Firstly, Olympic gold medals are not made of gold they haven’t been made of gold for over a century now. They are generally made of ~90% silver and plated with ~5grams of gold. This is just a fact.
Yes. But you said they weren’t made of gold at all. It was just a minor gripe on the topic of the perceived value of a thing. No biggie. Kindly disregard. 
Doomcookie
lvl 80 Asuran Guardian
NA Gate of Madness
snip …and of course the “gold” medal isn’t made of gold at all… snip
This isn’t true. Anyway you’re neglecting the fact that Phelps and the other Olympiads are racing against people on equal footing so they can be truly competitive. These competitors would never even come close to competing otherwise and many hopefuls never do. If you insist on making real world comparisons then you have to acknowledge that the average schmoe doesn’t just roll out of bed one day scratching his beer gut and decide to be an Olympian over his morning coffee. If this sprint had a real life equivalent then people getting this bent out of shape over it wouldn’t make any sense. I don’t know why people insist on making this comparison. There is none.
I propose a ladder match system where everyone can still get their 1 first place achievement and anyone who cares can duke it out for top spot. Someone will still complain but that’s just how these things go. It would still be unfair to many but at least the playing field at the top would level out some.
Doomcookie
lvl 80 Asuran Guardian
NA Gate of Madness