The world record mile time is 3:43.
That’s about 55 seconds per 400 meters.
The world record for 400 meters is 43.03 seconds and for 800 meters is 1:40.91
I don’t know why people keep harping on about this athlete thing. I’ve included the word sportsman in the title too so that’s it’s all encompassing. People trying to get too technicial when really the question here is “who da man?”
There's nothing purer than who can run the fastest. Everyone can do it, everyone has tried it, male or female, you don't need anything more than two legs and two feet. There's a reason its the biggest event in athletics.
Introducing things like who is fastest over 1500m, over hurdles, passing a baton etc just dilutes it.
For me you cannot possibly be the greatest athlete of all time unless you are in a sport that everyone who walks the earth can freely participate in.
Shit thread, no Phil Taylor
Well if you ask me who the best athletes ever are, and ask me who the best sportsmen ever are, I’m going to give you 2 completely different lists of people.
Roger Federer is definitely not even in the same ballpark of the level of athlete of a Deion, Bo, or Thorpe. He is, however, a better sportsman.
@Raoul is right when he said it’s asking for two totally different categories at once.
By merit its Aston Easton.
2 Olympic golds, 2 world championship golds and record holder in decathlon.
Most talented for me is Federer, there's one that plays their sport and look so effortless in doing it
2 Olympic golds, 2 world championship golds and record holder in decathlon.
Most talented for me is Federer, there's one that plays their sport and look so effortless in doing it
It's clearly Colby Covington.
Ashton Eaton
auto correctThat decision machine?
He's making the UFC great again. What have you done?
Finally, we agree. That's also why I have a problem with the athlete part because some great athletes have made the choice to only play one sport and will not have Bo Jackson's credentials but they are still clearly great athletes, for example someone like Trout has a combination of power, pace, agility and coordination that gives me no doubts that he could be a great professional athlete outside of baseball.
Trout definitely could have been a standout in other sports.
Another example is Lebron James... he was an All-State high school football player and was being recruited to play at Notre Dame.
Not pissed off an entire sport
I didn't want to name Lebron because the NBA is littered with this type of guys, it's probably the most athletic professional league in the world. These guys are huge but move like average people.
So the answer is Bolt is a more extraordinary athlete than Joe the long distance runner because of his sheer dominance in his specialty. Not because running very fast over 100/200 meters makes you an inherently better athlete than someone who can run a marathon in 2 hours flat
Which was my point
Oh c'mon, LeBron's on another level to his peers. Then you maybe have Giannis and Russ. LeBron's conditioning is unreal though, full regular season for the first time then a insane post season @ 33. Monster.
It's why he's 2 for me, it's a similar gap to his peers that Jordan had. Who if he played in this day and age, would be dropping more 3's and also be more of a physical freak - because you know it, his mentality gives that away.
PS - Love a bit of love for Mike Trout. The most complete sportsman on the planet right now. Getting into Baseball GOAT debate is tough as nails given the history of the sports, but he's deservedly getting that love. Probably wouldn't be appreciated enough in other sports because he doesn't have a "ring" or a world cup. Fans of baseball are good guys.
It's why he's 2 for me, it's a similar gap to his peers that Jordan had. Who if he played in this day and age, would be dropping more 3's and also be more of a physical freak - because you know it, his mentality gives that away.
PS - Love a bit of love for Mike Trout. The most complete sportsman on the planet right now. Getting into Baseball GOAT debate is tough as nails given the history of the sports, but he's deservedly getting that love. Probably wouldn't be appreciated enough in other sports because he doesn't have a "ring" or a world cup. Fans of baseball are good guys.
Lisa Ann
I have not read the entire thread but the list seems very american. However, I confess to be guessing the nationality of Jackson, Gretzky and Thorpe as I have never heard of them.
Tiger Woods? Surely, he isn't even the best golfer of all time?
Tiger Woods? Surely, he isn't even the best golfer of all time?
Bo is African American. Thorpe is Native American. Gretzky is Canadian.
Usain Bolts merits:
- Fastest run 150 metres (male)
- Most medals won at the IAAF Athletics World Championships (male)
- Most gold medals won at the IAAF Athletics World Championships (male)
- Most Athletics World Championships Men’s 200 m wins
- Most consecutive Olympic gold medals won in the 100 metres (male)
- Most consecutive Olympic gold medals won in the 200 metres (male)
- Most Olympic men’s 200 metres Gold medals
- Fastest run 200 metres (male)
- Most Men’s IAAF World Athlete of Year Trophies
- First Olympic track sprint triple-double
- Highest annual earnings for a track athlete
- Most wins of the 100 m sprint at the Olympic Games
- First athlete to win the 100 m and 200 m sprints at successive Olympic Games
- Fastest run 100 metres (male)
- First man to win the 200 m sprint at successive Olympic Games
- Most Athletics World Championships Men’s 100 m wins
- Most tickets sold at an IAAF World Championships
- Most competitive 100 m sprint races completed in sub 10 seconds
- Fastest relay 4 x 100 metres (male)
has bout 9 gold medals in world champs and similar in olympics in 200 and 100 meter events. All while being extremely likeable
Your comparing a sprinter to a decathlete.... And the merit come in the variation of the events
I am sure Bolt beats Easton in every event upto 400m and loses in everything else. Actually bolt probably won't beat him in the hurdles
If your first sentence is pointed at me, I agree. What I meant is that I kind of put the entire NBA out because I would be tempted to put a lot of players fairly high, a 7 footer like Durant isn't supposed to run the field and have that type of agility and of course Lebron James is a beast and a very intelligent player too.
Trout is just incredible, it's something that everyone can quickly see, he is just different.
