FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Phelps, hands down - staring down the history of Mark Spitz, the sheer quantity and diversity of events with quick turnaround times between competitions, and the pressure of delivering with expectations, Bolt is ridiculous, no doubt, but Phelps has cemented his status as an icon and an Olympic legend by delivering the gold time and time again when it mattered most and while wearing perhaps the biggest Olympic target in history.

Bolt, without a doubt. Phelps is an amazing athlete, but his 8 medals is largely a reflection of having 8 events to enter. If there were 8 sprinting events, is there any doubt that Bolt would win them all, barring a major injury? No, there isn't. Phelps barely won one race, while Bolt toyed with and destroyed his competition. I don't remember Phelps slowing down and hot-dogging during any of his races. In just about any other Olympics, Phelps would be the unquestioned most dominant athlete. But not this time.

I think you have to look at these in 2 different contexts: for pure endurance and pressure over time, you have to say Phelps is more impressive. He had to sustain excellence over more days and in even in different styles. But one thing to remember is that he required help for 37.5% of his golds.

But for pure athletic dominance, you have to go with Bolt. Its one thing to break a WR that was set a day before, or that was broken by even others in the same race, but to break such long standing, almost-impossible to believe record as the 200m and to make a mockery of the field and his own personal record WHILE CELEBRATING 20m out is just ridiculous.

Bolt because there are fewer events in track. Also breaking a world record in track was not as frequent as it was in swimming this year. Almost every wr fell in swimming. Not taking anything away from phelps but the track 100 is something everyone in the world can relate to ie the worlds fastest man. Almost everyone can run not everyone can swim.

BOLT - Hands down.
As bootup states above, Phelps needed help to get some of his gold medals unlike Bolt who did it by himself.
The race that Phelps barely won - and man was it close - Bolt ran away with his races (sorry for the pun).
He is a great athlete to watch and so much fun as he jogs to the finish line when he realizes he has won.
WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bolt, without question. Phelps is amazing, but his world records were at least in part due to the new LZ Racer suit. Bolt had no such help and the degree of his dominance is almost impossible to believe. How can someone run a 9.69 in the 40 after pulling up and celebrating before the finish line? Incredible.

Phelps, bolts equaled carls record, Phelps broke the record. He is standing alone in the history as of now, bolts is not.

I think although Phelps' performance is clearly the more impressive Bolt is undoubtedly the star of the Games. Bolt has the swagger and personality you want in great champions and this will make his performances the more memorable. Phelps on the other hand, despite his greatness, is unfortunately found lacking in the personality department.

Err, I meant the 100, not the 40. I have football on the brain. Speaking of which, how long until the Raiders offer Bolt a contract?

Are you an American journalist? If so, don't think you're getting into a White House press briefing anytime soon, what with you questioning motherhood and apple pie and all things good and sacred. If we've learned anything from these Olympics, it's that everything with USA at the top is unquestionably sacrosanct, and everything else (especially with USA right underneath) is one of the biggest controversies ever unleashed on humankind.

Aside from that, I view the difference between swimming medals and running medals as the difference between, say, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance: everyone thinks they can swim and run (or sing and dance), but there's a reason these folks are in the top 8, and you're not! In my case, I can neither swim nor run, so hey, I'm not ripping anyone for their dominance or lack thereof.

Go USA! :)

"Lightening" Bolt, beyong any comparative sport's analysis. Bolt's feat is simply extra terestial. Don't get me wrong, I did not diminish Phelp's neptunian god performance, he is an awsome human specimen.

You kidding me? Phelps 100% You people are whining that he barely won that one event, but Bolt's blow out was in two running events. Im not arguing that he isnt amazing, but Phelps snagged 8 medals in completely seperate events. Some which require a completely different type of training than the others. Phelps now has the most gold medals of any olympian ever on top of the most gold medals in a single Olympics. The race that "Phelps barely won" was not even one of Phelp's specialties. Phelps may have not won all of his races by huge lengths but almost every single one was a WR and he dominated by winning ALL of he races he took part in.

Dont forget that a blow out doesnt negate 8 world record medals, Phelps will remain as the World's greatest olympian for years to come.

Phelps, without a doubt. He broke a much older record that had a much higher bar of achievement. He was also a gracious champion who gave it his all. Bolt's achievement, while impressive fell short and was diminished by his "hot-dogging" before finishing his race. He obviously did not give 100%. Had he had more races to run (u, you mean like the 4x100?), perhaps he might have won 8 golds and broken 7 world records.... but he didn't.

Phelps had close races - like that one where the other guy lifted his head up a second before he was going to beat Phelps - but Bolt dominated; Bolt is what I will remember.

bolt would have to win 100/200 +1500 and high jump to compare to phelps. that is how versatile phelps swims were

Bolt is the more memorable. Swimming needs to be looked at in adifferent way when so many events can be entered by one man. There is a huge imbalance of events in the pool compared to track and field. On another point why do Americans insist on being top of the medals table, when China has way more Gold medals. Every other country reates the table on Gold medals won.
So did the USA till they were second.

Phelps, because he knows how to win with class! Bolt acts like somebody gives a damn about him running, OUTSIDE of the olympics.....just one opinion!

I gotta go with bolt in a close one and heres why. Usain bolt has simply dominated in stunning fashion ala the 100 meter race, only god knows what would have happened if he would have run thrrough all 100 meters. Now, with all do respect to Phelps one of his close finishes will be the subject of controversy for years to come. Now a thought for all to ponder, what if Bolt won the 100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, 100 meter hurdles, 400 meter hurdles, 4x100 and the 4x400 meter....Hmmmmm would this still even be a subject of debate ? Bottom stline track and field athletes have a way tougher field of athletes to compete in. They compete in races where if you come out to slow its all over in a matter of seconds or if you come out to fast in some of the distance races you burn out to soon. Swimming is an event to me where the water aids you and you can recover from a disaerous start..

Bolt's performance is superior. I think the very nature of the 100 and 200 races sets a higher bar; to be the fastest man in the world. He did something nobody has done since Carl Lewis. Most people over 18 at least recognize that name. I had never heard of Mark Spitz until this year. In context of the Olympics, comparing the 100 and 200 to swimming is like comparing football to tennis. They are two entirely different leagues. Sprinting is always one of the most popular events at the Olympics.

Bolt crushed the people he raced against. He simply looked much more dominating in his wins. He beat his own world record in the 100 without even running through the line.

To comment to Prem who says Phelps is alone in history whereas Bolt is not, Bolt is the first person in history to set the world record in the 100 and the 200 at the same Olympics, and he did it easily.

A good point made is that these sprinting records are not broken easily (ordniarily). I felt like every swimming event I watched someone broke a record and those records mostly did not go back very far.

The best performance was clearly the one delivered neither by Bolt nor by Phelps but by the doctors that cooked up whatever PEDs they were using....