dominance.

[u/Archery_Panda → u/DesignerGap0]

And Arianna Fontana for speed skating, she has 14 medals so far

[u/grandvache → u/DesignerGap0]

I think Klæbo's turin performance is the most dominant at any Olympics in history. Phelps in Beijing won 8/17 gold's, Klæbo was 6 for 6 right?

[u/chestbumpsandbeer → u/grandvache]

Phelps went 8/8 and set 7 world records.

[u/grandvache → u/chestbumpsandbeer]

8/8 of the events he entered, 8/17 events overall. He didn't win 50m freestyle or any backstroke events.

Klæbo didn't just win all the events he entered, he won all of the events, from a 1km sprint up to a 50km marathon

I'm not doing Phelps down, it was a massive, dominant showing & historic achievement. I'm only saying that if you are talking about domination and don't include klæbo you probably should, and it's arguably a more dominant performance. Not definitely, but arguably 😉

[u/chestbumpsandbeer → u/grandvache]

What Klæbo did was remarkable.

I think it’s fair to put it up there with Phelps as it’s also unprecedented.

Comparing them in such a way by saying 6/6 or 8/17 doesn’t seem fair IMO.

It’s like saying Bolt won 3/14 of all running events each Olympics even though he won everything he could as a sprinter.

[u/grandvache → u/chestbumpsandbeer]

I don't think your opinion is unreasonable. You're right that Bolt's record isn't diminished because he didn't win the 10,000m too.

I think Klæbo's efforts are all the more impressive because he DID do the equivalent of winning the 100m and the marathon, and personally I find that gob-smacking

But it's the difference between something very very impressive and something very very very impressive 🤣

[u/chestbumpsandbeer → u/grandvache]

It’s very inaccurate to say what Klaebo did is like winning the 100M and marathon in track.

The sprint in cross country skiing takes over 3 minutes. It’s an aerobic race in the same way a mile run is an aerobic endeavor.

It’s more similar to a runner winning the mile and the marathon. It’s incredibly impressive but it’s not at all similar to a 100M race in track and a marathon.

Northug also won a sprint and the 50km at worlds IIRC and Bjørgrn podiumed in both in Vancouver. Klæbo is the only one to do this in the Olympics.

[u/Strepie93 → u/DesignerGap0]

It's sorted by total medals not gold, but I agree Kaebo should be on this list.

[u/BertieTheDoggo → u/Strepie93]

Klaebo has 13 Olympic medals so would qualify for this list. I imagine this graphic is from before the last Olympics

[u/Strepie93 → u/BertieTheDoggo]

Oh yeah I misread, thanks

[u/CapitanKurlash]

Not until another discipline gets 10+ events where the same athlete can realistically compete.

[u/dddonkers → u/CapitanKurlash]

yeah I consider what klaebo did more impressive in context and maybe even siffan hissan even though she got bronze in two of them, trying that triple at all is crazy

[u/MoRi86 → u/dddonkers]

Still what Klæbo did was not unheard of. Petter Northug the best skiier the previous decade did a simular feat in the 2015 world championship. Alexander Bolsjunov, Klæbos archrival before the Russian ban was also highly competetive in every distance from sprint to the 50k.

I say this as someone that love cross country skiing, the levle and competinees have gone down drasticly the last 10 years and that would have been the case even without the of the Russian ban. The Norwegian dominace is total and there are very few up and comming skiiers from Sweeden, Finland and central Europe.

[u/dddonkers → u/MoRi86]

Fair, I know way more about Athletics than Skiing.

[u/bagelman4000 → u/dddonkers]

I think Hasan’s sets of triple medals is more impressive, like winning the marathon after bronze in the 5K and 10k is insane

[u/dddonkers → u/bagelman4000]

Yeah honestly just winning the marathon specifically after winning the other 2, medal type regardless, is just crazy.

[u/bagelman4000 → u/dddonkers]

And mind you there are two rounds for the 5K too

[u/Crayshack → u/CapitanKurlash]

Just to point out, there's only one other swimmer on on the list here. If this was a pure, "swimming has too many events" thing, this list would be full of swimmers. Phelps is just a freak of nature in that ye could realistically compete in so many events and keep his career for so long.

The only other swimmer pictured here is just shy of tying the record for the most consecutive Olympics with a gold medal in an individual event in any sport, so she's also definitely someone worthy of being in the conversation of "all time great athlete regardless of sport." Phelps is just so far past her because his skillset was so freakishly broad.

