No. Jesse Owens was for political, social and national reasons. Phelps is just the star of the moment. An African-American defeating competitors in Nazi Germany is, to me, an amazing statement of a true athlete's will and power. He defeated racial barriers in a place where hate and prejudice were king.

Jesse Owens Berlin 1936. Incredible

I think that Phelps proved he deserves the "Greatest of All Time" honor last night. Being able to continue to win event after event against people who are only swimming in one or two events total is unbelievable. And not only is he winning the races, he is crushing world records and the field while doing it.

Last night he was handicapped by leaking goggles, so what did he do? Only go ahead and set another world record. His versatility as a swimmer and his ability to rise to the challenge time and time again, combined with the fact he is now the most decorated athlete in Olympics history make Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of All-Time.

Phelps is undoubtedly the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. This is a purely objective measure based off the number of gold medals around his neck and world records under his belt. No one can reasonably take this title away from him. However, weather or not he is the greatest Olympian of all time is open to rational debate. A great Olympian is not simply the greatest athlete at the Olympics but also a great citizen of the world and representative of their nation. I am not an Olympic scholar but would love to learn more about Olympians who have embodied the spirit of the games.

well based on his last performance i would have to say that Phelps is the greatest Olympus of all time maybe even the greatest athlete of all time to our knowledge but please don't down vote me for that comment you can reply and disagree but as you can see someone thought it would be fun and down-vote all of my arguments from the past so now I'm stuck with 35% efficiency lol

While Phelps is the man of the hour just now I'm going to go out on a limb and introduce you to someone who is not only my choice for the greatest Olympian of all time but for the greatest athlete in the world during his time. His name is Jim Thorpe and he participated in the 1912 Olympics winning 2 gold medals and participated in other unrelated events during those Olympics. Jim Thorpe was born in 1888 an Irish/American Indian family in Oklahoma. He was named "Bright Path." He studied at Carlisle American Indian School and was taken under the wing of the great Glen "Pop" Warner who saw in him tremendous athletic abilities. He was a track star, a half-back on the Carlisle football team and was instrumental in winning games against the greatest college teams including Harvard, Army and the University of Pennsylvania. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.

In 1912 he won the broad jump and the 200-meter and 1,500-meter runs of the pentathlon; won the shot put, the 1,500-meter run, and the hurdle race of the decathlon; and was the runner-up in the other events of the pentathlon and decathlon. His records in the Decathlon stood for two decades. He was stripped of his medals in 1913 because he played semi-pro baseball. His medals were posthumously restored to him in 1982, thirty years after he had won them. King Gustav of Sweden called Thorpe "The Greatest Athlete in the World" and awarded him gifts as well as one from Czar Nicholas of Russia, a 30 lb. silver likeness, lined with gold, of a Viking ship encrusted will precious jewels. "Honors for past athletic achievements kept coming to Thorpe. At mid-century the Associated Press polled sports-writers and broadcasters to determine the greatest football player and most outstanding male athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Thorpe outdistanced Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski for the former and led Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey for the latter, being paired with Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the outstanding female athlete." (Encyclopedia of World Biography on Jim Thorpe)

In 1919 he joined the New York Giants baseball team and also played with the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves. In football he played with the Canton (Ohio) Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians the New York Giants and the Chicago Cardinals...another professional football team who would later be a part of the NFL. He played football until the age of 41 and was a charter member of the Football Hall of Fame, inducted in 1963! A filmed biography of his life which starred Burt Lancaster as Thorpe was made in 1951, two years before Thorpe's death. It's well worth seeing for time and place was paramount in his day. As an American Indian he was never expected to win anything...he was just expected to participate and participate he did! In 1983, he was inducted as a charter member of the US Olympic Hall of Fame.

michael phelps is the best olympian. jesse owens is probobly loved by all jews though because he pissed the living crap out of Hitler in the 1936 olympics. he made hitler so mad that he left.

As a Brit I'm going to have to say Steve Redgrave. He won Gold medals at 5 consecutive Olympics in Rowing, one of the most grueling sports out there. To maintain such a high performance level for 20 years is remarkable.

That silly African dude who couldnt even swim and doggypaddled his way to the finish line-barely.

Its Kobe!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael Phelps. He still has a few medals to come. Not 8 but more

As of right now, Michael Phelps is the man, he has 8 gold medals with 1 bronze medal. Second is Jesse Owens.

Phelps is the man. Unfortunately I'm so jaded now I assume anyone to accomplish so much must be on tons of steroids, hopefully I'm wrong.

Don't Hate A Hero

The clsest runenr u would be Misty may and Kerrie Walsh. am tlakig Beach Volleyball there,not been beaten yet this year I bleive.