Phelps, great but not the greatest.

14 gold is darn impressive, but I would still not rank him the number one.

I would hold Carl Lewis and probably Al Oerter ahead. There might be others as well

But winning the same event in 4 consecutive olympic games and together with the 4 golds in 1984 is hard to surpass. Phelps would have to come back in London to surpass Lewis.

But for sure he's ahead of Steven Redgrave and other team eventers and Jesse Owens.