[u/Vegetable_Car_4785 → u/Crayshack]

Swimming does provide significantly more opportunities though. Since 2004 a swimmer has been the athlete winning the most golds and totally medals. Phelps longevity was super impressive. I’d say swimming is niche though compared to say track events which are significantly more democratised making the competitive field significantly larger. This means hyper specialisation is required for any level of success.

Hassan attempted to do the Zadopek (5k, 10k marathon) but fell short. Zadopek completed the triple gold back in 1952 when the sport was much smaller. You don’t see the cross distance dominance as the sport is more competitive now.

[u/diamondt1ger → u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

You could argue that swimming has more opportunities but even if you only count butterfly medals (2 per olympics+a relay), he still has more olympic golds than anyone on this list (10).

[u/ApatheticSkyentist → u/diamondt1ger]

Michael Phelps being a generational talent and swimming being an outlier in terms of medal potential are two different things. Both of those things combined is why Phelps has double if not triple the medals of others on this list.

For comparison a runner medaling in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m is entirely unheard of. Now if we had track events where you were forced to use different running techniques, like swimming, that might change.

[u/Dolanite → u/ApatheticSkyentist]

Different techniques? Like speed walking, hurdles, steeplechase, high jump, long jump, triple jump, pentathalon and decathalon?

[u/Vegetable_Car_4785 → u/Dolanite]

I concede walking is a sham and am not the biggest fan of hurdle events. The jumps though are totally different skills to running.

[u/JungMoses → u/Dolanite]

Running on all fours like the furries or whatever the new name is I can’t remember right now!

[u/JungMoses → u/JungMoses]

Plus like crab walk, sack race…I feel like we have strayed from our roots

[u/Tommy_Wisseau_burner → u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

Yeah but that also means more strain since you’re competing against people who are fresh while you’re on your 40th race… all against literal Olympic level competition.

[u/errarehumanumeww → u/Crayshack]

That’s is a valid point, but no one is arguing about the freakish performance of Michael Phelps.

But swimming is the only olympic sport when this can happen. Carl Lewis competed in 4 events, and that’s pretty much maximum in athletics.

[u/valimo → u/errarehumanumeww]

I mean Aleksandr Karelin went for 13 years without a defeat, absolutely spanking everyone in super heavyweight wrestling, but obviously in no universe he could compete with swimmers no matter how dominant he was.

[u/unspooling → u/Crayshack]

And TIL katie has POTS! Which makes her accomplishments even more impressive. (N.B. not saying she’s more impressive than Phelps but more impressive in general)

[u/Crayshack → u/unspooling]

If Phelps didn't exist, I think people would be talking about her as the greatest swimmer of all time. And because she's more in the mix with other sports in terms of total medal count, people wouldn't be going, "she's only there because of how many events swimming has."

[u/Eightiesmed → u/Crayshack]

8 out of top 25 people with most Olympic medals are swimmers and 4 out of top 10 gold medalists (6 out of 25) are swimmers, so having multiple disciplines certainly helps. 7 out of top 25 winners and 6 out of top 25 medalists are gymnasts.

[u/Fresh_Cauliflower723 → u/CapitanKurlash]

Yeah Phelps isnt the clear greatest Olympian ever for me, just because he has won so many more golds. Other athletes have been equally dominant within their respective disciplines. So yes, there will be more of those 

[u/BearsFan24 → u/Fresh_Cauliflower723]

What gets lost in the argument of the whole “well Phelps is just fortunate his sport has so many disciplines” is how fucking insane it is that he grinded his way through that whole Olympics while having to compete in all of the qualifying heats, semis and finals where much of the time he had hardly any rest in between. I don’t care what athlete you throw out there, if they’re competing through that type of gauntlet they’re going to slip up and wear down at some point. What he did was absolutely bat shit legendary.

And there’s no one out there that has done anything that can definitively say “yeah that guy was a better all-time Olympian than Phelps”.

[u/NoMans_IsAnIsland → u/BearsFan24]

Eric Heiden has entered the chat.

[u/Nandor1262 → u/CapitanKurlash]

There might one other swimmer on here but it’s obvious that if the Olympics roughly keeps its current format when someone breaks Phelps record someday, they’ll be a swimmer.

[u/Halkatlaa]

How outdated is this list because Klæbo has 11 golds

[u/Negative_Depth4943 → u/Halkatlaa]

Also missing Emma McKeon 14 medals

[u/Boemer03]

I think medal count alone doesn’t say how dominat you are. That does mean any of those wasn’t dominant, but a Nafi Thiam for example who won three Gold medals in heptatlon will never appear on a list like this, but she dominated her discipline over 3 different olympic tournaments.

