Greatest Olympian?

My hat is off to Michael Phelps and all he has accomplished. Eight gold medals! Pretty impressive. But I can't help but wonder...greatest Olympian ever? Didn't he just do the same thing over and over to win all of them? Yes, he's a good swimmer. I got that. But do we really need to give out a new gold medal for each different method he uses to get from one end of the pool to the other?

"Now you have to swim like a frog."

"Now you have to swim on your back."

"Now you have to swim with both arms going forward at once."

"Now you have to alternate arms."

"Now you're going to swim like a frog and the guy after you will swim on his back and the guy after him will swim with both arms going forward at once and the guy after him will alternate arms."

Why don't we give soccer players and basketball players a chance to win multiple gold medals?

"Okay, now you have to play with one hand behind your back."

"Now you'll play with only three players on each team."

"Now you're going to play on a field with camouflaged trap doors and a moat around the goal."

Then maybe Ronaldinho or Lebron James would get a chance to be the greatest Olympian ever.

Yeah, I know that's ridiculous, but I also think it's ridiculous to give one guy eight medals for doing one sport and another guy one medal for doing ten sports. The "greatest Olympian" title ought to be given to the winner of the decathlon. And the "greatest Olympian of all time" title ought to be given to the best decathlete of all time.

Congratulations Bryan Clay, gold medal winner in the decathlon! Maybe they should give you ten gold medals. Or at least one great big one.

(And no, I obviously don't have Photoshop.)