IN THE pantheon of Olympians, Michael Phelps occupies a unique plinth. Few people have dominated a sport so overwhelmingly as he has done here. He has seemed in a different class from his rivals, a remarkable feat in a global activity in which more than 100 nations have competitive development programmes and national squads.

Phelps has overtaken fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz, the Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina and American athlete Carl Lewis, all of whom had a total of nine gold medals. The American standing jumps specialist Ray Ewry did win 10, but these include two from the Intercalated Games of 1906 and are not officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee. But is Phelps a greater Olympian than these heroes and heroine?

As one who witnessed all of Spitz’s record-breaking seven gold medals in Munich, I have no doubt that Phelps is a superior swimmer, even bearing in mind that it is so difficult to compare competitors from different eras. Spitz was essentially a freestyle and butterfly swimmer, whereas Phelps is more versatile, demonstrated by his victories here in the individual medley. Spitz was also a disappointment in his first Games in 1968, when he got two gold medals, whereas Phelps garnered six in Athens four years ago.

Latynina was the supreme gymnast in 1956 and 1960 before being overhauled in 1964 by Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia. I believe her closest rival for the title of the supreme female Olympian is Fanny Blankers-Koen, the 30-year-old Dutch housewife and mother of two who won four gold medals in 1948 and was barred by the rules from entering more events, such as the high jump and long jump. She was voted the supreme female athlete of the 20th century by the International Association of Athletic Federations, but was restricted to only one Games because of the second world war.

What distinguishes the greatest Olympian is supreme ability over a period of years. Here competitors such as Sir Steve Redgrave, German canoeist Birgit Fischer and Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich, whose career of winning sabre gold medals stretched from 1932 to 1960, should also be considered. However, with respect to these disciplines, they are not as widely practised as athletics or swimming.

When Seb Coe was asked about the status of Phelps, he advanced the case of Daley Thompson, who was a wonderful competitor in the decathlon, the real test of the all-round athlete. In addition, there is Jim Thorpe, the American winner of the 1912 decathlon and pentathlon, who was voted in 1950 by the Associated Press as the outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th century. However, neither Thompson nor Thorpe was successful in more than two Games.

So, we are left with two principal challengers to the supremacy of Phelps: Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis. Nurmi revolutionised long-distance running, competed in three Games and would have run again in 1932 only to be ruled ineligible for supposed professionalism. Although he did lose races at the Olympics during this period, he was unquestionably the leading long-distance runner until the arrival of Emil Zatopek in 1948.

Lewis is one of only three Olympic competitors to have finished first in the same event in four successive Games, the others being the Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom and the American discus thrower Al Oerter. Lewis’s supremacy in the long jump between 1984 and 1996 was remarkable, but he was also a wonderful sprinter and in 1984 matched the performance of Jesse Owens in 1936 by getting four gold medals in the same Olympics.

At the moment, I would put Phelps level with, rather than ahead of, Nurmi and Lewis, because he has yet to demonstrate their longevity of excellence. However, the American swimmer may well continue until London 2012 and we will have to reassess his status then.

John Goodbody is covering his 11th successive Summer Games and is author of the audio book The History of the Olympics