The greatest?

Michael Phelps has been given the accolade of the "Greatest Olympian". Well, he is certainly statistically the winner of the most gold medals, both in total, and at a single Olympics, but does this justify his title as the greatest? For starters, it's worth pointing out that half his gold medals came from his participation in relay races rather than from individual events. Secondly he's a swimmer, and proportionally there are more medals to be won in the pool than just about anywhere else - it's no coincidence that the previous holder of the most gold medals record was also a swimmer, as indeed was the one before that. So he's a talented athlete in a field where there are plenty of medals to be won. But the greatest? It depends how you choose to measure greatness doesn't it? More tomorrow.