Edit: I know that she is still in activity but Ledecky deserves a mention.
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Ashton Eaton merits...
He won the gold medal in every Outdoor World, Indoor World, and Olympic heptathlon and decathlon from 2012 to 2016.
He’s the world record holder in the heptathlon, decathlon, and the Olympic record holder in the decathlon.
His personal bests...
100m sprint - 10.21 seconds
Long jump - 8.23 meters
Shot put - 15.4 meters
High jump - 2.11 meters
400m sprint - 45.00 seconds (Bolt - 45.28)
110m hurdles - 13.35 seconds
Discus throw - 47.36 meters
Pole vault - 5.4 meters
Javelin throw - 66.64 meters
1500m run - 4:14.48
He won the gold medal in every Outdoor World, Indoor World, and Olympic heptathlon and decathlon from 2012 to 2016.
He’s the world record holder in the heptathlon, decathlon, and the Olympic record holder in the decathlon.
His personal bests...
100m sprint - 10.21 seconds
Long jump - 8.23 meters
Shot put - 15.4 meters
High jump - 2.11 meters
400m sprint - 45.00 seconds (Bolt - 45.28)
110m hurdles - 13.35 seconds
Discus throw - 47.36 meters
Pole vault - 5.4 meters
Javelin throw - 66.64 meters
1500m run - 4:14.48
Eaton’s 400m PR is actually faster than Bolt’s
No Valentino Rossi, the real GOAT
, and i think athlete should be removed, surely its sportsperson so Ronnie O’Sullivan should be in there too.I’ve tried to keep it so that it’s only people who would be known to a global audience.No Valentino Rossi, the real GOAT
I’ll give you Ronnie then but.
Valentino is the best known and greatest of all time motorcycle racers in the world, hes still going and is still winning, pisses all over Schumy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentino_Rossi
RecordsEdit
As of the conclusion of round number 12 in Silverstone of the 2017 season, Valentino Rossi holds the following records:[199][200][201][202]
Record Number
Combined records (all classes)
Race starts 361
Podium finishes 226
Points 5,835
Championship titles with different engine displacement 5 (125cc, 250cc, 500cc, 800cc, 990cc)
Longest winning career in Grand Prix racing 20 years, 311 days
1996 Czech Republic GP (18 August 1996; 125cc) to 2017 Dutch TT (25 June 2017; MotoGP)
Most wins at Mugello (Italian GP) 9 (1997, 1999, 2002–2008)
Consecutive wins at Mugello (Italian GP) 7 (2002–2008)
Most wins at Catalunya 10 (1997–1999, 2001–2002, 2004–2006, 2009, 2016)
Most wins at Estoril 5 (2001–2004, 2007)
Most wins at Phillip Island 8 (1998–1999, 2001–2005, 2014)
Most wins at Welkom 3 (1999, 2001, 2004)
Most wins at Jerez 9 (1997, 1999, 2001–2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2016)
Most wins at Sepang 6 (2001, 2003–2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Most wins at Donington Park 7 (1997, 1999–2002, 2004–2005)
Most wins at Rio 6 (1997, 1999–2003)
Wins with Aprilia 26
500cc/MotoGP records
Wins 89
Second places 57
Podium finishes 190
Race starts 301
Most wins at Assen 8 (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Most wins at Brno 5 (2001, 2003, 2005, 2008–2009)
Most wins at Shanghai 2 (2005, 2008)
Podium finishes in a season[N 2] 16 (2003, 2005, 2008)
Fastest laps in a season[N 3] 12 (2003)
Consecutive podium finishes 23 (2002 Portuguese GP–2004 South African GP)
Consecutive race starts 170 (2000 South African GP–2010 French GP)
Championship titles with Yamaha 4 (2004–2005, 2008–2009)
Consecutive championship titles with different constructors[N 4] 2 (2003–2004)
Consecutive wins with different constructors 2 (2003 Valencian GP–2004 South African GP)
Wins with Yamaha 56
Wins in a season with Yamaha 11 (2005)
Consecutive wins with Yamaha 5 (2005 Chinese GP–2005 Dutch TT, 2008 United States GP–2008 Japanese GP)
Championship titles with different motorcycles 4 (500cc Honda, 990cc Honda, 990cc Yamaha, 800cc Yamaha)
Championship titles with different engine displacement 3 (500cc, 800cc, 990cc)
Championship titles with different engine configuration[N 5] 2 (two-stroke engine, four-stroke engine)
Wins race with different engine displacement 4 (500cc, 800cc, 990cc, 1000cc)
125cc records
Wins in a season 11 (1997)
Complete WRC results
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Cross-country skiing and shooting, that's a proper combo, therefore, the greatest one is Ole.
For me nothing in sport is as impressive or as dominant as Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros.
If we’re gonna start throwing in everyone who operates a motor vehicle then we might as well nominate Richard Petty.
Who doesn't know Valentino Rossi?!
Exactly
Well why shouldn’t we add them, they’re sportspeople , ive only recently got into nascar so don’t know Petty’s records but he’s obviously one of if not the best, is he not?
He’s called “the King”. 200 wins and 700 top 10 finishes.
For me personally, race car drivers and motorcycle racers fall into the “sportsmen” category, but would never make my list of “athletes”... and even then, I have a hard time considering something where a machine is doing most of the work as a sport.
Again, for me this is 1 poll about 2 very different groups of people.
Is the sport itself popular enough? How many people go to a speedway event versus a F1 race?
Is Rossi really that better than Marquez? Maybe now, but in five years time...
It's as popular as F1.
https://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/226049/1/top-ten-most-popular-motogp-races
Meh... Sounds like Jack of all trades and master of none
Easton is pretty bad ass to be fair