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So I'm sitting here watching the Closing Ceremonies and Costas keeps bringing up the big debate over who is more deserving of the title "The Greatest Olympian of All Time (or at least of the Beijing Games)": Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. And as the NBC commentators continue to blather on, I can't help but think that the two athletes who probably deserve the title more haven't been mentioned in the debate at all. Maybe it's because they have so much fun winning that people think it's easy. Or maybe it's just because their bikinis prevent people from realizing that they are awesome athletes.
I am, of course, talking about Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Look, the debate is never going to be resolved, and I never understand why people insist on trying. It is an impossible feat because it's simply too difficult to compare from one sport to another. Some things just don't translate. Perhaps the only way we could do that is to evaluate how well they dominate, break and set world records, and act as ambassadors of their respective sports over the course of time. By that standard, you can't get any better than Kerri and Misty.
You want grace under pressure? Try keeping your focus while everyone talks about your winning streak of what would turn into 13 straight international titles and 89 games in a row.
You want handling media scrutiny? Try dealing with the mockery that comes with playing in a bikini on a day to day basis and the sniggers that come after you celebrate your victory by hugging in the sand.
You want writing history? Try winning a gold medal with a perfect record, not dropping a set once, let alone a game.
Then imagine doing that twice. And doing better the second time around at that.
May and Walsh came away from these Games with an even better record than they did in the Athens Games with a winning streak of 108 games, 19 straight international titles, and 47 sets in a row. They endured the taunts when President Bush tapped Misty's back because of an inside joke about her tattoos. Under all expectation and pressure to deliver on the hype, they won their second back-to-back Olympic gold medal in weather so bad, BMX racers postponed their race. And they did it without dropping a set. That's like if Michael Phelps won every single heat, semi-final, and final in his events here in Beijing-- and then went on to do it again in London in 2012.
That's not to diminish what Phelps and Bolt have done, because what they have done is amazing. It's just that Misty and Kerri have done one thing more than them: proven their undisputed dominance over time. Unlike Bolt and Phelps, May-Treanor and Walsh came into the Games with their rockstar status already in place. To achieve greatness in a sport is to become a legend; to do it again is to leave a legacy.
Just because there is only one medal in beach volleyball doesn't mean that they are any less versatile than Phelps. In beach volleyball, you cannot simply be a setter, a blocker, a digger or a spiker. You have to be all these things at once because there are only two of you on the court. There are no world records for them to match or beat like there is in track and field, but no one could argue that May and Walsh's record 28 perfect sets over 2 Olympic Games is anything short of historic.
To put it mildly, Misty and Kerri aren't just greatest of these Games, they are undisputedly the greatest beach volleyball team ever. No one seems to touch them. They never seem to fall behind, and when the pressure does kick up a notch, astonishingly they become more relaxed before pounding their opponents into the ground. Their rivals have even said half-jokingly that they need an international convention to figure out a way to beat them, because they are the most winningest women in their sport. To date, May is the only one to be voted the MVP, best Defensive and best Offensive player in a single year by the AVP. The gold medal win makes Walsh only the sixth person overall to win 100 career titles, and the youngest and fastest one to reach that title to boot. The other woman in that company? Misty of course. No one, man or woman, has done what they have done in the history of their sport.
Misty May-Treanor (R) and Kerri Walsh (L): kicking ass and taking names. On playing against their opponents: "We want to kill them...respectfully, of course."
And sure, one could argue that the history of beach volleyball in the Olympics is so much shorter than that of swimming and track and field. The sport was only added in 1996. However, the sport of beach volleyball has been around for more than 80 years. I'd like to see anyone in any sport boast a win-loss record like theirs: 715-50 over 8 years. Imagine only losing 14.3% of your games over your entire stint with one team. You'd be hard pressed to find many athletes who have set so many records, done so many firsts, and have dominated their sport so thoroughly and for so long as Kerri and Misty. What they did in Beijing was just the icing on the cake.
So for that reason, if we *have* to give the title out to someone in these Games, they get my vote for the Greatest of All Time. Given time, I'm sure that Michael Phelps will eventually deserve the title by defending his medals and breaking more times. Or Bolt might top him, I don't know. For these Games, though, the title belongs to the Golden Girls of Beach Volleyball because they have proven they can and will re-write the history books again and again.
