I'm curious why Usain Bolt is getting near-universal billing as the world's most dominant athlete. Actually, I'm more curious why Michael Phelps seems like an after-thought in these conversations. For example, Phelps goes and wins more gold medals than anyone else ever has in a single Olympics and who wins the World Sportsman of the Year award? Bolt!
Recently, Phelps kicked ass at his sport's world championships but everyone is all wrapped up in Bolt's 100m run.
I guess I would be more impressed with Bolt if he were more dominating in his sport overall, instead of just dominating a single event (the 100m) and being a strong contender in a second, very similar event (the 200m). For example, if he competed in the long jump, like Carl Lewis used to do. Carl Lewis won the long jump gold medal in 4 Olympics! Not to mention a bunch of sprint gold medals. Similarly, Michael Phelps swims all those different weird strokes that the swimmers do.
I wonder how much of this media attention and public acclaim is personality-driven? Usain Bolt is a charismatic, fun-loving Jamaican guy, while Michael Phelps is a boring, tall white guy from Baltimore. The Whities just can't catch a break these days!
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