LONDON GAMES CHIEF Sebastian Coe says Michael Phelps, the most decorated ever Olympian, is not the greatest of all time.
Phelps, 27, set a new record in London after collecting his 19th medal with gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. The American swimmer has won an unprecedented 15 gold medals over three Olympic campaigns, but Coe believes picking the best is ‘the great global pub game’.
“Clearly and self evidently from the medal tally he is the most successful,” Coe told reporters. ”It is a pretty good haul, but who is the greatest? In my opinion he is probably not.
“My opinion is no different from anyone else. I could go around this whole room. We’d all come up with different interpretations on that. ”
Coe, who won four Olympic medals, including the 1500m gold at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, is the chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. He added: “I could throw out a whole series of names. I could throw out Steve Redgrave. I could throw out domestically Daley Thompson.
“I wanted to go back a few generations, what Jesse Owens did in 1936 was unbelievable. Nadia Comaneci. I don’t know.”
Phelps, who will retire after the London Games, surpassed former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina to become the record holder for most Olympic medals won.
Seb Coe is a bitter old man he is jealous because Britain is doing crap in Swimming. Well done Michael Phelps
Phelps competed and won gold in 7 different events in Beijing,most other athletes except swimmers and in athletics can only compete in 1 specific event so therefor can only win 1 gold, but surely to compete in so many events and win all them golds, Phelps is surely 1 of the greatest.phelps number 1,Francie Barrett number 2
That’s Bull. Swimming 200 fly, 200 free & 400I.M. is as different as doing triple jump, high jump & hurdles. Just because they both involve jumping and running doesn’t make them similar enough to be able to compete across all of them.
Sure a runner could run multiple events on the track from 100m – 10,000m. Just because it’s all swimming doesn’t make them even remotely similar. Most swimmers specialise in 1 event and stretch to 2 maybe 3 events as a consequence of the training done. Bolt trains for 200 and runs the 100, the 4*100 and by all accounts could do a decent 400 too if he wanted.
Phelps IS the greatest Olympian of all time for his success AND versatility.
Surprising Seb didnt say lindford christie
I wonder if he’d throw out Ralf Schumann’s name, or if he’d differ with Michael Gault being listed as the greatest Commonwealth Games athlete…
I agree that Michael Phelps is the best of all time,but I can understand where Coe is coming from,
Redgrave was the best for 20 years winning gold in 5 different Olympics and for the last 4, he only competed in 1 event. competition for medals is so intense in rowing along with the single distance involved that he nor anybody else really could compete in more.
If Phelps didn’t go on a bender for over a year after Beijing,he may be better placed for even more gold.
His record will stand for a very long time, and IMHO, the only person that could break it,has to be a swimmer.
Great debate.
Long Live the Olympics!!
Carl Lewis. Apart from Michelle Smith that is.