Olympic Thoughts

So the consensus right now is that Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian ever. The argument is simple: he has 22 medals; eighteen of which are gold. The fastest man in the world, none other than Usain Bolt, has four golds currently. He's not really in the discussion (at least in the United States), since Phelps has fourteen more gold medals.

Phelps' sport gives away far more medals than a track athlete can achieve. People say, "Michael Phelps competes in up to ten different events, while all Bolt does is run the 100m and 200m." This doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Sprinters in track and field must sculpt their bodies entirely differently than a longer-distance runner, so it wouldn't be plausible for Bolt to win any more medals than he already does. It's the same reason Phelps doesn't compete in, say, the 1500m freestyle.

The only way the uneven medal distribution for track and swimming could be compensated for would be by events such as, say, a backwards race, which would be swimming's equivalent to backstroke.

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On a more serious note:

You might have heard about this already. Seven of Cameroon's Olympians have been missing from Olympic Village. Based on the article, is sounds like they are just fine, and there's no cause for worry, however. They have simply used their situation to their advantage. Seems pretty smart, actually.

Olympic defections date back to 1948's Olympics, which were also held in London. Marie Provaznikova, then president of the International Gymnastics Federation, refused to return to her native Czechoslovakia due to "lack of freedom."

Fifteen-year-old Ethiopian torchbearer Natnael Yemane went on the from his hotel in Nottingham this past June.

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Michael Phelps probably could have come closer to repeating his Beijing performance in this summer's Olympics. He admitted in an interview to NBC's Bob Costas how he slacked off in his training for London, saying he "relaxed" and was "just having fun." He went on to explain how he would do whatever he could to avoid the weight room, and did not start training seriously until 2010. Natural talent certainly aided him in what was still an impressive farewell Olympic performance for one of the world's greatest athletes.

BREAKING NEWS: Tune to your TV, as NBC is set to air the Kennedy assassination tonight in a number of minutes for the public to see...  Okay, but really, this tape delay has been really annoying.

At least ESPN doesn't get the Olympic coverage, or it'd go something like this:

"Usain Bolt approaching the finish, looks like a new world re..."

"We interrupt these Olympics for SportsCenter breaking news!!...Tim Tebow just completed two passes in a row at Jets training camp. Now, back to the Olympics."

"That was amazing ladies and gentlemen, a once in a lifetime race!"