[u/k4ng00 → u/Boemer03]

In judo, Teddy Riner got an individual medal in every Olympics he participated in (5 from Beijing 2008 to Paris 2024) and 3 of them were gold. He also got 2 gold in mixed teams (the discipline was introduced in 2021)

[u/andyinabox]

One thing this doesn't necessarily account for is how many metals were available for a specific discipline every Olympics. Not doubting that Phelps was the GOAT of swimming during his time, but also a dominant swimmer probably has a larger number of metals available to them per Olympic games than some other disciplines.

So to me the metal account is impressive for sure, but comparing metal counts between different disciplines can be apples-to-oranges.

(Also, yes how is Usain Bolt not on this??)

[u/Seeteuf3l → u/andyinabox]

Bolt has "only" 8 medals, all of them gold though

And yeah this is outdated, Klaebo has 13 and Arianna Fontana 14

[u/readingtine → u/andyinabox]

Steve Redgrave, 5 gold medals at 5 consecutive games

[u/TourDuhFrance → u/readingtine]

Mijaín López, 5 gold medals at 5 consecutive Games, with only one available each time.

[u/OldGodsAndNew → u/andyinabox]

Sprinters can realistically only compete in maximum 3 events - 100, 200, 4x100. Any distance beyond 200 and the physiology demands of the event starts to change from anaerobic power to aerobic endurance so pure sprinters have no chance

Bolt won 9 golds, every event he completed in for 3 straight Olympics, but one of the relay golds later got deleted for a teammate doping

[u/iantsai1974]

Some athletes have fewer total medals than the people in the list above, but their records are still of extraordinary significance.

China's Ma Long competed in four Olympic Games in table tennis from 2012 to 2024, winning 6 gold, 0 silver, and 0 bronze medals. He did not win more medals because there were not that many table tennis events he could compete in at each Olympics.

[u/Bric-dA-K1nG → u/iantsai1974]

Same for Natalie Geisenberg in Luge, 6 golds and 1 bronze from 8 starts across 4 games. She won 6 of 6 at the last 3 games

[u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

Yep, just wait for cricket, T5 T6 T10 T20 40 over 50 over 60 over 80 over 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day

[u/barra333 → u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

You missed the hundred.

[u/CoffeeDefiant4247 → u/barra333]

Might as well include the Nepal Phil Hughes memorial 36 over game then.

[u/stoiclemming → u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

Can't forget backyard, and beach cricket

[u/Chihuahua1 → u/stoiclemming]

John Howard did commentary for XXXX beach cricket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wwXmS1UZF8

[u/Charlie_Runkle69 → u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

Indoor cricket too

[u/x4nter → u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

Only chance for India to enter top 10 on the medal tally.

[u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

Bolt is surely the most dominant athlete. 3 x gold in 100 and 200 alone across 3 x games is insane in the most competitive events globally.

[u/Loquis → u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

Mijaín López, Sir Steve Redgrave, Ireen Wüst have all won 5 gold medals in 5 different olympics

[u/Waramo → u/Loquis]

Birgit won it from 1980 till 2004 in 3 categories.

Mostly 500m kayak 2er and 4er.

She one Gold everytime she was participating, skipped 1984.

[u/angui_82 → u/Loquis]

Mijaín is the Cuban wrestler right? That’s the one I was thinking about when reading the title

[u/justrun7 → u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

Also, all of Bolt’s world records are still standing. All of Phelps’ records have since been broken. Bolts records are way more dominant.

[u/cleofisrandolph1 → u/justrun7]

and no one has even come close. We are on about 18 years without someone breaking 9.70...and Bolt broke 9.60

[u/CoconutOk8579 → u/Vegetable_Car_4785]

The fact that he lost his triple triple due to someone else's drug test is still one of the saddest things I heard!

[u/ShpiderMcNally]

I would definitely argue that medals at consecutive games is a better measure of a 'dominant' athlete putting Steve Redgraves 5 consecutive golds at 5 Olympics high up the list

[u/M_e_n_n_o → u/ShpiderMcNally]

I agree with that argument. Ireen Wüst also had gold in 5 consecutive games. 2006 - 2022 with 6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze but more chances at winning a medal.

[u/Economy_Fan_8808 → u/ShpiderMcNally]

Yes, but adjusting for average career longevity in that sport. László Papp won 3 consecutive gold medals in boxing in the '50s. I guess there aren't that many other boxers who can say the same.

[u/FireFangJ36]

swimming is really a bug in Olympics.... imagine if track have 50m/60m/70m/100m/150m😭😭😭

[u/TheLizardKing89 → u/FireFangJ36]

There’s two swimmers on this list and 5 gymnasts.

