re: What's the consensus Mt. Rushmore of Swimmers?

quote:

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Janet Evans

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I'll go with that because I met her once in College.

She certainly has a strong case...And is probably the right answer.

She Rocky IV'd the East German trannies in Seoul and broke world records at age 15.

Her 400m freestyle record stood for 18 years, her 1,500m freestyle record stood for 19 years and her 800-meter record was one of the longest-standing ones ever in swimming, and it went unbroken through four Olympic Games (1992–2004).

Between 1986 and 1995, Janet Evans won 25 out of 27 major international races at 400m and 22 out of 23 at 800m.



Phelps
Ledecky
Spitz
Evans

She’d lap you son

Spitz

I looked it up, and Ledecky’s best times at the 50 freestyle (an event she doesn’t even compete in) are better than the times of the men who are given Olympic and World Championship bids through the non traditional process.

In other words, the US and European swimmers have a very competitive process, but 1 swimmer from African and Southeast Asian countries with no history in the sport are given an auto bid as well, where they aren’t at all competitive against the Americans, Aussies, and Europeans.

There are about 20-30 swimmers in this category and Ledecky is a good bit better than them, in what’s probably her 6th or 7th best event.

Again with the Mount Rushmore

Dara Torres? Oldest US Olympic swimmer, competed in 5 different Olympic games, 12 medals

Female - Tracy Culkins.
Swimmer at UF. She was far and away the best swimmer on the planet and no one knows who she is because Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Olympics, where she was certainly going to win multiple gold medals.

Carter's decision to boycott ruined the lives of many athletes. They lost all that hard work, some quit their sports, gave up after the Olympics and fell apart or just retired, rather than buckle down for another four years. One of the dumbest decisions in the history of sport.

Many people don't remember the summer and winter Olympics were in the same year back then. The summer Olympics in Moscow were boycotted. The winter Olympics were in Lake Placid. The boycott was because the USSR invaded Afghanistan. This was around October 1979. Carter wanted to boycott all of the Olympics, but the invasion was too close to the start of the winter Olympics (late January / early February), so he did not boycott those. If the USSR invaded in the summer, not the fall, Carter would have boycotted and we would not have gotten the Miracle on Ice, the greatest sporting moment in US history. That's how dumb Jimmy Carter was as President. The summer Olympics should not have been boycotted. They were stolen from those athletes. Embarrassingly cruel decision that had no impact on the USSR in Afghanistan.

Phelps, Spitz, Biondi and Ledecky