Forget Spitz's Olympic Record: Phelps Is Best Ever . . . By Far

Michael Phelps may be best remembered as the swimming phenom who failed to break Mark Spitz's gold medal record at the Athens Olympics. (Spitz famously won seven golds at the 1972 games in Munich. Phelps won a mere six golds and two bronze in Athens.) But Phelps's performance at this year's swimming world championships may be the most impressive performance by any athlete in a single competition ever.

This past weekend in Sydney, Phelps won seven gold medals (he may have won eight if a relay teammate hadn't gotten the team disqualified) and set five world records. That's five world records in the span of a couple days. One person. Five world records. That just doesn't happen. Regardless of what happens next summer in Beijing, Phelps should be remembered as the greatest swimmer of all time.