Right, but this thread is about the greatest athlete, not greatest sprinter.
Maybe you should do some research on the Decathlon, the "world's greatest athlete" tag is embedded in the origins of the Decathlon
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Maybe you should do some research on the Decathlon, the "world's greatest athlete" tag is embedded in the origins of the Decathlon
To me, that’s the crux of the argument.
The “greatest” athlete is going to be great at more than 1 thing.
Would never have expected it to be federer closest to Ali!
It would be interesting to see if people s opinions were to change if you'd ask who had the most cultural impact. I.e. Imho LeBron beats MJ as the greatest ever player in basketball but Jordan s impact as an icon was far greater. Similarly I think Connors, McEnroe, Sampras etc meant more for the sport of tennis than Federer. Or Senna vs just about anyone else in F1, etc.
Lebron is definitely in the pantheon of greats but I will wait for him to catch Jordan on rings, career points, career point average per game (reg season) and career average per game (playoffs), MVPs etc...bearing in mind of course that Jordan took a year off to play Baseball.
Schumacher changed the way F1 drivers approached racing. He was a meticulous perfectionist with his fitness and laid the foundations from day dot.
As David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine said, it’s not a case of Schumacher in his prime not having a capable team mate, it’s that it wouldn’t have mattered who was in the other car, he’d have destroyed them.
People talk about Ferrari’s dominance of the sport but it was Michael Schumacher that put them there. His omission on your list is a complete mistake because there’s not a single driver bar Senna that even comes close. Even then he was far more complete than Senna ever was
Why does this matter? (Genuine question).
“I am the greatest” -Muhammed Ali
What more proof do you need? Close thread.
What more proof do you need? Close thread.
Well for cricket Sachin Tendulkar and Don Bradman should be there but then I don't know how many people other than the cricket playing nation's would have heard of them. If the criteria for being the greatest sportsman is being the most iconic then surely the discussion ends at Muhammed Ali. Otherwise it's difficult comparing the global exposure of Messi to someone like Tendulkar.
Because his championship winning cars with Ferrari were far and away the best cars on the grid. So much so that his only competition came from his teammate.
one was found guilty of dopingUsain Bolt.
The fastest man to ever live - and by a huge margin.
9.58
9.63
9.69 - didn't even try for this oneIt's been 10 years and 2 people have only managed to match this one going all out.
Why not take all names suggested and do a series of polls. X in each, top Y go through to next round and so on
I have an other suggestion, it would be Bekele or Gebreselassie, that way you have one sprinter with Bolt and on long distance runner and they all marked Athletics.
Esther Vergeer won 465 tennis matches in a row.
Roger who?
Roger who?
Serena Williams
Not really, no.
She is definitely in the list of say 100 most influential sportspeople of all time, but neither the legacy nor the achievement within the game justifies her being the greatest ever.
And Jordan played defense.
I don't think Michael Phelps gets enough love in here.
How can it be anyone other than Ali? And he's only second to one boxer throughout all of history who didn't have the US government take away three of his prime years and then re-enter the ring as entirely different fighter to what he left it as.
Ali's legacy is transcendent in a way no other sports individual will ever be able to replicate due to the political climate of his era.
In terms of actual sports performance, how many other of the true elite have had to rebuild their winning style from scratch? And then, how many have gone from the extreme of speed and reflex of Clay to the heart and attrition of Ali?
You'd have to take Ali off the list to have a considered discussion about all the others, I think.
Ali's legacy is transcendent in a way no other sports individual will ever be able to replicate due to the political climate of his era.
In terms of actual sports performance, how many other of the true elite have had to rebuild their winning style from scratch? And then, how many have gone from the extreme of speed and reflex of Clay to the heart and attrition of Ali?
You'd have to take Ali off the list to have a considered discussion about all the others, I think.
Well we can have that discussion when hes done everything Rossi has and in 5 or ten years.
Maybe there should be two threads, althetes and sports people
Interesting. What made them better?
I remember that time they made his teammate stop on the finish line to let him win
I'd say the Olympics is the most 'global' of all sporting events. So Bolt will take the crown.
Federer
Pretty close between Phelps and Bolt
Probably Carl Lewis.
Being a cheat probably excludes him.
Yeah. Bolt is just more popular. Track and Field have always had a big edge over pool events.
Only ever tested positive with minor levels of products not necessarily considered to be performance enhancing. Wouldn't fail a test at today's tolerance levels.
He failed 3 drug tests for banned substances. Cheater.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/apr/24/athletics.duncanmackay
Have to laugh at the USOC.
Its hard to select Lewis over Bolt given the latter's complete dominance and lingering suspicions over Lewis' doping.
Federer would probably be my no.2 to be fair.
Similar suspicions also hang over Bolt as with all WR holders in the last 40 years. Lewis competed across the sprint distances and also won gold at the long jump during the same Olympics. In terms of sheer athletic performance he was immense.
This isn't about popularity and off field importance. You can't be the greatest sportsman ever without even being the best at your own sport.
Not as per me at least.
If you’re talking greatness, anything other than Ali is the wrong answer
That's odd. I expected him to be in the top 3 for sure.
So many people going for none of the above. Given the criteria in the OP, give me a name that’s better than Ali.
Indeed.
I mean, it's not my reason for picking him, but he was a bit of a cnut no?