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Originally Posted by highthief
I see what you are saying but given how people like Spitz and Thorpe have done similar things, so what Phelps has done - while remarkable - isn't really surprising. Had he not achieved 8 medals, it actually might have been more of a shock.
Also, many, many WR were broken in the pool due to the technology of both the pool and the suits, and many racers got close to Phelps.
What Bolt has done is utterly unprecedented. Only Jesse Owens has similar achievements to his name (prior to the Berlin Olympics he set 3 or 4 world records in one day) but to be fair, track was not as competitive then as it is today. No one got close to Bolt - he utterly destroyed the fields, and in the 100, without seemingly trying very hard. The scale of this achievement is fantastic. 3 WR in the same games is off the charts in the modern era and worldwide, more people care about this than Phelps.
I would venture to say that had Bolt been American we would not be having this conversation, such would the media saturation by NBC, etc be.
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On your last point there, I'll admit that media saturation of Phelps likely has given me an implicit bias. The only thing that would be different had Bolt been American is that this debate between Bolt and Phelps would be occurring in the mainstream media as well.
On the technology point, I've actually been wondering about this myself. Yes, a lot of people wore those Speedo LZR magic suits that helped break records... how much technological innovation has taken place on the track? Clearly there hasn't been a wardrobe change, so what else has taken place? Better shoes? Better track? I heard one of the commentators say something about Beijing having a "fast track"... what does that mean? Bouncier rubber in the tracks or something? I guess what I'm wondering is how much of the evolution in the world record time is from technology, and how much is it from sheer human physiological evolution?
Also, I counter your Spitz and Thorpe argument with the fact that Carl Lewis in '84 did similar things, winning the 100, 200, 4x100, and the long jump, to boot.
Interesting debate. I do hope that Phelps and Bolt have restored the luster of the Olympics globally. They've done the job for me personally, as I found '08 to be much more captivating than '04 or '00.