Greatest Athletes of All Time
This is not a list of the greatest players of all time, although many of the athletes on the list may have been great players. This is a list of the greatest athletes which begs the question, what makes someone a great athlete. For the purpose of this list, athletic greatness is defined as possessing a variety of attributes that contribute to athletic prowess. These include speed, quickness, endurance, power and hand-eye coordination. That is why this list does not include specialized athletes such as marathon runners or bicyclists. While it is clear that Lance Armstrong is a master in his field, he has not proven that he could compete in other sports where more is required than pumping his thighs for hours on end. (See related TheTopTens Blog entry: Wayne Gretzky is NOT One of the Greatest Athletes of All Time)
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“OMG! what else is there to say...”
“I got nothing to say, he is the sports god, he played basketball, baseball and golf, is a super atlete. No one is better than he.”
“no one can do his technique!”
read more comments on Michael Jordan
2)
Paavo Nurmi
“Nurmi won a total of nine gold and three silver medals in the 12 events in which he competed at the Olympic Games from 1920 to 1928.
Nurmi is also considered the best olympian of all time.
”
3)
Jim Thorpe
“ONE WORD GREAT !!!”
“I don’t know who the greatest athlete of all time is, but I think of those we know about, Jim Thorpe was the greatest athlete of them all. He won the gold medal in the 1912 Olympics in both the decathalon and pentathalon. An All-American football player in college, he was one of the greatest football players ever in college as well as the pros. There was no pro football right after college so he couldn’t play until he was 27 years old and played until his early 40’s. In the acclaimed Thorpe biography by Robert W. Wheeler, a camera man and photographer were on hand to watch Thorpe punt before a football game. They had heard that he could punt further than anyone, so they measured the field, which checked out ok. Out comes Thorpe. He just loved to punt. I’m going from memory, but I think they said he punted 5 times. He stood in the endzone and 2 times the ball landed in the other endzone, in the air! Two times the ball bounced for the first time at about 75-80 yards and once at about 90 yards!”
“He should be number one for so many reasons. one of the first Multi-sport players, robbed of medals, one of the Greatest Native American pro sports players ever.”
read more comments on Jim Thorpe
4)
Muhammad Ali
“the greatest fighter of all time....nuff said”
“In the year 1999 Muhammad Ali was voted the greatest sportsman of the 20th century in a poll in Great Britain. HE WAS AND STILL IS THE GREATEST”
“Float Like A Butterfly Sting Like A Bee!”
read more comments on Muhammad Ali
“The "Great One" changed the face of hockey as he brings a new era of speed, skill, and scoring touch into the game. Entered the NHL erasing almost all scoring records he quickly built the Oilers Dynasty with amazing haste. Along with his hockey sensation Gretzky is recognized for his charity work and a strong connection with the game of Hockey.”
“It has to be "the great one. "”
“yes”
read more comments on Wayne Gretzky
6)
Bo Jackson
“Bo knows... and he’s the greatest athlete ever. Ever argue at the bar over this one? The only thing anyone will ever say to shoot down Bo Jackson is the fact that his career was too short. But length of service is only one thing. His two sport versatility easily compensates for this.
Bo hit 141 hr in 2300 games, which is close to on pace with the likes of Mike Schmidt. That was before the pre 1996 hr derby style baseball too. Imagine a healthy Bo Jackson slugging 50 homers a season and hitting 500 home runs in his career. Would there be any doubt then who was the greatest ever to step on the field? That’s not even counting his ridiculous range in the OF.
Oh, and that’s just baseball. Hey MJ fans, you want to see athletic dominance? Watch a Bo Jackson football highlight reel. Then tell me he wasn’t the best athlete ever. Had he focused on football, and stayed healthy, he’d own Emmit Smith, and Barry Sanders. Every scout agreed that he was THE BEST ever. Speed, power, balance, vision, he was THE BEST. His yards per carry are a testament to that. How about that 6.8 yards per carry average in his rookie year? Again, ridiculous.
One day the sports world will look beyond the numbers in the record books and back on to the field of play to judge performance. That was Bo’s playground, and no matter what the game, you know Bo not only could do it, but he’d do it better than anyone else.
Bo is #1 all time.”
“Not only did he play in two professional sports, but he was a superstar in both. On the baseball diamond, Bo had a career batting average of .250 and hit 141 home runs in just under 694 career games. In 1989 he was selected to the American League All-Star team and went on to win the game’s MVP award. And that doesn’t count Bo’s "hobby" sport. Bo the football player won the Sugar Bowl MVP award, the Liberty Bowl MVP award and then the Heisman Trophy. Then, when he decided to play pro football, he averaged 5.4 yards per carry for his short career and was named to the Pro Bowl team. At one time, Bo was in commercials with Jordan and Gretzky and if it weren’t for his career ending hip injury, he would still be regarded as deserving of that type of company.”
“This is the best athlete top ten, not individual sport top ten. he excelled in the nfl and mlb. Did jordan excell outside of the nba? no.”
read more comments on Bo Jackson
“7 Tour Le France wins! After cancer! This guy is a beast. He could beat any body on abike if he wanted to!”
“the best cyclist ever and the best sportsmen t0”
“Cycling is by far the hardest and most challenging sport on the planet and the Tour le France is the toughest cycling event and this guy won 7 of them”
read more comments on Lance Armstrong
8)
Tiger Woods
“he is the best i mean how could you not like him?”
“Go Tiger. Why? Because if he wanted to be a wide receiver in the NFL, he could.”
“I know golf isn’t as physical as most other sports, but I play golf and know how easy it is to make a mistake. Tiger Woods is the best athlete because of all his accomplishments & is still young and will be achieving even more before he’s done. Michael Jordan was great, but his name also gave him extra room with refs and getting away with stuff, not to mention the intimidation he struck into others that guarded him. Tiger has no refs, therefor no miss calls or extra slack from refs because of his star level.”
read more comments on Tiger Woods
9)
Michael Johnson
“He is a legendary athlete and is a much better all around athlete than Micheal "overrated" Jordan”
“clearly the greatest all around athlete of all time. Because if someone else can run the 200 in 19.3 seconds or the 400 in 43 seconds, then that person is the best, but there is no person!”
“The best!”
10)
Ato Boldon
“Ato Boldon for the win!”
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