Just don't ask them to pick which one of them deserves the title more. "Who is the better player, me or Misty?" Kerri scoffed when asked the question. "That's a stupid question. I'm not even going to answer that."
Maybe we should do the same.
I am, of course, talking about Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Look, the debate is never going to be resolved, and I never understand why people insist on trying. It is an impossible feat because it's simply too difficult to compare from one sport to another. Some things just don't translate. Perhaps the only way we could do that is to evaluate how well they dominate, break and set world records, and act as ambassadors of their respective sports over the course of time. By that standard, you can't get any better than Kerri and Misty.
You want grace under pressure? Try keeping your focus while everyone talks about your winning streak of what would turn into 13 straight international titles and 89 games in a row.
You want handling media scrutiny? Try dealing with the mockery that comes with playing in a bikini on a day to day basis and the sniggers that come after you celebrate your victory by hugging in the sand.
You want writing history? Try winning a gold medal with a perfect record, not dropping a set once, let alone a game.
Then imagine doing that twice. And doing better the second time around at that.
May and Walsh came away from these Games with an even better record than they did in the Athens Games with a winning streak of 108 games, 19 straight international titles, and 47 sets in a row. They endured the taunts when President Bush tapped Misty's back because of an inside joke about her tattoos. Under all expectation and pressure to deliver on the hype, they won their second back-to-back Olympic gold medal in weather so bad, BMX racers postponed their race. And they did it without dropping a set. That's like if Michael Phelps won every single heat, semi-final, and final in his events here in Beijing-- and then went on to do it again in London in 2012.
That's not to diminish what Phelps and Bolt have done, because what they have done is amazing. It's just that Misty and Kerri have done one thing more than them: proven their undisputed dominance over time. Unlike Bolt and Phelps, May-Treanor and Walsh came into the Games with their rockstar status already in place. To achieve greatness in a sport is to become a legend; to do it again is to leave a legacy.
Just because there is only one medal in beach volleyball doesn't mean that they are any less versatile than Phelps. In beach volleyball, you cannot simply be a setter, a blocker, a digger or a spiker. You have to be all these things at once because there are only two of you on the court. There are no world records for them to match or beat like there is in track and field, but no one could argue that May and Walsh's record 28 perfect sets over 2 Olympic Games is anything short of historic.
To put it mildly, Misty and Kerri aren't just greatest of these Games, they are undisputedly the greatest beach volleyball team ever. No one seems to touch them. They never seem to fall behind, and when the pressure does kick up a notch, astonishingly they become more relaxed before pounding their opponents into the ground. Their rivals have even said half-jokingly that they need an international convention to figure out a way to beat them, because they are the most winningest women in their sport. To date, May is the only one to be voted the MVP, best Defensive and best Offensive player in a single year by the AVP. The gold medal win makes Walsh only the sixth person overall to win 100 career titles, and the youngest and fastest one to reach that title to boot. The other woman in that company? Misty of course. No one, man or woman, has done what they have done in the history of their sport.
Misty May-Treanor (R) and Kerri Walsh (L): kicking ass and taking names. On playing against their opponents: "We want to kill them...respectfully, of course."
And sure, one could argue that the history of beach volleyball in the Olympics is so much shorter than that of swimming and track and field. The sport was only added in 1996. However, the sport of beach volleyball has been around for more than 80 years. I'd like to see anyone in any sport boast a win-loss record like theirs: 715-50 over 8 years. Imagine only losing 14.3% of your games over your entire stint with one team. You'd be hard pressed to find many athletes who have set so many records, done so many firsts, and have dominated their sport so thoroughly and for so long as Kerri and Misty. What they did in Beijing was just the icing on the cake.
So for that reason, if we *have* to give the title out to someone in these Games, they get my vote for the Greatest of All Time. Given time, I'm sure that Michael Phelps will eventually deserve the title by defending his medals and breaking more times. Or Bolt might top him, I don't know. For these Games, though, the title belongs to the Golden Girls of Beach Volleyball because they have proven they can and will re-write the history books again and again.
Just don't ask them to pick which one of them deserves the title more. "Who is the better player, me or Misty?" Kerri scoffed when asked the question. "That's a stupid question. I'm not even going to answer that."
Maybe we should do the same.
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