{"id":442780,"date":"2020-08-04T06:31:20","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T13:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=442780"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:19:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:19:06","slug":"league-of-legends-overall-stroke-podiums-phelps-tops-spitz-matthes-thorpe-snap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/league-of-legends-overall-stroke-podiums-phelps-tops-spitz-matthes-thorpe-snap\/","title":{"rendered":"League of Legends Overall & Stroke Podiums: Phelps Tops Spitz & Matthes\/Thorpe Snap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, <\/span>Swimming World<\/em> Editors <\/span>Craig Lord <\/em>and<\/span> John Lohn<\/em>\u00a0put together an event-by-event\u00a0<\/span>League of Olympic Swim Legends<\/span><\/strong> in which the likes of<\/span> Michael Phelps<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>excelled, to the surprise of no-one (we hope)<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The rest of the SW team, <\/span>Liz Byrnes, Ian Hanson, Matt de George<\/em> and<\/span> Andy Ross<\/em>, aided by the watchful eye of<\/span> Dan D’Addona<\/em>\u00a0compiled our <\/span>Tokyo2020 Visions<\/strong>, with previews that take races up to the closing metres of battle but not beyond. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here, we sum up with stroke and overall podiums. Today, Men<\/strong>…<\/span><\/p>\n

The future of Olympic swimming is a year away, all being well<\/a>. In the void left by postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, we marked the days by following the Tokyo 202One schedule<\/a><\/strong> event by event.<\/p>\n

Our League of Legends\u00a0focused purely on Games results in solo events to allow us to line-up a battle of the ages for each race in the modern Olympic program. Given the many changes to the sport over the past 124 years back to Athens 1896, we tried to balance actual Olympic results with the world-record pioneers who set the pace at a time when events such as 200m freestyle, 200m medley, medley and butterfly at all, and so on, hadn’t yet made it to the world of Olympic swimming.<\/p>\n

Our emphasis was on Medals, World Records, Longevity. We set a rule: no swimmers suspended for a positive doping test were eligible, nor were those who, sadly, were abused by systematic doping. We also provided a Lane 9 to add spice to line-ups with phenomenal athletes who were denied their chance to show their best, whether by boycott or because of other kinds of barriers, such as ‘no such event in his\/her era’ or ‘beaten by those whose performances were enhanced by doping.<\/p>\n

Michael Phelps – King of The League of Legends<\/h2>\n

Now, to sum up the series, we tally up our scores to produce stroke podiums and an overall podium of greats for both men and women. Our men’s podiums below feature Michael Phelps<\/strong> three times. No great surprise there: overall victory is built on the strength of the versatility packed into podiums earned on freestyle, butterfly and medley.<\/p>\n

\"michaelphelps\"

Michael Phelps – Photo Courtesy: SwimSketch<\/p><\/div>\n

Our virtual ‘fly and medley podiums are topped by the American coached by Bob Bowman. <\/strong>Phelps won the 100, 200m\u00a0butterfly and the 200 and 400m\u00a0medley in our event-by-event battles (links below).<\/p>\n

For the overall and stroke podiums, we use a count that reduces the heavy emphasis on longevity to provide balance for the huge, if short, impact of those who came, conquered in magnificent fashion, and moved on, for a variety of reasons, before their full potential might have been realised.<\/p>\n

How to measure impact?\u00a0Not easy. For the podiums below we grant points for medals of each colour in strokes, the number of World records set, lend weight to multi-medal efforts at a single Games, take account of the range of events, strokes and distances excelled in nod to the longevity of pioneering pace achieved by the protagonists. For the overall podiums, we take account of the versatility of the athletes: bonus points were awarded for the number of strokes and events and distances the athlete excelled in.<\/p>\n

Obviously, that may well be an advantage to those who make the podiums in sprint and distance freestyle (more shots) but the history of swimming also shows us how relatively rare it is to find a swimmer capable of making an Olympic podium over a stretch from 100m to 400m, let alone 100m to 800 or 1500m.<\/p>\n

All such exercises are imperfect and the fact is: there is no race for an overall podium nor indeed across the ages. We’re in the virtual world and each of you will have your own thoughts about what that looks like. Fun and filling the void of a missing and much missed Olympic was the point, so we hope you enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

The men’s overall race produced convincing winners in most categories; in the women’s races, there were a few more ties.<\/p>\n

Today:\u00a0League of Legends – Men<\/h2>\n

Overall – Gold For Phelps<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Michael Phelps (USA); 2. Mark Spitz (USA); = 3 Roland Matthes (GDR); Ian Thorpe (AUS)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Phelps’ dominance is to be found nowhere else in swimming: \u00a0he won with more than twice as many points as the closest man to him, Spitz, a winner of seven golds, four of them in solo events, compared to the 13 gold, 2 silver and one bronze in \u00a0solo events claimed by Phelps at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games. Spitz was extraordinary, of course, and his count placed him more than 20 points ahead of the snap for bronze.<\/p>\n

    League of Legends Stroke Podiums<\/h3>\n
    \"Ianthorpe\"

    Those Feet… SwimSketch<\/p><\/div>\n

    Freestyle<\/h2>\n

    Men:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Overall: 1. Ian Thorpe<\/strong> (AUS); Alex Popov (RUS); Vladimir Salnikov (URS)<\/p>\n

    Winners of the spectrum:<\/em><\/p>\n

    Sprint: Alex Popov<\/strong> (RUS). Distance: Vladimir Salnikov<\/strong> (URS)<\/p>\n

    \"(Original

    Roland Matthes – SwimSketch<\/p><\/div>\n

    Backstroke<\/h2>\n

    Men:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    1. Roland Matthes<\/strong>\u00a0(GDR); Aaron Peirsol (USA); John Naber (USA)<\/p>\n

    \"kosukekitajimasketch\"

    Kosuke Kitajima – SwimSketch<\/p><\/div>\n

    Breaststroke<\/h2>\n

    Men:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    1. Kosuke Kitajima\u00a0(JPN)<\/strong>; John Hencken (USA); David Wilkie (GBR)<\/p>\n

    Butterfly<\/h2>\n
    \"phelpsbowman\"

    Michael Phelps and coach Bob Bowman Photo Courtesy: SwimSketch<\/p><\/div>\n

    Men:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    1. Michael Phelps\u00a0(USA)<\/strong>; Mark Spitz (USA); Michael Gross (FRG)<\/p>\n

    Medley<\/h2>\n

    Men:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    1. Michael Phelps\u00a0(USA)<\/strong>; Tamas Darnyi (HUN); Ryan Lochte* (USA)<\/p>\n