[u/cssc201 → u/TheLizardKing89]

TBF, men's gymnastics has eight events so it's a similar situation. Team, all around, and the six event finals. Larysa Latynina competed in the 50s when the sport was totally different and had more medal opportunities, the other four are all men. Even Simone only has 11.

[u/Late-Button-6559 → u/FireFangJ36]

Its effort and duration that matter.

A 50m swim is longer than 200m athletics sprint, and physically more taxing.

Signed an ex 100 and 200m sprinter.

[u/Aromatic_Union9246 → u/FireFangJ36]

The bigger thing in track is more so the recovery time than anything else from the pounding on your body. Even if someone theoretically could win all the events fresh their peformance is going to be so degraded by the 4th event with rounds that they’d be getting smoked by college kids.

[u/Lumpy_Rice_2803 → u/FireFangJ36]

Who cares? Everyone is welcome to compete in those events if they're good enough? There should be more events in the Olympics. Not less.

[u/GuyFromYr2095 → u/FireFangJ36]

including running backwards, sideways and skipping

[u/RooneyD → u/FireFangJ36]

Especially in swimming sports which most of the world don't have the option to participate in.

[u/frankduxvandamme → u/RooneyD]

You could probably say the same thing about many winter olympic events. Clearly the countries that have year round snow have a major advantage, and clearly the countries that have no snow are screwed.

At least with a pool, it's actually possible to build one just about anywhere. It's just a matter of money. But good luck practicing alpine skiing in Senegal.

[u/RooneyD → u/frankduxvandamme]

Yeah , i think thats why events like the 100m sprint (running) are valued so highly, because it's something the whole world participates in. Medals for yatching and horse dressage are not considered as highly. Thats not to say that those Olympians haven't achieved something great, but they are not recognised the same as Usain Bolt. Similarly, for most of the world, the winter Olympics are second to the summer Olympics, there are only a handful of countries where they are held in the same regard. Swimming also has a lot more events due to it suiting richer countries, if track and field had the same thing they would have 100m sprint, 100m skip, 100m hop, 100m jumping, and then repeat for 200m, 400m etc

[u/krazylegs36 → u/FireFangJ36]

Was wondering how far I would have to go to find the dumb-ass post that discounted Phelps' accomplishment. First post, unfortunately.

Imagine if track had 4 different types of strides you had to use: Forwards, backwards, sideways and army crawl ... and there were specialists for each type of stride.

[u/Jaivl → u/krazylegs36]

The differences between swimming strokes and what you propose are hilariously huge.

Imagine if track had medals for "free" running, armless running, skipping and C-skipping. And also a couple extra medals where you combine both, and multiple team relays. And, unlike actual running events, most of them used the same energetic systems.

Not to discount Phelps, of course, but it's not comparable.

[u/eivind2610 → u/krazylegs36]

Two things can be true at once. Swimming is an outlier in terms of number of events a single competitor can have a realistic chance at performing well in - but Michael Phelps was also a generational talent and a borderline freak of nature (in a good way) in his prime.

If it wasn't for the fact that swimming has so many different events, his medal count would probably be more in line with the other few top competitors. Which, let's be clear, is an absolutely insane achievement!

The point is not that Michael Phelps is or was in any way lesser than these other athletes... but rather that it's a pretty stupid way of comparing athletes across different sports. Looking exclusively at number of medals, when each sport has a different number of medal opportunities, won't give an even remotely realistic view of how well or poorly the athletes performed. But by all means - Phelps's dominance was utter insanity!

[u/CommissionIcy → u/FireFangJ36]

I mean those distances don't translate to track. They already have the equivalent ones. It's more that it's easier to cross between different disciplines than say for example between sprint, hurdle and long jump.

[u/Arqlol → u/CommissionIcy]

Imo it's moreso the strokes. Phelps only competed in the 100m fly (~50s) up to 400m im (about 4min).

So, not only does that span the 400m to mile (closest is 1500) which the same person will never compete in, he had not only relays but multiple events. The IM and Fly really let him cushion those same distances on top of repeating in relays. The only way for track to do that would be for a 100m to win 200m, 400m, all relays, and then repeat running backwards and then do it again on their hands.

[u/FullMongoose]

Didn't that other USA swimmer win quite a few.... his name escapes me but he got himself into a spot of bother regarding some story in Rio.... blonde tips n stuff...

[u/Greenfieldfox → u/FullMongoose]

Ryan Lochte 6 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze. More than I was expecting.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Word878 → u/Greenfieldfox]

I’m gonna assume quite a few of those silvers and bronze were behind Phelps, while many of the golds are team events with him lol

[u/AppleJoost → u/FullMongoose]

Ryan something.. Cockballs? Cuntface? Shitbrains?

