Phelps is an amazing swimmer, but he's just a swimmer. For greatest Olympian of all time, my money's on Jim Thorpe, who won the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912. Thorpe won four of the five events in the pentathlon (the long jump, the 200m dash, the discus throw and the 1500m run), and placed third in the javelin - an event he had only started competing in that year.
In the decathlon, Thorpe placed as follows:
100m - 3rd
Long jump - 3rd
Shot put - 1st
High jump - 1st
400m - 4th
Discus - 3rd
110m hurdles - 1st
Pole vault - 3rd
Javelin - 4th
1500m - 1st
Out of 15 events in the pentathlon and decathlon, Thorpe won 8, and placed no lower than 4th in any event.
Phelps is impressive, though.
--Scott
"MacDonald the piper stood up in the pulpit,
He made the pipes skirl out the music divine."
Originally Posted by robthehiker
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