Greatest Olympian Ever? Michael Phelps truly is one of a kind.

Somewhere, Mark Spitz is smiling.

Sure, maybe the legendary Olympic swimmer isn't exactly ecstatic about the possibility of Michael Phelps breaking his record of seven gold medals won in a single Olympic Games. After all, Spitz has held this spectacularly impressive record for 36 years. Should Phelps go on to capture eight gold medals in Beijing, as he seems destined to do, it will not be easy for Spitz to accept the fact that he has been surpassed. Spitz's recent complaints regarding his non-invitation to these Olympic Games, and his insistence that he too would have won eight golds if given the opportunity, sound a lot like the little boy who always whines when he loses the recess dodgeball game. Nonetheless, deep down, I believe Mark Spitz is proud. Proud to see a swimmer every bit as dominant as he was. Proud to see an athlete pour all of his energy into swimming. Proud to be a witness to his successor, Michael Phelps.

Michael Phelps is arguably the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. There have been countless great Olympians, but Phelps is distinctly different than any other Olympian that has come before him. Don't get me wrong: Every single person who competes in the Olympics admirably puts it all on the line for the sake of competition. Every single person who competes in Beijing over the next two weeks deserves our admiration. Period. It's just that nobody thrives in quite the same thoroughly dominant fashion as Michael Phelps. The things he does in the pool never cease to amaze. Even in a qualifying heat, when Phelps is supposedly conserving energy for a later race of actual importance, he somehow finds a way to win, leaving the rest of the world trying to come up with a logical explanation for what Phelps displays. Surely he must be superhuman, right? I mean, is it even possible for a normal human being to consume his regular diet of 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day without ending up searching for a barf bag? Is it possible to crush world-class competition with such ease?

As great as he is, it is no guarantee that Phelps will fulfill his dream of eight gold medals. Perhaps, when all is said and done, Mark Spitz will still hold that record. But one thing is for certain. We have never seen anyone quite like Michael Fred Phelps.