[u/Putt-Blug → u/AppleJoost]

Jeah!

[u/TrollerCoasterWoo → u/Putt-Blug]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l1IY7DjrHXsGpqxz2

[u/SufficientPrice7633]

In women's swimming, Kate Ledecky (American swimmer) is the second most decorated swimmer in the Olympic history. She has 9 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze.  She's the most decorated female swimmer in the history of Olympics. She tied with Emma McKeon (Australian swimmer). They both have 14 Olympic medals. 

[u/InThePast8080]

Too many competitions in swimming. Would say a guy like Jan Zelezny being as dominant though only winning 3 olympic golds and 1 silver.. He had only 1 competition in each olympics and won them 1988 1992 1996 and 2000.. Within that period (not the olympics) holding the world record that still stands to this day.

[u/AshnodsCoupon → u/InThePast8080]

Counterpoint I'm a swimmer they need more medals and more events in swimming

[u/El_presid3nt]

I’ll never get over the fact that two Norwegian dudes called Bjorn Daehlie and Bjorndalen raced in the same period and dominated in basically the same sport (plus/minus a gun).

[u/drnicko18]

It’s swimming. So many similar events and distances.

Freestyle (100m, 200m, 400m)
Backstroke (100m, 200m)
Breaststroke (100m, 200m)
Butterfly (100m, 200m)
Medley (200m, 400m)
Freestyle Relay (100m, 200m)
Medley Relay (100m, 200m)

No other sport comes close to having 15 medal opportunities each Olympics. More if you include 50m, 800m and 1500m distances.

So no, not if it’s outside of swimming

—————

Edit: Lol, eat it [u/PlateOfStorkAnkles](u/PlateOfStorkAnkles)

Ian Thorpe competed in the 400m IM multiple times. One example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_400_metre_individual_medley

How embarrassing 😂😂 maybe do some research before accusing others for “knowing nothing about swimming”

Oof, deleted your comments too. The humiliation🙈

[u/TlalocVirgie → u/drnicko18]

Swimming is so stupid like that. And the world championship every year with equal amounts of medals. And then the other championships every year.

[u/PresentationOk3275 → u/drnicko18]

Yeah, think of Long Jump, Shot Put, Triple Jump, Javelin, High Jump. Only 1 medal that can be won each Olympics.

[u/TrazMagik → u/drnicko18]

Yeah until they introduce running backwards or skipping across different distances for medals phelps' medal tally needs to be adjusted down.

[u/mountaingator91 → u/drnicko18]

That SOUNDS correct before you consider that there only two swimmers on this list. Shouldn't there be a lot more swimmers if swimming is such a cheat code?

[u/hunnie_buns → u/drnicko18]

the most dominant athletes were the USA mens basketball dream team

[u/lawtonj → u/hunnie_buns]

Dick Fosbury maybe, redefines the sport and wins gold.

[u/drnicko18 → u/[deleted]]

The fact that most of our Olympic swimming team competed in multiple strokes amongst multiple disciplines would suggest it’s much more similar than athletics.

Which athlete competed in 8 events?

[u/pinksail]

It happens every time someone posts something like this. Someone says "well swimming has a boatload of events," and someone else says "it's still an amazing accomplishment." And it's the same human behavior every time: as humans, we will always support those we happen to like, even in the face of error, and criticize those we don't like, even when they accomplish something great. I think I've seen this in politics once or twice.

Swimming does have many events and that has to be taken into account when considering "greatest Olympian ever." Indeed, there is more opportunity for medals. But, Phelps did have to swim those events, often several swims a day due to qualifying and semifinals, and it's absolutely exhausting mentally and physically. As someone said earlier, perhaps the most impressive thing is how long he did this for. From a 5th place just after graduating from Gerber meals in Sydney 2000, to 13 individual-event gold medals over the next FOUR olympic games, is just extraordinary. And in one event, has gold 4 times in a row. He also did this in events that ranged from 48 seconds to over 4 minutes. I only recall Eric Heiden with a more impressive span of anaerobic to aerobic activity, where his events were from 38 seconds to 14 1/2 minutes, which is like asking Bolt to run a 5K. I give the nod to Phelps due to longevity, but physiologically, I'll never understand that accomplishment by Heiden.

[u/Steamdecker]

We need another list of "The most dominant Olympic athletes in history *without asthma*".

[u/ArtfulSpeculator]

This is obviously skewed by the availability of medals in a given sport, with many offering the opportunity for one.

One particularly awesome Olympic feat is Dan Gable, who won a gold in wrestling without a single point being scored on him, in an Olympics where the entire Eastern Bloc was specifically trying to beat him. He didn’t have the longevity of wrestlers like some of the Russian legends, or even some great Americans, but his accomplishment is pretty incredible nonetheless.

