the world and Bolt happens to be the best at it. That still doesn't mean he's the best athlete or most accomplished Olympian.

Golf is even more limited than Swimming and requires (imo) much less raw athletic ability. That didn't stop people from saying Tiger was the best athlete in the world at one point.

Lots of people (relatively speaking across the world) don't play tennis or NFL style football but we don't question Andrew Luck's or Serena William's athletic accomplishments/ability.

And lots more people could swim. Many choose not to because it's tough and receives little fan fare outside of the Olympics. Trust me, as someone who ran track and swam, swimming a 100m/200m event is much tougher than sprinting a 100/200.

Bottom line is that they're both supremely gifted athletes and should be recognized as such. I don't care who you rank over who, but people sound ridiculous and hypocritical when they try to downplay Phelp's athleticism.