Olympic Omnithon?

Can they really call the winner of the decathlon the world's greatest athlete? What about the winner of the heptathalon? The triathalon, biathalon? The Nordic combined? I mean the decathlon winner is pretty special, but whatever happened to Bruce Jenner after the Wheaties box?

Does anyone remember "The Superstars?" This was a made for TV event, a creation of ABC sports where all-stars from a range of sports competed against each other to determine who was the best all around athlete - or maybe it was for a free trip to Hawaii, you'd have to ask an athlete. We got to see football players play golf, baseball players lift weights, hockey players play tennis, and even track athletes row boats. There was a 100 yard dash, a bike race, swimming, and for the final: the obstacle course. Although I'm uncertain this ever really did anoint a world's greatest athlete it sure was fun to watch, and it got me thinking.

I wonder how fast Paul Hamm can swim?

Does it seem strange that we haven't heard about a US Olympic athlete who compete's in say rowing and weightlifting? Athletes do often compete in a range of events, but typically all in one family and rarely in team competition. Would it be such a stretch to assume that the gold medalist in the men's 5000 meter freestyle would likely also be a decent water-polo player? Or that a weightlifter might also be able to achieve in discus? Or for that matter in say cycling and speed skating? I remember that when Eric Heiden was all the rage in speed skating that he was also a competitive cyclist.

We've seen Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders compete in multiple sports at an elite level. Could it be time to create a competition where multi-talented individuals could get the recognition as the true world's best athlete?

I suggest the new Olympic Omnithon:

• 100 Meter Dash
• 5000 Meter Run
• High Jump
• Long Jump
• Discus
• 1000 Meter Canoe
• Time Trial Cycling
• Springboard Dive
• Platform Dive
• Vault
• Parallel Bars
• 10 Meter Air Rifle
• 1/32 Archery
• 400 Meter Individual Medley
• 1500 Meter Freestyle
• Weightlifting

That's 16 events. They currently do the decathlon over two days, so I figure that over two weeks they could reasonably spread out these events. That would really show the world's greatest athlete.

I went back and forth about including an equestrian event, but really that seems like the horse is the athlete. I'm sure that the riders are athletes in their own right, but it just didn't seem to fit in. I also didn't include any match sports like tennis or boxing, but I can see a system that might include these as well.

Thinking about it, I believe that this could be a single open division as well, no men's omnithon and women's omnithon, just the Olympic Omnithon. The spread of skills required might eliminate any specific advantage one sex would have over the other. This might be a stretch, but if we really are talking about the greatest athlete in the world it seems we ought not to make these other distinctions.

Truth be told, the modern pentathalon has the right idea:

http://www.athens2004.com/en/ModernPentathlonAboutSport/redirect

Now, let me tell you about the Ultra-Omnithon. That would take two years to complete, start with the omnithon and add: luge, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jump, speed skating, figure skating...