[Manchester United]

Congratulations to Michael Phelps on a wonderful record! Truly amazing.

However, do you actually think anyone will ever beak his gold-medal Olympic record? Most say it's 'impossible', obviously they mean improbable.

See, I made a thread the other day saying how impressive I thought Missy Franklin was and who you thought was the most impressive. But do you guys think she can challenge his record? I believe only a swimmer (maybe a cyclist at a push) can break his record due to the amount of medals he has obtained.

Michael Phelps:

6 gold medals at 19.
8 gold medals at 23.
4 gold medals at 27.
... most likely retired (I say most likely because I wouldn't rule out a relay-gold at Rio, if he chooses to go/still swim).

= 18 gold medals.

Missy Franklin:

4 gold medals at 17.

She needs 15 gold-medals to surpass the great Michael Phelps. I think she could possibly do another 3 Olympics (age; 21, 25 and 29).

That averages out to 5 gold medals per Olympic games. That doesn't sound too bad, considering she has obtained 4 at the age of 17!

Other contenders:

Ruta Meilutyte:

1 gold medal at 15.

She would need 18 gold medals within 3 Olympic games (age; 19, 23, 27).
That averages to 6 gold medals per Olympic games.

I think this is unrealistic because they would all have to be individual gold medals, as the Lithuanian swimming team suck.

Ye Shiwen:

2 gold medals at 16.

She would require 17 gold medals within 3 Olympic games (age: 20, 24 and 28).
That's almost 6 gold medals per Olympic games. This would be incredibly hard, but the China swimming team are fairly good....

Yannick Agnel, Yang Sun and Katie Ledecky all appear unrealistic too...

*I assume the cut-off age is late 20's.

PS: I realise this thread seems crazy, but I just wonder whether his record will ever be beaten...

Can you think of anyone who could challenge it? Perhaps some GB/Australian/Chinese/German cyclist under the age of 20?

Let me know what you think.

[FrescoDiMorte]

Doubt it 8 golds in 8 days was crazy, I highly doubt anyone can rack up that amount of medals. All these young and up coming ladies have won about 1 or 2 medals in these games as opposed to phelps average of about 5-6 (correct me if I'm wrong). But if anyone is going to break it, it will be a swimmer.

[Hopple]

Sometime in the future, a child will be born with ****ing massive double jointed webbed feet, and will win absolutely everything in the pool from when they're 8 to 40 years old, including doing the whole of the relays by themselves.

[hannah60000]

(Original post by Hopple)
Sometime in the future, a child will be born with ****ing massive double jointed webbed feet, and will win absolutely everything in the pool from when they're 8 to 40 years old, including doing the whole of the relays by themselves.

Lool at doing the relay by themselves

[Hood_Man]

Whenever a record is set, it creates a target for others to aim for. Someone will break it, but it might take a long time.

[Xotol]

I think it's possible and it probably will happen sometime in the future, but that record is here to stay a while. 18 gold medals, doubling the current second place, is beyond incredible. In the case of Missy Franklin, you can never tell what can happen in the future: there could be more competition, an injury or just a bad tournament for her.

Also, I know his Olympic achievements are stunning, but I've heard that his combined gold medals from both the Olympics and WC stand at 44. 44.

[VQG]

It's possible - but they'll have to be from the USA though (or another nation who produces other very good swimmers at the same time who'll help win the relays). Phelps really didn't have to do much in the relays - which is where he got that bit of luck that he's from a nation that produces brilliant swimmers.

[Malevolent]

Phelps has reached insane levels of swimming godliness infact i wouldnt be surprised to see him turn into a dolphin or something soon completing the transformation from human to porpoise. Theres GOATS (god of all time) Thens theres the level which Phelps is BOAT (best of all time).

Missy Franklin perhaps? she has the ability and the national team behind her to help? Although i dont think we will ever or atleast in near future someone do what Phelps did which was incredibly 8 golds in 8 days at Beijing, the sheer intensity of that was unreal.

[arnoob]

(Original post by Hopple)
Sometime in the future, a child will be born with ****ing massive double jointed webbed feet, and will win absolutely everything in the pool from when they're 8 to 40 years old, including doing the whole of the relays by themselves.

Perhaps his future offspring if he has any.

[Malevolent]

(Original post by arnoob)
Perhaps his future offspring if he has any.

Phelps and Franklin maybe when shes older to create on super child. Wouldn't be surprised if Phelps children were born with flippers and gills.

[Joinedup]

Yeah, they might not even be born yet though.

The great olympic swimmer before phelps was mark spitz who got 2 gold in '68 (age 18) and 7 gold in '72 (age 22) before retiring...
Seems there's a trend of swimmers having longer competetive careers and if that continues someone might eventually topple phelps, especially if they were born fortunately in relation to the olympic year and managed to get to 4 games before turning 30.

[Manchester United]

(Original post by johnharris19944)
Phelps and Franklin maybe when shes older to create on super child. Wouldn't be surprised if Phelps children were born with flippers and gills.

They could have two kids, a girl and a boy. That way, they will dominate the pool altogether.

[Dobrzynski]

Probably, seeing as the Olympics will be a round for a long time to come. Although I don't think his record will be broken in any near future.

[AspiringGenius]

Depends what sport- has to he one where there are multiple gold medals, for instance cycling or rowing (and obviously swimming). In the case of football/basketball, there isn't the scope to win that much unless you are in every Olympic team for nearly 80 years.

A champion fencer can only win six a time, and only two in their specialist arm, for instance. With swimming, there are so many races, with so many styles of swim.

[roh]

(Original post by Manchester United)

Missy Franklin:

Very good, but seems to have academic aspirations too (refuses to go pro in order to preserve NCAA elgibility and has a 4.0 GPA). Suspect this may get in the way somewhat, understandably. Phelps decided he was going to do swimming from a young age and turned pro at 15, he openly announced last night that when him and Bowman started their project it was with the intention of him being the greatest swimmer ever. Franklin's brilliant, seems really fun and will raise the sports profile but doesn't seem to have that laserlike focus on becoming the greatest.

Other contenders:

Ruta Meilutyte:

Lithuanian, breastroker, sadly not going to happen.

Ye Shiwen:

2 gold medals at 16.

Could easily move on to doing both 200 and 400 free. Depends how much the wider Chinese team comes on to get her those much needed relay medals. Also, could have other goals in her life, like Franklin.

Yannick Agnel, Yang Sun and Katie Ledecky all appear unrealistic too...

*I assume the cut-off age is late 20's.

For sprinters less so, I can see Agnel dropping to 100 for a final Olympics at an older age. Sun is an absolute monster and could get three in Rio but lacks the range of strokes.

Can you think of anyone who could challenge it? Perhaps some GB/Australian/Chinese/German cyclist under the age of 20?

Not right now, I'm sure someone will emerge in time though. As Phelps himself said, records are there to be broken.

(Original post by johnharris19944)
Phelps and Franklin maybe when shes older to create on super child. Wouldn't be surprised if Phelps children were born with flippers and gills.

She's legal...US coaches may try set that one up

Berens and Soni's potential offspring seem likely to be pretty good!

Personally I think Graff and Agassi's children are the best example yet of potential genetic gifts unlike any we've seen before!

[Jack93o]

If we lobby hard enough for an extra 20 events in cycling, I'm sure we'll one day have our own equivalent of michael phelps on the velodrome.