Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Phelps is the best?
Is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian ever?
Child please.
I love how the American media annoints an American athlete as the top dog of them all when he breaks a record no one knew or cared about previously. I don't remember anyone hailing Larisa Latynina as the greatest Olympian of all the times. Latynina, a Soviet gymnast, won 18 medals from 1956-1960-1964. Who knew that? Better question, who cared?
But, as soon as Phelps wins one more medal, all of a sudden, a record no one gave two shucks about is now the most important, most fabulous, most awesome feat ever accomplished.
You gotta love ESPN and all the rest of the U.S. media hype machine. Their philosophy is simple. A record is only important if an American has it.
Give me a break.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
During the time that Latynina was hauling in medals, gymnastics was a totally different sport (in fact women's sports in general were entirely different). The competition wasn't nearly as good, and the athleticism not nearly so strong. Gymnastics essentially was a niche sport that much of the world did not participate in or pay attention to, which is the reason why one little-known woman was able to dominate it for so long. Remember, the Western World didn't give two flips (if you'll pardon) about gymnastics until Olga Korbut came of age in '72.
ReplyDeletePhelps did what he did in a sport that is recognized, loved and participated in by every country in the world, with everybody's gunning for him. He had a target on his back from the time that he was 17 or 18 years old, yet he still succeeded on an unprecedented level. So it's an apples and oranges comparison.
And, if you really think that the sports news media is entirely pro-American, look at how many times over the last two weeks that the discussion has been "Who is the greatest Olympian ever: Michael Phelps or...Usain Bolt? (which I think is an asinine argument).