With all due respect, I'm not so sure there's really much of an argument at this point. Thorpe was tremendous... definitely... but all of his individual gold medals (and nearly all of his relay golds) are in freestyle events - whether it be at the commonwealth, world championships, or the Olympics. Phelps is doing it in multiple styles (IM, Butterfly, Freestyle) , and basically setting World Records at each race he competes in... and at ALL of the current Olympic events. If Phelps clears 2008, then I really think this argument has to be done and dusted. In my opinion, Michael Phelps = the greatest Olympian to date.