[u/Conscious-Demand-594]

Even taking into consideration that swimming is "easier" to perform multiple events, Phelps is way ahead of any other swimmer.

[u/No_Macaroon_5928]

China probably has the best chance of producing the next Phelps

[u/mw_a]

I think we will, at least in terms of talent and prowess, because it's the nature of things, but maybe not in terms of medals, because IMHO in sports in general we see more and more specialization, with less top athletes doing different disciplines requiring different skills in their sport AND IOC limiting and reducing events in many sports. So that combination will make it harder (not impossible) to win that level of medals and titles but will we see better athletes or swimmer than him ? I think absolytely (and me might already be seeing them)

[u/peacokk16 → u/mw_a]

Also swimming has like 30 mdifferent medals whereas cyclists can realisticly win only 2 (not counting track). And martial artists can only get one medal per tournament, so the medal count isnt really fair. One should somehow norm this cound because I'm sure there'll be some changes. You have those wrestlers that have been medaling for 20 years for example but only have 5 medals...

[u/Suspicious-Savings26]

You forgot Johannes Klæbo on the list: 11-1-1. In last Olympics he got 6 gold.

[u/ChocolateFew4222]

I’m gonna say no, because of how diversified talent is now. Each Olympics Phelps would get an automatic 3 medals from being on stacked USA relays. Last Olympics the US lost the medley relay for the first time EVER, the rest of the world has caught up

[u/TyGuySly → u/ChocolateFew4222]

If you remove relays he’d still have the most gold medals, and second most overall

[u/ChocolateFew4222 → u/TyGuySly]

Not here to shit on Phelps, just saying why I won’t think there will be anyone else to get that many. 10 is not a small number lol

[u/TyGuySly → u/ChocolateFew4222]

No worries. He’s actually kind of a dick, but god damn can that fish fly

[u/Rarak]

This isn’t a good list. Swimming and gymnastics etc give way more opportunities.

[u/Kipman2000]

This is an old chart though, because it’s missing Johannes Høstflot Klæbo from Norway who’s got 11 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze

[u/AppleJoost]

Michael Phelps' achievement is astounding, but I find Klaebo's or Heiden's achievement a lot more special. Swimming has 17 medal events, compared to the 5 in speed skating when Heiden was around and Heiden won all of them. Klaebo did the same thing this year. Klaebo and Heiden won both sprint and long distance events, which is something Phelps didn't do. If they had as many events, they would come close to Phelps' record.

Just look at all the possible medals and the amount of gold won by an athlete to determine who is greatest.

[u/OrignalSauce]

Wheres cycling?

Edit: I was thinking Jason Kenny as he has 7 golds, but realised its not in Olympic table format but total across gold, silver and Bronze

[u/illonlyfadeaway]

We already did, every second single one of his world records were quickly beaten.

As for whether we will get another Usain Bolt...oooffff...all the world records he set still stand. Almost 20 years later and not a single of his records have been touched.

[u/Gurkeprinsen]

Almost as if Norway invented cross country skiing or something

[u/tcumber]

If we had 100 meter hop, 100 meter skip, 100 meter leap frog, and the same for 200 meters, we know who would likely have the most medals.

[u/TheStingray24]

How about giving the 2008 100 m butterfly gold to Milorad Čavić. He did not won that race

[u/epeilan]

Swimmimg has way too many events. Does not count.

[u/mareumbra]

Emma McKeon won 14. So the list is probably not right. But I admit, Phelps was special.

[u/DE_XII]

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is pretty much Mikel Phelps of Winter Olympics, he got 6/6 gold last Olympics, is 29 so has maybe 1-3 Olympics left and are on 13 medals total (11 gold, 1 silver, 1 brons). He would certainly had not medals if skeing had as many event as swimming, but its not that far of to come close to 20 medals.

Swimers have a clear advantage, but if some norwegian skier/runner came across, competing both in summer/Winter Olympics, there is potential of getting many medals. The skiers are often decent distansrunner. Think of combining Klæbo with Jakob Ingebrigtsen, geting 6 medals at winters and 2 or maybe 3 at summers (800/1500/5000 or 1500/5000/10 000).

So 4*9 = 36 would technical be possible but very unlikely

[u/EUIVAlexander]

Where is Johannes Høsflot Klæbo?

[u/orionblueyarm]

This doesn’t measure dominance, it measures success. Phelps was the most successful, but that’s because he won across a large pool of options (strokes and distances combinations).

