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Who's on the Mount Rushmore of US Olympians?

  • Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps are no-brainers.

    Then its one out of Bruce Jenner, Mark Spitz, Muhammad Ali, Mary Lou Retton, Flo-Jo, Michael Johnson, Edwin Moses.

    I go with Ali if I'm actually building a Rushmore.

    terps99 ●

  • 1980 ice hockey team.

    Yeah, it's a big mountain.

    Call me a relic, call me what you will, Say I'm old-fashioned, say I'm over the hill....

    74umgrad

  • terps99 said...

    Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps are no-brainers.

    Then its one out of Bruce Jenner, Mark Spitz, Muhammad Ali, Mary Lou Retton, Flo-Jo, Michael Johnson, Edwin Moses.

    I go with Ali if I'm actually building a Rushmore.

    Glad someone mentioned Flo-Jo. She's gotta at least be under consideration, given how amazing in this day and age that no one's come close 100 and 200 records (and that she was never found guilty of doping, despite the accusations).

    terp121

  • I'd think Michael Johnson is better than Owens. Won at 3 Olympics in 3 different events. Owens was incredible, but Lewis way surpassed him as a sprinter/long jumper.

    Owens is definitely top 10,but not top 4.

    BCiB

  • I don't think people are rating Owens solely based on his athletic achievements in the Olympics. Owens obviously didn't get to compete in 1940 or 1944.

    tecmoHOOperbowl ●

  • If you go boxing, you gotta include in the conversation (in addition to clay) : ray leonard, joe frazier, george foreman, oscar de la hoya, floyd patterson, roy jones

    BrotherAbstract ●

  • BCiB said...

    I'd think Michael Johnson is better than Owens. Won at 3 Olympics in 3 different events. Owens was incredible, but Lewis way surpassed him as a sprinter/long jumper.

    Owens is definitely top 10,but not top 4.

    Michael Johnson won 5 golds to 4 for Owens. And Owens did it in 4 different events to three for Johnson. No way is Michael Johnson ahead of Jesse Owens.

    Tabe

  • relays don't count as extra events, give me a break.

    Owens is in the discussion because of his social and political importance for race relations in the US and the whole Hitler thing. which are obviously huge. If not for WWII, maybe he would have repeated in 1940, but we will never know.

    most track folks will tell you that the difference between the 200 and the 400 is much greater than that between the 100 and the 200. Johnson was a freak. And he won golds in three different games.

    BCiB

  • Summer Men: Spitz, Lewis, Phelps, Al Oerter (with Michael Johnson, Owens, Edwin Moses and Jenner in the conversation)
    Summer Women: JJK, Janet Evans, Mary Lou, Gail Devers (with FloJo and like 800 swimmers I cant differentiate in the conversation)

    Winter Men: Heiden for sure, no other names pop in mind (Dan Jansen maybe? Shaun White?)
    Winter Women: Bonnie Blair, Yamaguchi, and probably 2 more figure skaters (maybe Vonn and Picabo are in the conversation?)

    Teams: Dream Team, Miracle on Ice, Magnificent Seven and then probably another basketball team (either men's or women's, maybe the 60 Olympic hockey team)

    thesieve ●

  • BCiB said...

    relays don't count as extra events, give me a break.

    Owens is in the discussion because of his social and political importance for race relations in the US and the whole Hitler thing. which are obviously huge. If not for WWII, maybe he would have repeated in 1940, but we will never know.

    most track folks will tell you that the difference between the 200 and the 400 is much greater than that between the 100 and the 200. Johnson was a freak. And he won golds in three different games.

    I'm not really sure who or what you're responding to, but Owens won three individual events as compared to two for Johnson. What do track folks say about the 100/200/LJ compared to the 200/400? And of course there's the small matter of WWII and/or amateurism.

    Tabe

  • Yeah, Owens has to be a lock. Even if quantitatively he wasn't the best, he stuck it to Hitler, so he's on there. Phelps, Lewis and I'd probably go Retton. Gotta include a gymnast.

    theaman

  • but who's on the Mount Olympus?

    Pleased to meet you; hope you guess my name.

    Peabody22

  • 74umgrad said...

    1980 ice hockey team.

    Yeah, it's a big mountain.

    This. I do believe in miracles!!

    "You are mentally a cat and each post is a red dot from a laser pointer." - MisterSmiley

    UnleashtheFurby ●

  • No way Spitz is on this mountain now that Phelps did his thing.

    The Michael Johnson 200m in Atlanta is in my favorite three sports moments ever (it might be #1 if you don't count teams that I root for), but Mount Rushmore has to appeal to the masses a bit too... throw Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and Muhammad Ali on there, and nobody complains.

    UMTerp ●

  • Phelps
    Lewis
    Owens
    Osburn

    This post was edited by SandlapperSpike on 8/5/2012 at 9:25 PM

    Conference realignment, SoCon style: some actual news (Mercer, ETSU, and VMI?) and a little speculation http://wp.me/plDgR-1jv

    SandlapperSpike ●

  • SandlapperSpike said...

