2016 Olympics. - Brazil

LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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Goddamn Phelps is a beast. 20 fucking gold medals. What can you even say about that?
 
Szlia

Szlia

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I noticed the thread enjoys a number of swiss female athletes, so congratulation to Heidi Dithelm Gerber who beat the world N°1 in the bronze medal match!

WZrkov7.jpg


Oh that was in 25m Pistol Shooting and she is 47!

An impressive achievement when you consider the oldest female medalist in an individual event was 53 (Sybil “Queenie” Newall: gold in archery in 1908!). Still, I'll rank it as less impressive as Oksana Chusovitina who is in the gymnastic vault final at 41!
 
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Tim

Tim

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I knew this Phelps guy was pretty good, but I never realized the magnitude of how many more medals he has than anyone else in history. 21 golds when second place is 9? How longs it going to be before anyone ever matches that?
 
Szlia

Szlia

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From a purely numerical standpoint, it can only be a swimmer or possibly a total freak of a gymnast (on paper a male gymnast can win 8 gold medal in a single Olympic - in practice, the best I could find with my Google-Fu is that in 1980 the russian Dityatin managed to get 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze). Swimming is still a lot more likely since a specific morphology gives an edge in all disciplines but breaststroke. So basically, the next tall guy with freakishly long arms and freakishly big feet, that has a gift for swimming, is willing to spend the hours and is from a strong swimming nation to help him score the team events is the guy that will match Phelbs' record.

Also, Phelps reached this incredible tally over 5 Olympiads. That means being a top competitor during 17 years! As time goes by and our knowledge of conditioning, nutrition, treatment, etc. improves, athletes's career should be longer and longer so maybe in 2040 a guy competing in Kayaking (5 potential gold per Olympiad) will beat Phelps tally during his seventh games! Unless Phelps himself will be back in 2020 for team events.
 
brekk

brekk

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Szlia said:
Also, Phelps reached this incredible tally over 5 Olympiads. That means being a top competitor during 17 years!
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That's the big killer, it definitely won't be a gymnast their careers don't last long enough. Swimmers have the advantage that as long as you stay in top condition it's not a hard impact on your body. Shit senior citizens do exercise in a pool, BECAUSE of their shitty joints.
 
Szlia

Szlia

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I agree, but the counter example is the aforementioned Oksana Chusovitina who at 41 is competing in her 7th games! She won a team gold medal in 1992 and a vault silver medal in 2008! That said, for a gymnast to have this extremely rare longevity AND being dominant throughout seems nigh impossible.
 
Drakain

Drakain

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They were saying tonight that Phelps said he was the strongest he's ever been physically, but the question mark would be his endurance at 31. I'd say as long as he doesn't have to do two events in one evening again he'll be fine. Unless they're talking a cumulative effect over 4-5 days?
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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People didn't think Mark Spitz 7 golds would ever be equaled at one point and Phelps crushed the fuck out of that so probably someday somebody else will do it but that is a crazy number.
 
Szlia

Szlia

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Spitz record was 7 gold in a single Olympiad (Phelps brought that to 8). The funny part is that Spitz competed in 'only' 2 Olympiads (equaling the record of 9 gold medals, but faaaar from the 18 medals total of Larisa Latynina) and retired from competitive swimming at 22!

PS: Sorry for the aforementioned gymnast Dityatin and for my bad google-fu: Vitaly Scherbo managed to win 6 gold medals in 1992!
 
Dyvim

Dyvim

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Szlia said:
From a purely numerical standpoint, it can only be a swimmer or possibly a total freak of a gymnast (on paper a male gymnast can win 8 gold medal in a single Olympic - in practice, the best I could find with my Google-Fu is that in 1980 the russian Dityatin managed to get 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze). Swimming is still a lot more likely since a specific morphology gives an edge in all disciplines but breaststroke. So basically, the next tall guy with freakishly long arms and freakishly big feet, that has a gift for swimming, is willing to spend the hours and is from a strong swimming nation to help him score the team events is the guy that will match Phelbs' record.

Also, Phelps reached this incredible tally over 5 Olympiads. That means being a top competitor during 17 years! As time goes by and our knowledge of conditioning, nutrition, treatment, etc. improves, athletes's career should be longer and longer so maybe in 2040 a guy competing in Kayaking (5 potential gold per Olympiad) will beat Phelps tally during his seventh games! Unless Phelps himself will be back in 2020 for team events.
Click to expand...

Yeah also keep in mind there are certain, errm "vitamins" available which help athletes to reach morphology thats highly desired in swimming, when taken at the right age.
 
Leon

Leon

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Dyvim said:
Yeah also keep in mind there are certain, errm "vitamins" available which help athletes to reach morphology thats highly desired in swimming, when taken at the right age.
Click to expand...

Source? I ain't doubting it's just the first I hear of this.
 
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