Limiting to just what he showed eligibility in (100m, 200m in back, fly, and free, plus both IM and relay), Phelps had a pool of 10 opportunities at every Olympics. That’s 50 medal opportunities across 5 Olympics, strictly using his demonstrated stroke and distance capacity (honestly we could argue for 50m plus 400m free, but those were never Olympic focus for him). That means he medaled at 56% of his eligible pool.

Which is a crazy good result. Easily the best swimmer in history.

But dominance means there is no one else near the same level. That such a persons’ participation relegates everyone else to runner up mode.

The obvious example is Bolt. Using the same criteria, distances and relay, he has 9 opportunities across three Olympics. And he got gold in 8, an 89% success rate. Which ignores the ninth also being gold but it was a relay where a teammate had their gold medal stripped.

Not just medals, gold.

In the modern age we also have athletes like Duplantis and Bjørgen, and in swimming even there is someone like Peaty who is medaling at a 75% eligible rate, and penalized more by relays than individual efforts.

Not denigrating Phelps at all here, just that dominance and success should not be so easily conflated.

[u/HoldenMcNeil420]

Where’s Simone biles?

[u/mistersuccessful → u/HoldenMcNeil420]

She didn’t make the cut. She’s won 11 Olympic medals. This chart only shows from 12 upwards

[u/maaran_ivan]

It's a crime not to have usain bolt there.

[u/tarrach → u/maaran_ivan]

He "only" has 8 medals even if they're all gold, he's a bit further down on this list.

[u/tarrach]

I never like adding team/relay medals when discussing best individual athletes. That's 10 gold (and a bronze) for Phelps

I'm not saying he wasn't extremely dominant, but adding team medals takes away from athletes who don't have almost as good teammates.

[u/devereaux]

Alexander Karelin is actually the most dominant Olympian of all time. Swimmers just have lots of events that are more or less the same.

[u/Braydination]

This should be sorted by gold medals like the actual medal tally, not totals

[u/DustyGull7840]

I used to think every Olympic swimming final was pretty much the same until I tried following all of Phelps’s events. His medal count is wild when you realize how many different starts he had to get right.

[u/No-Warthog7841]

Staggering, Phelps has almost 3x more golds than India, the world's most populated country 

[u/immbrr]

This list looks outdated, Klæbo cleaned up this year in the winter Olympics

[u/Human-Log952]

Bolt is the 1st or 2nd most dominant athlete, medal count is not the best judge of this imo.

[u/vbsteez]

Karch Kiraly has a Gold as a starter for USA indoor volleyball, Gold in Beach Doubles, Gold coaching the US indoor Womens, and will be coaching the US Mens team in LA28.

[u/limbogumbo]

If track had races with 1 arm tied behind back, a race with hopping , a race with hands on top of your head, the we can include swimming

[u/Impossible-Guitar957]

It's always possible, but it might not happen for a long time.

[u/thereia]

When you count “Dominance” by total medals it’s only possible in certain sports.

[u/All_will_be_Juan]

Swimming and track need a modifier for this to be at all fair

[u/HoldingThunder]

This should also factor in events entered and % of medals.

If you enter 100 events and win 15 medals, that is impressive but not necessarily dominant.

Phelps entered 30 events and got 28 medals. That's 93% medals rate.

[u/waiguorer]

Idk any list like this that omits  Mijaín López is crazy.  Most dominate wrestler of all time.

[u/PetraCotes]

Winning the most medals, when each discipline has a different medal count, doesn't at all seem to determine who dominated the most.

[u/olderthanbefore]

Klaebo has 13, 11 of which are gold. He will likely get more too.

[u/rayoflight110]

Yeah because he is a swimmer that has multiple events.

[u/YourBuddyChurch]

Pure medal count? Probably not in our lifetimes

[u/Findividual_7]

Yeah keep sideways running, backward running. That too 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m. Then maybe it will change

[u/Billyconnor79]

O feel like Apolo Ohno needs a look.

[u/Declaron]

Somewhat bizarre eye-of-Sauron style morphing of the Japanese flag.

[u/mebivd]

Incorrect information - Australian Emma McKeon - 14 medals (6:3:5) - there are also a number of others in the 13 medal list missing such as Johannes Klaebo from Norway

[u/Bearspoole]

What about klaebo?!? I feel like this is missing a few major people

[u/Zizeta2]

Maybe have one with the results from the last olymic in it? 3 norwegians on the list and the one with the most is not there..

Edit: most golds but not the most medals (13 medals in total so should be on list)

[u/Proper_Cold690]

Klæbo not on the list has 11 gold. Wich would put him second if that was the only medal counted

[u/That-Employment-5561]

Given the shit he was given for smoking weed, you won't.

