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Old 08-20-2008, 05:08 PM   #731
octothorp
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lurch View Post
I largely agree, but it is a little misleading to suggest he would have been quite that poor. For instance, Phelps would surely have won the 200m breast stroke as the butterfly stroke would have qualified (it was separated b/c it was the faster stroke but met the rule of the day for breast stroke). Phelps is also a world class backstroker, but does not enter typically. He would also likely have a great shot in the 100m free - he set something like the 3rd fastest 100m split in the relay and I doubt he trains it all that much.

On the track, the double is also much more common than let on by simply looking at the sprints. The 1500m and 5000m double is relatively common, as is the 5k, 10k double.

Nonetheless, it's pretty clear to me that gymnastics and swimming are set up for multiple medallists in a way that makes direct comparison to most other sports misleading.
Fair enough, I wasn't meaning to imply that Phelps would win only one medal (although I can see it read that way), I was moreso pointing out how we can't compare his success against swimmers of that era who were much more limited in their choice of events.
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