Tym Glaser, Associate Editor, Sports

IN THE good, ole United States right now, everybody wants to 'be like Mike'.

However, it's not Nike Mikey, the bald dude who played hoops for the Chicago Bulls and won six NBA titles, it's some lanky fellow from Baltimore who is chasing history, stroke by stroke, in the Beijing pool.

Michael Phelps has already matched his six gold feat of four years ago in Athens and last night, in the 100 fly, had the chance to equal the great Mark Spitz's record of seven gold at an Olympic Games set in Munich in 1972.

Tonight, he could make it gold number eight in the medley relay final and stake a legitimate and almost inarguable claim to being the greatest Olympian of all-time.

His 12 golds, to date, are three more than legends Spitz, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis and Larissa Latynina.

Only Latynina (18) and fellow Russian gymnast Nikolai Andri-anov (15) have more Games medals than Phelps overall; and he has already stated he wants to compete four years hence at the London Games.

By the time he's finished, they will need a special record book just for him!

The guy's an absolute swimming freak who shouldn't be tested for drugs, he should be checked for fins and scales.

When he does drag his dripping frame out of the Olympic pool one last time, he'll towel off one of the greatest sporting careers ever. However, will he be regarded as one of the greatest athletes, if not the greatest the world has seen?

A marginalised sport

Swimming, through no real fault of its own, is pretty much a marginalised sport embraced by the United States, Australia, a handful of European countries and, from time to time, China.

Other countries, like we, compete on the world stage but the sport doesn't carry the same passion as those places.

That lack of exposure and worldwide interest does not mean swimmers are not tremendous athletes; it's just that their aquatic endeavours are an acquired taste.

In some respects, elite swimmers may be even hardier than their terrestrial brethren as their moments to shine are fewer and farther between. They swim lap after lap, day after day with the aim of world championships and Olympics or, to put it another way - a big meet every two years.

We see what Phelps is doing now; blowing away his rivals like they are swimming in mud, but we didn't see the thousands upon thousands of laps he put in to get to this stage of world dominance.

All the greatest athletes work hard - you don't get to the top with God-given talent alone; it's just that really, really great ones do that bit more.

Is Phelps better than sprinter/long jumpers Lewis and Jesse Owen? Or Michael Jordan? Or Muhammad Ali? Or Nadia Comaneci?

It simply depends on your definition of athlete. For mine, I go for Lewis due to his longevity and versatility, but it doesn't really matter.

Greatness is greatness, so let's just enjoy it.

Later.

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com.