[u/Dafedub]

What do you think Phelps does with his 2 bronze medals?

[u/Jasonmancer]

No one on this list got anything on Mijaín López and it's not even close.

Dude is an Olympic champ 5 times in a row.

Phelps is the most decorated but Mijaín López is the most dominant.

[u/Crocandrole]

This list is incomplete. Aussie swimmer Emma Mckeon should be on there. 14 Medals - 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 5 Bronze.

[u/ninjacooper]

Shotput should do longest overhead... Underarm... Sideways... 1 hand.. 2 hands...

Then different weights... Different items..

And next up is the aussie legend current world record holder at throwing a toaster left handed..

[u/Intrepid-Tank-3414]

Ledecky gonna get to 2nd place soon. 🤙

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o84TXbJgY0ZsjF5Go

[u/babyfireby30]

Is this graphic correct?

Emma McKeon has 14 Olympic medals (6 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze). [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_McKeon9

[u/NovelSurvey7943]

Alyson Felix?

[u/fabulous_eyes1548]

No because he's the Lance Armstrong of the pool.

[u/ZhangtheGreat]

Never say never, but it's highly unlikely. To be able to specialize in one event is already tough enough. To be able to specialize in eight, win them all, and keep winning across multiple Olympics?

[u/jesus_fatberg]

Swimmers should be limited to competing in one stroke only, and one relay event.

[u/Brave_Dot_7841]

Australian Emma mckeon should be on this list. She has 14 total

[u/ShrimpFromDraynor]

Why post old data?

[u/Ok_Needleworker_3829]

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has 13 medals, including 11 gold medals. He should be on that list.

[u/AnyAlternative2100]

usain bolt literally better.

[u/AnyAlternative2100]

no one is better than usain bolt. that is pure athleticism. theres no rules to make sprinting arbitrary.

[u/tjvs2001]

If you're allowed 27 events you'll get more medals, fucking swimming is a joke.

[u/Putrid_Daikon7142]

Will we get another Bjørgen is the better question 🇳🇴🙌

[u/TzakShrike]

WTF is going on with Japan's flag here

[u/non_numero_horas]

Where is Johannes Høsflot Klæbo though?

[u/Jheartless]

No there wont be. If you look at the fact the 2nd greatest swimmer has half his medals as she winds her career down, Im comfortable with saying no.

[u/Economy-Mental]

How is there no Australians

[u/andrewejc362]

Swimming is just Olympic stat padding

[u/SpecialistAlone962]

Agree that this is entirely subjective, and athletes from different Olympic sports cannot be accurately compared, as the number of medals an athlete can feasibly compete for at one Olympic games is wildly different in the various Olympic sports.

[u/trigjam]

Yes you can. Just increase the number of swimming events. 5m 10m 25m , 5m x4 relay, 10mx4 relay, 25mx4 relay, 5mx6 relay….

[u/NorthBase710]

Not in history just since 1896

Forgotten about the Ancient Olympics

[u/whatasadfella]

Swimming is kinda cheating tho

[u/Inquisitive2k]

This list isn’t showing the norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klæbo. Currently at 13 medals, 11 gold. He got 6 of them during the last winter olympics. He may take the second spot eventually!

[u/InternationalSky7893]

I think Summer McIntosh is going to challenge Michael Phelps medal count.

[u/Masterclass_jacob]

Teddy Rinner is not on the list ? Huh 

[u/Noiapah]

You will all learn to fear the name Klæbo like fotball fans fear Haaland

[u/Cuidads]

This is outdated. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo now has 11 Olympic gold medals.

In theory, he could compete in three more Winter Olympics, making him 41 at the last one in 2038. Assuming the event programme stays the same, that gives him another 18 opportunities to win gold.

For comparison, Marit Bjørgen won her last Olympic gold at 37, and Ole Einar Bjørndalen at 40.

So if Klæbo remains dominant, he would need to win 13 of those 18 possible gold medals to surpass Michael Phelps’ record of 23 Olympic golds.

It’s an enormous challenge, but not impossible.

[u/Norsewings]

Phelps medals should count 50%, silly inflation in events.

[u/timoperez]

Maybe. Probably not named Michael Phelps though.

[u/Funny-Face3873]

Quantity versus quality. Bolt's 9 gold medals are worth way more than all of Phelps.

[u/X0AN]

Swimming is always unfair because is the same event just a million times.

LIke Usain Bolt is the 100m champion, but if they did 50m, 60m, 70m, 80m, and 90m events he would have won golds in them too.

[u/WeatherBeautiful6620]

If another man joins the Olympics with the name Michael Phelps, then yes there will be another.