[Our man in washington]

I’d have to go with Eric Heiden as the great Olympics athlete ever. I mean, the man won a gold medal at EVERY single distance in speed skating. No one has ever done it before or since. It’s like a running winning the 100-meter sprint, the mile, and the marathon in the same olympics.

But Phelps has to be in the top two or three. I know, that’s a domination of the Americans in the “best ever” categories. But the reason for that is if someone with Heiden or Phelps’ ability had been born in China or the old Soviet Union or East Germany, they would have figured out what event he was best at and had them focus on that. Those countries haven’t produced a lot of individual athletes who won a slew of golds. (Except in gymnastics, where you have to compete in everything if you want to compete at all.)

[dfwgator]

I’d have to go with Eric Heiden as the great Olympics athlete ever. I mean, the man won a gold medal at EVERY single distance in speed skating. No one has ever done it before or since. It’s like a running winning the 100-meter sprint, the mile, and the marathon in the same olympics.

I would tend to agree. He was as dominant as anyone could be.