For all the negativity that surrounded the build-up to the Rio Olympics, once the sport began, most of the backlash melted into the background. The first week of the Games has seen Michael Phelps increase his Olympic medal tally to 21 gold medals- and he may even have added another in the early hours of this morning. The American is a phenomenon, of that there can be no doubt- he has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete and he has even won more gold medals than 108 countries have in their history. But what is even more astonishing about Phelps is that he may leave Rio in a week’s time with someone else having claimed the moniker of ‘greatest Olympian ever’.

Tomorrow, Usain Bolt begins his campaign to win his third Olympic treble; he won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and he will settle for nothing less than a repeat of this triple success in Brazil. This may be the Jamaican’s toughest challenge yet- his season has been severely disrupted by a hamstring injury and so it remains to be seen how his body holds up to the strain of running multiple heats, semis and finals over the next week. The 29 year-old will need to be near his best if he is to claim another three golds- Justin Gatlin is running as fast as he ever has and after losing to Bolt by just 0.01 seconds at last year’s World Championships, he will have the belief that he can get the better of his rival this time.

But Bolt is the greatest sprinter that the world has ever seen and if he can repeat the treble success that he has achieved at the previous two Olympic Games, he will be the greatest Olympian ever. This may be a contentious suggestion considering that Phelps will have won more than double the number of gold medals than the track and field star but nevertheless, Bolt will be the greatest.

The criteria for deciding who should be considered the GOAT is always up for debate; should the number of gold medals be the only deciding factor? Should it be the athlete who was able to remain at the top of their sport for the longest? Should it be the athlete who was most dominant or who overcame the greatest adversity? There is no definitive answer and there are a number of names who could be included in the conversation about ‘greatest ever’ alongside Phelps and Bolt. Jesse Owens, Larisa Latynina, Carl Lewis and Steve Redgrave- they all are amongst the greatest ever. But Bolt’s achievements are unparalleled, even though he is not as decorated as Phelps. Athletics is the most global sport of them all- no fancy facilities are required, nor is any high-tech equipment. Kids in every country have the opportunity to run- there are few other sports of which the same can be said. If Bolt retains his three gold medals, he will have exerted a decade-long dominance which has rarely been seen in any sport, ever. Phelps may have racked up dozens of Olympic and world titles, but he has had far more opportunities to win, and he has been beaten, most notably in his favoured event, the 200m butterfly, by Chad Le Clos, at London 2012.

Bolt too, has had to carry his sport. Phelps is the greatest superstar in a team of many which has included Natalie Coughlin, Katie Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, whereas Bolt has been branded as the one man who can salvage athletics from this doping mire that it finds itself in. Whether it is Bolt or Phelps who emerges from the Rio Games as the best ever, we should remember just how lucky we are to be witnessing both produce such phenomenal performances in the same era.

AND ANOTHER THING….

The Olympic Games has many detractors- and few can argue that in a country like Brazil where extreme poverty is prevalent that $12 billion couldn’t have been spent on something that would have a more significant impact on its citizens than a two week sporting party- but the Team of Refugees affirmed just how meaningful sport can be. A 10-strong team of refugee athletes will, of course, do little in addressing the world-wide refugee crisis but it has sent out an important reminder which was articulated best by one of the team, Yusra Mardini, a Syrian swimmer: “We are not only refugees- we are like everyone in the world. We can do something. We can achieve something,” she said.

A year ago, Mardini and her sister swam for over three hours in the Aegean Sea, helping guide a stricken dinghy from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos. Earlier this week, she won her 100m butterfly heat. She failed to progressed to the final but it didn’t matter- Mardini and her fellow athletes who made up the Refugee Team- who got a standing ovation at the Opening Ceremony- have reminded us all that occasionally, in sport, times and medals aren’t always what matter.