Is Michael Phelps The World's Most Dominant Athlete?

With his two gold medals last night, Michael Phelps once again pulled away from the pack. In his prodigious wake now lay Olympic heroes Carl Lewis, Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Mark Spitz, though Spitz still holds the record for most gold medals in a single Games.

At least, for now.

Not all of Phelps' wins have been easy, the Men's 4X100 relay was one of the greatest sports moments so far, in a year that has been chock full of incredible moments. His individual events, however, have had significantly less drama. Phelps has dominated these games, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest swimmers of all-time, regardless if he actually breaks Spitz's record.

The question then becomes: Is he one of the most dominant champions ever, even outside of swimming?

Phelps has plenty of time to keep moving up the ranks of the worlds' best, but as of now, he is certainly somewhere on the list. Here are a few others that dominated their sport to the exclusion of almost everyone else:

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong entered the tour spotlight at a perfect time. The cycling superstar Miguel Indurain had retired just three years prior to Armstrong's first win. Marco Pantani, Jan Ulrich, Richard Virenque, and others were dueling for prominence in the world cycling scene. While all three were disgraced in one doping scandal or another, Armstrong destroyed all comers on the road to seven Tour de France championships.

Tiger Woods

Woods has plenty of golfers to pass on the all time victories list, but few have dominated fields in the same way he has. He emerged as a force for the first time in 1997, when he won the Masters by 12 strokes. Second place finisher, Tom Kite, wasn't even 12 strokes under par. Woods' score of 18-under was the lowest score in Master's history.

Woods has held all four major trophies at the same time, holds in the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and generally demoralizes almost everyone he plays with (except Vijay Singh's caddy, but we all know how that worked out).

Carl Lewis

Lewis was one of the Olympians who held the record of nine gold medals, until Phelps took that record along with his numerous world marks. Lewis won golds in every summer games from 1984 to 1996 in events as diverse as the 100m sprint and the long jump.

He was named one of the IOC's Sportsmen of the Century, and was the only man to ever defend an Olympic 100m gold medal successfully when he won the gold in 1988. His true dominance, however, came in the long jump. Lewis held the gold in the long jump from 1984-1996. He finally relinquished the gold in 2000, after he had retired.

I'm curious who else you would add to the list of the world's most dominant athletes. Who else made the competition play for second place? Is there any way to really rank athletes across time period and across sports?