The debate about the finest athlete of all time continues to split opinions because of the talent available. When taking the Olympic Games into contention, there are many superstar athletes. Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Jesse Owens, and Nadia Comaneci are names who dominated their sport. But Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are a notch above others. The duo dominated the Olympics like no other, not just winning medals but creating remarkable fan bases and records.

However, it went south for the American swimmer when ESPN put forward a list containing the top 20 dominant athletes in the last two decades, and Phelps didn’t make it. Track and field athletes Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix made their way into the list, and one of the most dominant swimmers did not make it. They gave their reasons for not selecting Phelps later.

Michael Phelps omitted

ESPN’s Peter Keating spoke about swimming having more events than other sports. He explained how there were various other factors to be taken into consideration while building a list. Hence, it confused fans. They explained there is no annual scoring system for individual swimmers, and it was difficult for Phelps and even Ledecky to get their names on the list. In addition, they spoke about how it is impossible to combine times across distances, disciplines, and other swimming-related events. Hence, that resulted in the exclusion.

“We’d love to tell you where Phelps and Katie Ledecky rank on our list of most dominant athletes, but we can’t. It’s not our fault, it’s the data,” wrote Keating. Most people also wanted to know why Felix had her name on the list. They came up with the explanation that Felix won more gold medals. In that case, fans brought in Phelps’ 23 gold medals.

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The second-most decorated Olympian, Larisa Latynina, won nine golds, five silvers, and four bronzes. Hence, it makes little sense for him to miss out. 

Olympic legend

In an interview, Phelps was asked, whom he would choose as the greatest Olympian ever, “Bolt or Phelps?” he only had one answer in his mind. “Myself.” And deservedly so. He won consistently for four straight Olympics. It is just a testament to his hard work and dedication that qualified him as an athlete. These intangibles are hard to measure. But, he achieved success like no swimmer in the world ever did. 

Despite Phelps not being on the list, several other legends made their way into it. Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Serena Williams, and Michael Schumacher are some famous athletes to be included. Probably, most fans will always recognize Phelps as the greatest Olympian of all time.

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