    Phelps Lewis Owens Osburn

    Washington
    Jefferson
    Lincoln
    Warren Harding

    UMTerp ●

  • UMTerp said...

    Washington Jefferson Lincoln Warren Harding

    Yeah, I know...

    My take on this, in reality, is that Phelps and Lewis are locks for dominance over a sustained period of time in "major" sports while competing in the Olympics. I think this is more important that the total numbers in some ways, especially in swimming.

    Of the eight U.S. athletes to win 11 or more career medals, seven are swimmers. I don't think anyone believes that 90% of the greatest U.S. Olympians are swimmers. Ryan Lochte? Jenny Thompson? No.

    The eighth U.S. Olympian to win 11 or more career medals is Carl Osburn.

    Phelps has dominated his fellow swimmers, both in medals and in performance. He's at the very least the best swimmer, so he's on the mountain.

    Lewis is the best track and field athlete in U.S. history. Four consecutive long jump golds, plus his 100m and 200m accomplishments...easy choice for the mountain. Plus, he gets a bonus for his singing of the National Anthem.

    Owens is my third choice for the mountain due to his absolutely crushing the '36 Games, arguably the greatest individual U.S. performance at any single games ever, and annoying Hitler in the process. We'll never know how he would have fared in 1940 and/or 1944; he likely would have been ineligible for the Olympics by then, even if those games had been held, because of the amateurism issue.

    The fourth person could be a lot of people. I picked Osburn because no one else did, and because he picked up his medals over a sustained period of time (three Olympics) despite no Olympics being held in 1916, which could have been his peak year, and because he competed in several different events in his particular discipline (not unlike Phelps).

    This post was edited by SandlapperSpike on 8/5/2012 at 9:49 PM

    Conference realignment, SoCon style: some actual news (Mercer, ETSU, and VMI?) and a little speculation http://wp.me/plDgR-1jv

    SandlapperSpike ●

  • SandlapperSpike said...

    Phelps Lewis Owens Osburn

    I didn't know Osburn went to The Citadel.

    And while you can argue about 90% of the greatest US Olympians being swimmers, I have no problem with 2 track & field and 2 swimming. 7 golds in 7 events with 7 WRs is an incredible performance by Spitz.

    This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by ChrispyWF on 8/5/2012 at 9:55 PM

    ChrispyWF ●

  • ChrispyWF said...

    I didn't know Osburn went to The Citadel.

    Heh.

    He was actually an Annapolis grad.

    Conference realignment, SoCon style: some actual news (Mercer, ETSU, and VMI?) and a little speculation http://wp.me/plDgR-1jv

    SandlapperSpike ●

  • I literally had to look up Osburn after your post because I'd never heard of him. Definitely an impressive career, but I'm thinking one of these faces would look better carved into a mountain than the other.

    (And fwiw, that's what makes Jesse Owens so impressive - aside from baseball, how many athletes do we remember in any sport 80 years later?) I think you definitely have to take political implications into account for a question like this too.

    This post was edited by UMTerp on 8/5/2012 at 9:57 PM

    attachmentattachment

    UMTerp ●

  • Alex Morgan, Alicia Sacramone, Lindsey Vonn, [insert another hot olympian here]

    GiantsNTerps

  • UMTerp said...

    I literally had to look up Osburn after your post because I'd never heard of him. Definitely an impressive career, but I'm thinking one of these faces would look better carved into a mountain than the other.

    (And fwiw, that's what makes Jesse Owens so impressive - aside from baseball, how many athletes do we remember in any sport 80 years later?) I think you definitely have to take political implications into account for a question like this too.

    Do we really remember Ali an an Olympian, though? To me, he is on the same level as George Foreman or Joe Frazier or Ray Leonard in that respect.

    I would pick Bob Mathias before any of them.

    Conference realignment, SoCon style: some actual news (Mercer, ETSU, and VMI?) and a little speculation http://wp.me/plDgR-1jv

    SandlapperSpike ●

  • SandlapperSpike said...

    Do we really remember Ali an an Olympian, though? To me, he is on the same level as George Foreman or Joe Frazier or Ray Leonard in that respect.

    I would pick Bob Mathias before any of them.

    I could be missing something, but it seems to me that Ali, as an Olympian, is not really more important than Michael Jordan or even Carmelo Anthony.

    Tabe

  • SandlapperSpike said...

    Do we really remember Ali an an Olympian, though?

    My generation does just because of the media - he's at every Opening Ceremony. If you're <30 (I'm not, obv) you probably know him moreso as an Olympian/American icon than a pro boxer actually. I realize he "only" had one gold medal, but what else can you do in that sport?

    This post was edited by UMTerp on 8/5/2012 at 10:28 PM

    UMTerp ●

  • UMTerp said...

    Probably moreso as an Olympian than a pro boxer actually.

    I'm in your generation, and I can't fathom anyone agreeing with this.

    tecmoHOOperbowl ●

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