Greatest athlete of all time?

[Evil Chris]

Who do you think is the greatest athlete of all time?
I was thinking about this recently, and of course for me the first one that comes to mind is Wayne Gretzky. But I'm not sure anymore. Gretzky is probably the most proficient hockey player of all time, but I'm not convinced he's the greatest athlete of all time.

Some others that come to mind for me would be Ali, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Pele... etc. Each have their own reasons for being great athletes of course... but the very best?

What do you think?
Tiger Woods, and everything he has accomplished so far might be a good candidate, if you think golf is a worthy sport.

Then again, there might be a 5 pin bowler out there who has dominated their sport like no other. I haven't researched every sport/game out there.

[scottb]

Willie Mays
Jerry Brown
Lance Armstrong
Mark Spitz

They would all be on my list - as would Ali, Pete Rose, on and on.

There are too many factors that would go into making the decision.

[student4ever]

I don't think it's possible to pick a single greatest of all time. The sports are simply too different and each sport has had somebody who dominated for a period of time.

Even taking it down to a single sport, I think it would be difficult to pick a single person to be the greatest of all time. Even the sports change over time to the point where previous greats would have a difficult time competing in the current style of play, and vise versa.

[Relentless]

Lawrence Taylor.

Not the greatest person... but an as an athlete he won more team games single-handedly than anyone else I have ever seen.

[scottb]

I disagree.

Satchel Paige would hold that honor.

[TheLegacy]

1936 Olympics Jesse Owens

as the Nazi's were becoming a stronger threat - there opinions of the athletic superiority of their race over the world dominated the scenes behind the games. Add to that their well known prejudice against blacks - so here was this black runner up against all those fine german uber-boys, with the world watching - I quote his site


http://www.jesseowens.com/jobio2.html

"By the end of his sophomore year at Ohio State, Jesse realized that he could be successful on a more competitive level. Jesse entered the 1936 Olympics, which to many are known as the "Hitler Olympics." These games were to be held in Nazi Germany, and Hitler was going to prove to the world that the German "Aryan" people were the dominant race. Jesse had different plans, however, and by the end of the games even German fans cheered for him.

Jesse was triumphant in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the broad jump. He was also a key member of the 400-meter relay team that won the Gold Medal. In all but one of these events Jesse set Olympic records. Jesse was the first American in the history of Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics."


- the man has to be remembered for standing up and winning the first big battle against Hitler and the Nazi's - a battle of morality and his victory also gave the blacks at that time much needed recognition during a time when they were considered second class americans and shunned because of their color. He changed how the world saw blacks at that time and gave pride to a whole race, country and world - not too mention his record still stands today

[student4ever]

for sure one of the greatest athletes of all time and possibly the most inspiring sports moment of all time.

[teenytricia]

for me, it will have to be micheal jordan ...

[Magnus3x]

Micheal Jordon I think had all the attributes of a true athlete.

[Kenny B]

Eddie the Eagle! Anyone remember him?

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by Kenny B

Eddie the Eagle! Anyone remember him?

Yup... and William Hung was the greatest singer/dancer of all time too!

[Visualad]

Ron Jeremy. He is the reigning world champion in the hardon triathlon competition.

[cdsmith]

For some reason the name Bruce Jenner came to mind. I remember him dominating the 76 Olympics, won the decathalon, was on cereal boxes, etc.

In his day, Johnny Wiesmuller was "all that" for sure. He won like a bazillion swimming medals, became Tarzan in movies for several years.


I would say though, the greatest Athlete in my mind will always be Bobby Orr. Though his career was cut horribly short by bad knees he managed to put up stats in the years he had that can only be described as incredible. At one point he was +128. +128!!

[Visualad]

Miguel Indurain.

Always liked him.

[wildgirl]

for me it's Michael Jordan

[Sarah_MaxCash]

Sir Steven Redgrave has to be on the list - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Redgrave for those that don't know him ..a rower that one five consecutive gold medals..that is five Olympics in a row being the top in one of the hardest events

Michael Jordan
Lance Armstrong
Tiki Barber(just cuz he has a cool name...hehe)

[lulu]

gretzky, jordan...

of all time i don't know but martina navritalova kicked some serious tenis ass

[dyonisus]

my opinion..

I think Kelly Slater, 8x World Champion Surfer is an amazing athlete. He has showed pride in sport, given back to the sport that has made him a champion, accepted his lows as well as his highs, could potentially surf on and win more, and he has other admirable interests in addition to surfing.

[Vid Vicious]

Paris Hilton .. Her antics and dodging Paperazzi should be an olymipc sport

[cszlawyer]

Jim Brown is up there.