Phelps or Thorpe?


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thorpe, well he was upset when nobody came up to him when he visited New York, that says a lot about him...

no, i watched that interview, and he wasnt angry. he was surprised because of the different amount of stardom between austrailia and the US. he isn't cocky or arrogant, and neither is phelps, both are just good swimmers.

phelps got the butterfly.

he is a beast. i should watch him. some say he is the best swimmer ever... he set a new world record.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/medals?eventId=165

usa got the 4x200m freestyle too. woot.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/medals?eventId=142

thorpe was 17 at his first olmpics and was doing better than phelps is doing now

i don't remember him getting a buzz quite like phelps though.

credit that to the area maybe. you heard about thorpe, i heard about phelps.

they are both money swimmers, but phelps is owning the medals, so that would show he was better, right?

tonights the night :D don't know if its good or bad for vd hoogenband that thorpe is in an outer lane, they cant see eachother speed up the pace so that will be quite interesting.

but thorpe is a 100+ swimmer

Hoogie is a 100m swimmer..

will be a cool event i reckon :D

The problem here, is how everyone is comparing them.

Is Thorpe, a better freestyler? I would have to say yes.

Is he a better all around swimmer (Better at all 4 strokes)? I would have to say no.

Thorpe is a freestyler, simple as that. But Phelps can do all 4 strokes well.

Yes, Thorpe got medals in Sydney and Phelps did not, but as stated, Thorpe was 17, Phelps was 15.

Two years makes a lot of difference.

And it was asked previously if anyone here was a competitive swimmer?

I am not, but my 3 boys are (9, 11, 12). And they are shooting to become the first set of 3 brothers to all make the team at the same time. :devil:

(I can see it now, all 3 in the realy, with one other swimmer.) :laugh:

But, back to the topic, I think it can be agreed, both Thorpe and Phelps are great swimmers in their respective events, they just excel in different events.

Thorpe, he made an olympic record and world record

:no: The only record Thorpe has broken in Athens is the olympic record in the 200 free.

Not to slight him, he does have 5 world records (including relays), however they are again, all freestyle events.

He does not even compete in other strokes, because he cannot hang. So, he may be the worlds best freestyler, but he is nowhere near the best overall swimmer. (And lets not even get started on how he DQ'd in the 400 Free at the AUS olympic trials, and was "given" his spot by another swimmer.). :whistle:

Now Phelps may not be the fastest freestyler (he came in 3rd in the 200, an event he only swam, in order to race Thorpe), however, he does have 4 world records (including relays), and they are in multiple strokes. He holds records in the Butterfly, and IM (which consists of all 4 strokes). And has set both an olympic AND a world record (broke his own 400 IM record) while in Athens. He is also the only person to ever set 5 world records in a single meet (2003 FINA world championships) (1 has since been broken by Ian Crocker), and first male to break 2 (in different events) in one day. He also qualified for the Athens games in every single stroke type.

But I still say it's like comparing Apples to Oranges. :p

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