Who is the greatest sports athlete of all-time?

[FyrFytr998]

this man easily.

Deion Sanders did the same thing and has played in both the World Series and Super Bowl championships……just saying.

 

[FyrFytr998]

Voted Jordan, but……..for all you folks talking about Bo Jackson.

Deion “Prime Time” Sanders has played in the World Series AND the Super Bowl…….

Did I mention he also played both Major League sports in one day? Now he’s becoming a successful football coach.

 

[Morning Star]

Depends if you mean accomplishments or athletic ability. Numbers wise has to be Gretzky. As far as being a winner probably Brady. Freak athletic ability probably Bo or Wilt.

 

[Gregoire1]

Jordan
Pele
Bolt
Phelps

 

[Eth3real]

Jordan with Messi as a close 2nd

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

It's still Sugar Ray Robinson.

He didn't play a sissy sports where you could call a time out, or cry because you're hurt.

 

[Natural Order]

By any metric of complete domination it's Karelin. Dude was a serious anomaly.

My top 3 are Karelin, Jordan, Brady

 

[Larzon]

Sir Donald Bradman

 

[Streeter]

Greatest raw athlete in sports history IMO was Wilt Chamberlain. Not really that close either. Over 7 feet, fast, maybe strongest player ever , etc. Best combo of strength , speed, an agility I can think of

 

[Spounman]

Wayne Gretzsky and it's not even close

https://thehockeywriters.com/wayne-gretzky-the-great-ones-10-most-unbreakable-records/

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/935641-why-there-will-never-be-another-great-one

Most points in a season........he has 9 of the top 11 spots including 1 through 4

Most goals in a season......he's #1 and #2 and its not even close

Most assists in a season......he's 1 through 7 and 11 out of the top 12

 

[Hidden_Hand]

This is a tricky question to answer as there have been so many incredible athletes through the years, but there are some big factors we have to take into account here.

How long was the athlete at the top? Did they face the absolute best competition around the earth? Did they win everything?

Is the sport a global competition attracting the best athletes from around the world?

When you factor everything in there is truly only one man who sits on the golden throne...

Whether you like it or not, Football (Soccer) is the biggest sport on earth by a retarded margin, billions of people dream of being a footballer, it has the deepest talent pool of any sport by far. 2 billion people watched the world cup final, that number is incomprehensible, imagine the talent pool available for selection... we are talking billions of youth.

Then we have one little boy from a small place in Argentina with a growth hormone deficiency who struggled with asthma. This boy was so gifted and naturally talented that when he moved to Spain, he destroyed youth who had been in the academy for years. Messi, is a prodigy in the truest form, he is the student of one of the greatest footballers to ever live, the legendary Ronaldinho, who is quoted as saying he never taught Messi a single thing.

So if we move onto records and achievements, this is where things get silly, the highest honour a player can receive is the Ballon d'or which is a trophy reserved for the greatest player in the world every year, 99% of players can only ever dream of this, for the 1% you are honoured to even be in the top 3 once in your lifetime let alone actually win it. Remember, you are competing against the greatest players around the world in all leagues. only the best of the best win.. Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Di Stefano etc. Messi has won this award seven fucking times... SEVEN. If you're not a football fan it's hard to quantify how stupid this is and he did it while competing against Cristiano Ronaldo of all people.

He has won every trophy and award there is to win, Champions League 4 times, La liga 11 times, Ligue 1, Golden shoe, the list is endless.

Then you come on to his records and feats in the game, some of them are likely never to be broken, for instance, the world record of 91 goals in a single year, there are top-level TEAMS that don't score half that many, he did it alone. Scientists have said some of his movements on the pitch simply baffle them, his change of direction is inhuman, the speed in which he moves with the ball shouldn't be possible and he sees things the normal human eye can't, other players have said it's odd to see witness, he has a vision for the game that no one ever has before.

Not to mention the stories of things he has done in training with no cameras, some of the best players ever have said no one compares to him. One of my favourites from truly of the best players ever.



The fact that he has been at the top of football and regarded as the greatest ever for 15 years now in a sport as physically demanding as football is a testament to him, he has evolved his style through the years as he has aged and shown he is the greatest playmaker, dribbler, attacker ever so, in other words, he is 5 players in one and mastered all styles.

So I've said all this, and I haven't even got to the big one... If he wasn't the greatest athlete ever before, then he undoubtedly is now, as he won the World Cup with Argentina. Don't get things twisted, there is no prize on earth more prestigious, more honoured and harder to earn than a World Cup. A tournament that's a month-long in a foreign country, playing with your countrymen against the best teams in the world, 2-hour games are normal, non-stop pressure, billions of eyes on you.

And he went, and fucking did it... He won the big one.

So for me, there is only one man who sits above them all, royalty, the King and his name is Lionel Messi.

 

[panamaican]

Deion should be a choice.

 

[panamaican]

I went with Jim Thorpe. Followed by Wilt, then Bo Jackson. These guys were exception in multiple sports, not just the one they were professionals in.

 

[panamaican]

Achievements = Messi and Tom Brady tied

Overall athleticism = Ronaldo

I assume you mean R9 because it's definitely not CR7.

 

[DS7]

I assume you mean R9 because it's definitely not CR7.

LOL Ronaldo shits all over Ronaldo Nazario regarding athleticism. You nostalgia merchants crack me up, the only thing Ronaldo Nazario had over Ronaldo was explosiveness and even that it's debatable.

 

[boldtruth]

Messi or Ronaldo and I would put in winter sport athletes that ski run. Americans sports do not have best athletes it is just glorified position sports where you do nothing else but hit push catch or throw a ball

 

[Dr Guildo]

What is things with americans and athletes. Mentioning someone Bo Jackson, no one knows who Bo Jackson is. Its like some indian calling a Cricket-player. Come on, get real.

"American Football" is not relevant in this discussion. We are talking global sports, not local ones.

 

[boldtruth]

They call American sports athletes best because they have only ONE thing to do in 24 seconds shoot the ball or push a guy for 4 seconds or throw a ball in 3 seconds or run down and left for 3 seconds what is so athletic about that

 

[BKMMAFAN]

People will laugh, but Reinhold Messner was the first human to ascend all 14 8,000+ meter peaks in the world without supplemental oxygen. He was the first to solo ascend Everest and K2. Many of his ascents were climbs on previously unclimbed routes.

He is also the first person to traverse across Antarctica and Greenland without snowmobiles or sled dogs.

You can kick a ball around, run a fast 40, lift a lot of weight; all fun and games until you're 25,000+ feet above sea level in freezing temps by yourself with no oxygen trying to summit mountains with climbing death rates of over 50%.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Greatest raw athlete in sports history IMO was Wilt Chamberlain. Not really that close either. Over 7 feet, fast, maybe strongest player ever , etc. Best combo of strength , speed, an agility I can think of

I'd like to see him up against prime shaq and dwight

Dwight did shit in dunk contests that noone else could ever do