although Phelps will end up owning the most Olympic medlas and that can never be taken away from him, I have to go with Lewis also. There have been other swimmers that have almost the same number of medals as Phelps. No track athlete is close to what Lewis has done.

Thanks for the article D-Rob. The other day I was actually thinking about how the swimmers have more opportunity to win medals. Great points that you brought up.

I find it interesting that Doug uses the phrase "apples and oranges" but then tries to make the case that Carl Lewis is the greatest. It's an apples and oranges comparison. Longevity is important for any athlete but that alone does not determine greatness. What Phelps did had not been been in over 30 years and many thought was an unbreakable record and he almost pulled it off in 2004. Phelps could go on winning medals till he's in his 30's but he doesn't want to do that. Doug seems to think winning in olympic swimming is an easy feat. Phelps is a great olympian and so is Carl. It's apples and oranges as to which one you prefer.

One last note, I believe it was the 1988 Olympics where the relay team was dq'd. Lewis won a gold with the 1992 relay team. It was the unfortunate arrogrance of the 1996 relay team and coach that prevented Lewis from going for a 10th medal.

I must agree that swimmers have more events, thus more opportunities to win. Imagine how many any decathlete might have if they awarded medals for the individual events (like gymnastics) as well as for the all-around title! Winning 7-8 golds might not be as impressive if they did that.

Doug is obviously not a swimmer or he would't be making such stupid statements like 3 of the 4 strokes are similar and that running is somehow much more taxing on the body than swimming.

He made a valid point about swimming and gymnastics having more opportunities for medals. But then he invalidated his point by saying the equivalent in track would be running backwards or sideways.

No Doug, the equivalent in track would be running dashes, hurdles, sprints and middle distance races.

The biggest difference between track and swimming is that there are a lot more heats and qualifying races in track because alot more countries compete in track.

Trying to compare different athletes in different sports in different eras is definitely comparing apples and oranges.

Who was greater Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods?

Trying to determine the greatest Olympic athlete is just as impossible.

Baseball, boxing, basketball and golf have all been Olympic sports. Which of the above athletes would be considered the greatest Olympic athlete if they had all competed in the Olympics in their prime?

Michael Phelps has won more Olympic gold medals than any other athlete in history.

"In swimming, it's fairly common to claim multiple victories...Three of the four strokes are fairly similar and use many of the same muscle groups..."

"The track and field equivalent would be the 200-meter freestyle dash, the 200-meter backward dash, the 200-meter sideways dash, and the 4x200 medley (frontward, backward, sideways) relay."

This argument is so uneducated it's as insulting as it is ridiculous. Mr. Robinson, I swam competitively for over eight years and coached for several years more. In that time I would never equate any of the four strokes to each other. Their only similarity is that they all take place in the water. To say that really the only difference is that one is done backwards, the other with both arms out of the water, etc. only continues to prove this country's, and especially this state's, ignorance of the sport.

Please try competing in the 200 distance using the different strokes. Then come back and try to stand by your argument that they're really all the same, and in track it would just be done in different directions.

Please ask your fellow "journalists" to also stop this "Phelps bashing" and let us admire his accomplishment in peace!

First, why would any athlete or fan in general ever bash an athletes accomplishments? I am a swimmer, and I have the utmost respect for anyone who succeeds at anything--other sports, academics, music...

Second, to say such strong statements when you have clearly never participated in this sport is, as it has been said before, insulting. Ask any swimming sprinter if they would like to switch events to the distance or say breaststroke and they would laugh. I've been swimming for 12 years and still cant manage to sprint or swim breaststroke, they are almost different sports altogether. And similar muscle groups? Are you kidding?! You dont have to do more than look at the guys that swim the different strokes to know they all focus on different muscles.

Third, competing in this day in any sport is much more difficult. With the training techniques and availability of them, its surprising he could win more than two golds. The only swimmers who could compete with Mr. Phelps all train in the US or Australia. Look it up, I have to compete with them for scholarships at AMERICAN Universities.

He may not be the best, but why fight it?

This article is the same journalistic regurgitation that others have already penned trying to represent themselves as knowledgable swimming experts and/or critics. Those of us who understand the sport sit back and chuckle. Be patient Doug, soon you will be back in your element expounding, extrapulating, and disecting every fumble, stumble, and illiterate utterance of your beloved Coug gridiron Neanderthals. These are the REAL athletes, right?

When I was swimming in high school, our swimming coach, who was also the head football coach, would occassionally have his muscle-bound football players come to swim practices to help them build up their cardio-vascular capacity.

The football players, even the speedy running backs, ALWAYS swam in an adjacent lane to the swimmers. The skinny, anorexic-looking swimmers could usually swim two or more lengths of the pool for every one even the best football players could swim.

Doug and his other Phelps-skeptical sports writing buddies should try getting in a pool and SPRINTING just 2 lengths of the pool before the spout off about how much less demanding swimming is.

Take ANY Olympic swimmer and ANY Olympic runner. Have them switch sports. Have the swimmer run a 100m sprint for every length of the pool the runner swims. See who can run/swim more reps. Guaranteed, it won't even be close. You'll be dragging the runner out of the pool to keep him from drowning before the swimmer even has to sit down.

The standard for determining the best Olympic athlete is to count the number of gold medals earned, not by attempting to compare the sports or athletes from other sports. Phelps has won the most gold metals. Phelps is the best Olympic athlete ever. End of story.

I don't know why we always have to have a "who is the greatest" contest. Phelps was great in his sport, Carl great in his, and so on. If you think Michael Jordan is the greatest, so be it. If Doug titled his article "apples and oranges" then he should have stayed with the comparison. I like all great athletes in their field. They are all great.

With that same argument take that "Skinny,anorexic-lookiig swimmer" and put him in a football practice taking hits from lindbackers and see if he even survives. Nothing against swimmers I know how hard the sport is but before you start comparing other athletes just know it works both ways.

BYU wide receiver Austin Collie, who suffered a stress fracture in his leg prior to fall camp, is still on track to play in the season-opener on Aug. 30. During fall camp, Collie has been getting up at 6:30 a.m. to run and swim. In fact, he's been spending a lot of time in the pool.

"I was talking to the swim coach and told him I was swimming 900 to 1,000 yards a day," Collie said. "I said, 'If you need me, let me know.' I was just joking around with him. He said, 'Well, you have to do a little bit more than that.' I asked him how much and he said, 'The swim team swims about 10 miles a day.' I was only doing about a half mile. It humbled me a little bit."