I was informed whilst browsing Twitter earlier this afternoon that Michael Phelps, the decorated American swimmer, is one Olympic gold medal away from breaking a 2,168 year-old record. Both Phelps and ‘Leonidas of Rhodes’ are tied on 12 golds in their respective competitions (and generations), with the former looking increasingly likely to win a 13th in Rio.
It’s an astonishing achievement to even think about. Michael Phelps is a superb athlete and Olympian, and will surely go down as one of the greatest sporting figures of all time, let alone swimmers. But it got me thinking. Would this really be the greatest achievement in modern, or indeed any, Olympic history?
Commentators are rightly heralding Phelps as the greatest Olympian of our age. He continues to break records and set the bar for swimmers the world over. It is a shame that swimming doesn’t receive the kind of attention that it perhaps should. If it did, Michael Phelps’ praises would be sung as often as he deserved.
But when Olympic season comes around, it isn’t Michael Phelps who captures my attention; it is Kurt Angle, the former amateur wrestler who became a star on the professional scene. Angle was a shining star in my childhood, and I’ll always have huge respect for him and his accomplishments.
For those unaware, Kurt Angle won gold at the 1996 Olympic Games (hosted by the United States) with a broken neck. It’s an achievement that is often forgotten by sports journalists and writers, who prefer not to cite wrestling in any meaningful analysis, but it is one that is so uniquely impressive that I felt the need to raise awareness of it during this summer’s Games.
There was a documentary on YouTube in which Kurt talks openly about his training pre-Olympics and the problems that he had been having with his neck, but, alas, I can’t seem to be able to find it. During his Olympic trials in 1996, Angle suffered a severe neck injury; two cervical vertebrae were fractured, two discs were herniated and four muscles were pulled. He spent a long time trying to find a doctor [in his words] “either stupid or smart enough” to clear him for the Olympic Games that year.
Having not ever been in a similar position myself and not knowing Kurt Angle, it is incredibly difficult to describe what it takes, both physically and mentally to compete with the weight of your country on your shoulders whilst having a broken neck. Ordinary athletes would have been ruled out for the majority of the year and many would have retired altogether.
In Atlanta in 1996, he competed in the 220lb Freestyle weight class. In his Gold Medal match, Angle beat Iran’s Abbas Jadidi. Kurt mentioned in an interview some years ago that his overriding feeling when he knew he had won Gold was not one of jubilation or excitement, but one of relief. He had been through hours of excruciating pain and personal torment in the form of his trainer’s murder and the death of his father; something I may say could not be said for many Olympians competing in Brazil this year.
A video of the match can watched below.
Whatever your view, you cannot deny that the United States has produced and continues to produce exceptional sporting talent. Michael Phelps is perhaps the greatest performer in the history of the Olympic Games, but Kurt Angle will forever be my Olympic hero.
