Top 20 Swimmers of the 2000s - No.1 - Michael Phelps

Award season is upon us here at Speed Endurance HQ.

Over the coming weeks I will be running down my Top 20 Swimmers of 2000-2009. Unlike most lists I will do it in ascending order. Part of the excitement of these lists is discovering who is no.1 and since most people on the planet could guess who that will be I've decided to go the other way. I hope I don't upset too many 'list-purists' in the process.

Entry onto this list will depend on a number of factors. Weighted most heavily will be individual performance at the Olympics and World Championships (Relay medals won't count), followed by duration of time as WR holder and number of World Swimmer of the Year awards. The final factor will be the swimmer's impact and dominance in the sport of swimming.

So without further ado...

No. 1 - Michael Phelps

Performance 2000-2009

Olympics - 9 Golds, 1 Bronze
Worlds - 13 Gold, 3 Silver
WRs - 200 Free - 2007-2009, 100 Fly - 2003, 2009-2010, 200 Fly 2001-2010, 200 IM - 2003-2009, 400 IM - 2002-2010
World Swimmer of the Year - 6 times, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

The greatest swimmer to have ever lived. He took up Ian Thorpe's mantle as the most famous swimmer in the world and ran with it. To say he raised the bar of swimming doesn't even begin to go far enough.

Phelps was made to swim - mentally and physically. With his enormous wingspan, short legs and hypermobile ankles he has a swimmers physique unmatched by many aswell as a mental steel and toughness that has allowed him to remain motivated despite his success. Whilst many swimming stars reach the top of the world for a couple of years and then are surpassed by younger talent or lose their motivation to stay at the top, Phelps seems to be just as motivated now as in Sydney as a 15 year old coming 5th in the 200m Fly final.

A great piece on Michael Phelps here by GB 200 fly swimmer Steve Parry.

Franziska van Almsick Profile

Posted today on Swimnews.

"Franziska van Almsick, 31 and former world 200m freestyle champion in 1994 and record holder between 1994 and 2007, today flies the flag for all elite athletes in Germany. At the launch of a new series in Bild entitled "Heroes Without Money" ["Held Ohne Geld"], the former multiple European champion - and spokesperson for the Deutschen Sporthilfe support unit - notes that most world-class athletes in Germany put in a 60-hour week in return for monthly support of around 600 euros. Asked why athletes "sacrifice" so much for so little, Van Almsick replies: "The question is false: athletes don't sacrifice, it is a question of pure passion."

Van Almsick in my opinion is one the greatest European swimmers to have ever lived. Her 200m Free WR set in 1994 (aged 16) of 1:56.78 was something very special.(No swimsuit controversy in those times, although she did qualify 9th for the record breaking final only for her teammate Dagmar Hase to pull out sick - Video of the race below, tell me if you think she has a chance with 50 to go!). The record stood until 2002 when 'Franzi' lowered it herself to 1:56.64 at the Europeans in 2002. The new world record as well as 5 gold medals capped an incredible comeback to form. Her new WR lasted until Federica Pellegrini broke it at the Worlds in Melbourne in 2007.

She never managed to win an Olympic Gold medal. The closest she came was in 1992 at the age of 14 when she won silver, just 0.10 behind Nicole Haislett (USA) - 1:57.90 to 1:58.00. She followed this up with another silver in 1996 behind Claudia Poll, 1:58.16 to 1:58.57. (Poll later failed a drug test in 2002). Unfortunately the lack of Olympic Gold may adversely affect her legacy in swimming. I hope it doesn't. She set one of the all-time great WRs in swimming and should be remembered alongside the other European greats.

Due to her early success and photogenic looks she was lauded over by the German media her entire career and remains a prominent figure in Germany. She appears at major swimming competitions as a pundit on German TV (impressive contributions so far) and is now helping German athletes.

Here's to hoping that she is remembered, outside of Germany, as a true great.

Roll call - Olympics - 4 Silver, 6 Bronze
Worlds - 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
Europeans - 18 Gold, 3 Silver