BEIJING • When it comes to athletics the immediacy of the moment is rarely quite right.

Out of sight, out of mind. We fall into that trap too often.

It’s human nature.

This brings us to Michael Phelps. The fancy high-tech suit effectively covers his gills, though they’re invisible to the human eye other marine species know Phelps has webbed hands and feet. He is without question the greatest Olympic swimmer. What he has been able to do at these XXIX Olympic Games is nothing short of phenomenally amazing.

Eight gold medals in one Olympic Games and eight world or Olympic records to go along with the golds – in the colorful words of today’s youth, that’s fully sick.

Phelps held his hands high and waved to the crowd at the National Aquatic Center as he received a standing ovation. Swimmers from other nations gave him respectful hugs and high fives. Swimming emissaries clamored to take pictures with him. Everybody wanted to touch or at least be a part of history.

Phelps turned the Water Cube into his personal play pool and redefined what it means to love the water and to love being in the water.

That’s as far as it goes though.

Phelps is not the greatest Olympian ever, and the comparisons with those above him aren’t even close. It borders on being unfair for folks to callously make the assertion.

Gold medals define champions. Circumstance defines greatness.

Phelps is undoubtedly a champion, and he’s great in his sport. But what are the circumstances, what are the obstacles he had to overcome during these Games? What did he do that transcended sport and culture and creed and race – those ideals that make the Olympics so compelling?

People loved Phelps before he arrived in Beijing. They only love him more now. Phelps will return to the United States, receive a million-dollar bonus from Speedo. His face will be on a Wheaties box. He’ll receive a hero’s welcome wherever he goes, and rightfully so.

But the biggest fear Phelps had here was finding time to watch the “Planet Earth” documentary.

The greatest Olympian feared for his life. The greatest Olympian was hated by the host country before the Games. He was loved by many of its citizens afterward.

The greatest Olympian carried his country’s emotional weight, defeated a tyrant then came back to his own country and, for decades, garnered none of the national respect he earned simply because his skin was dark.

James Cleveland Owens, better known as Jesse Owens, transcended athletics and gave global politics a hit in the gut.

It was 1936. Berlin.

We now know World War II was just around the corner. Nazism filled German heads. Red-and-black swastikas flew everywhere. Adolf Hitler knew his myth of Aryan supremacy would prove true.

Owens knew different.

Owens set three world records and tied another in Berlin.

Owens 4, Hitler 0.

Bigger than the physical feats were the emotional changes. Owens was Rocky before Sylvester Stallone ever got in front of a camera. By the end of the Games, those vilifying Owens turned to a 100,000 cheering for him.

The beautiful grace of a man running and jumping with the efficiency Owens did, while withstanding the pressure he did had to be respected. The Germans did.

Like those herding to get photos and autographs with Phelps after winning his eight gold, Germans did the same to Owens.

Owens 5, Hitler 0.

Nothing close to that happened here, and that’s not Phelps’ fault. And it in no way diminishes what Phelps accomplished here.

Owens became the greatest Olympian a little more than three-quarters of a century ago. And as the years pass, Owens’ athletic and non-athletic feats only makes him greater.

Circumstance demands it.

Michael Phelps celebrated the U.S. team’s gold-medal finish in the 400-meter medley relay on Saturday. It was Phelps’ record-breaking eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE