Ahead of the 2024 Games in Paris, WNBA standout Caitlyn Clark has declared herself the Olympic hero of her dreams.
With a 17.1 point per game average, the basketball sensation has stormed the league just months after joining the Indiana Fever from the Iowa Hawkeyes, a college team. Because of her fame and skill level, she is playing in the WNBA All-Star Game and breaking records for viewership with her debut.
Considering her skill, it may come as a surprise that Clark was not chosen to play basketball for the United States women’s team at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. However, she is the first alternate, meaning that she will be contacted first in the event that one of the stars, such as Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson, or Sabrina Ionescu, is injured or withdraws.
Even yet, she continued to share her thoughts when The Sporting News questioned her about the greatest Olympian of all time.
The GOAT is Michael Phelps.
Caitlyn Clark, who was impressed by the swimmer’s steady progress, said as much.
The Michael Phelps
With his enormous flipper-like feet and 6-foot-4 stature, Phelps—also known as “The Baltimore Bullet” and “Flying Fish”—was practically born to swim. The catalyst for all of his Olympic achievements came in 2001 when, at the age of sixteen, he captured his first significant gold medal at the World Championships.
Following that, he went on to win 23 gold medals at the Olympics, which were distributed among the Athens 2004 Games, Beijing 2008 Games, London 2012 Games, and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games. He also won two bronze and three silver medals.
“Phelps [is the GOAT],” Clark declared without hesitation. “I mean, the amount of gold medals he’s won — gotta go with him.”
Other WNBA Players Selected Their All-Time Greatest Olympians
Michael Jordan received one vote.
The Michael Jordan Wizards
Not everyone chose Clark as their Olympic greatest of all time.
Michael Jordan, according to Angel Reese, Clark’s former college basketball opponent who has also made a significant impact in her debut WNBA season, is the greatest of all time. Allyson Felix won seven gold medals in track and field in the Olympics, and Brionna Jones, a baseball player for the Connecticut Sun, remarked that Felix was the best of the best. Next, Simone Biles—the remarkable gymnast who won four gold medals in different sports at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro—was chosen by both Jackie Young and Kayla McBride.
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The speed king Usain Bolt, boxer Teofilo Stevenson, and track and field great Jesse Owens are among the other notable and legendary Olympians.
Who do you consider to be the all-time greatest Olympian?