0.01 seconds to Greatness

We were two of the 66 million Americans who watched Michael Phelps catch Cavic from behind to win his 7th gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. As with most of America we have been watching all of Michael Phelps swims. It was watching history.

The next day the American relay team captured gold in the 4 x 100m medley relay. It was such a big deal Kobe and Lebron showed up to watch!

I know how everyone here in the US has been talking about Michael Phelps, the media has overwhelmingly covered this. But I wanted to know what people outside the USA thought about this. I went to BBC news, it wasn't the cover story but it made the front page.

So I want to add my thoughts on the discussion " Where does Michael Phelps rank among the world greatest individual athletes?"

Some thoughts:
*Rodger Federer lost his number 1 ranking this last week, the ranking he has had since February, 2004. Four and a half years of being Number one.

*Tiger Woods has been ranked the worlds number one golfer for over 500 weeks over the past ten years. Voted AP male athlete of the year three times

*Michael Johnson still holds the current world records in the 200m, 400m and 4 x 400 m relay. He also has ran the fastest 300 m of all time, He won four gold medals and was crowned world nine times.

*Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France SEVEN times. (I know he did it with great teammates just like Phelps) Voted AP player of the year 5 times.

I'll post my rankings later this week. I welcome your comments.