Greatest or not?

Obviously with the Olympics going on, this is a week for sports discussions. For example, the Today Show was discussing whether or not Michael Phelps was the greatest athlete of all time. I was trying to decide for myself if Phelps was or not. The man on the Today Show said one of the reasons he considers him to be the greatest athlete over the others, such as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, is due to the fact that people are not meant to swim for eight hours a day in water. He's right when you think about it. Our bodies are designed to run, jump, throw, and all of those other things Michael Jordan and Tiger do. In fact, we do a lot of these things all day, every day from right when we start walking as babes; however, swimming and breathing under water like a fish, is not something we do on a daily basis.

To me, Lance Armstrong is a close second because, well his Autobiography is fresh in my head, but also because I know how grueling riding a bike all day can be. After all, my sister is insane and often dragged me out to do just that several times. I remember one time specifically where we took a ferry to the San Juan Islands for an all day excursion in the blazing hot sun, where we ran out of water and forgot sun block. After that day, biking was not high on my list of fun things to do anymore; however, I really hate swimming. so I have to acknowledge and appreciate the effort that Michael Phelps makes and how he manages to slaughter his competition. If I were to make a decision based on the things that I personally would never want to do (anything that involves too much effort), I would have to go with Lance or Phelps, over Michale Jordan or Tiger.

Don't get me wrong... I am equally impressed by Michael Jordan, who defies gravity, but not so much by Tiger Woods. Okay, again, don't get me wrong because he is arguably the best golfer of all time, but I have been golfing with my husband. Basically you don't do any real activity until it's your turn to hit the ball, so it's not like he's under constant physical duress for the entire event like the other three individuals. He has to have skill and an abnormal sense of his own body movement's, but so do the others. So I would have to say that he can't contend with a three week long all-day horrendous bike race where you have the potential of being clipped by a car or being killed by your own speed an strength, like Lance. This also works for Michael Jordan because he isn't in any real danger on an indoor basketball court, but then Phelps isn't either. So, I guess it's a tie? Phelps has the whole "unnaturally swimming in water" thing, but Lance can be killed by the elements he races in. Anyway, there's what has been running through my crazy brain for today. Is there any athlete I am forgetting? Hmmm...