So hopefully we'll have a nice discussion here about what that thread title means.

Is it the biggest number of achievements? (medals, championships)

Is it behaviour too? (sportsmanship on and off the court)

Is it a personal story, a personal triumph?

Should it be a combination of all?


Personally it's hard for me to name just one, but let me list a few that come to mind:


Michael Phelps: still young, still has plenty to do. Yet, many people consider him already to be the greatest athlete in history, because he's got the best results in the pool, won 8 gold medals in the last olympics (a new record) AND many people relate to his personal story, the fact he didnt find himself till swimming came along. Seeing him hug his mom after each victory adds a lot to his credit.

Lance Armstrong: the cyclist who made a name for himself not only by winning the Tour de France no less than 7 times, but also for showing Mr.Cancer that he chose the wrong person to mess around with! what can you say about a man who survived that horrible cancer and came back to race and win? now that's one helluva story about human spirit and tenacity. Will Power at its best.

Roger Federer: the most celebrated athlete and tennis player in history, no less than 15 grand slams titles. But here's a fine example that numbers are not everything: perhaps the most gracious athlete of our generation, a guy who is always full of respect for his rivals, fans, media, you name it. A true champion on and off court. His tennis is something unique, a classy style of tennis no other player can imitate. A man who was born to play tennis. Nowadays, tennis becomes more and more physical...Federer is still there to remind us it's a Gentleman's sport.

Tiger Woods: what Federer is to Tennis, Tiger is for Golf. Not without reason these 2 are good friends, and even compete each other despite playing different sports. What I mean by that is that they have their own private "Grand Slam race", with Federer leading just by one, at the moment of writing these lines. I know that people often say that "Golf isnt sport!" but the truth is, it is. And it's not at all easy to do what this guy is doing. And having fat golf players is no reason to say it isnt sport either. Sport is one big word that contains car racing as well, horse racing, and plenty other fields, many of which you've never even heard of.

Muhammad Ali: I was talking earlier about showing respect for your rivals, and well here comes Ali, and calls his rivals all kind of names, 'ugly' being his favorite I think, be it Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier etc. And I still put him on the list. Because he's the greatest entertainer in my list. He's not my favorite boxer (Dempsey is), but his ability to connect to the audience and turn his ego into something desirable is something very few can achieve. Not to take anything from his great boxing career, but I wouldnt list him here only for that.

Allright, I have to take a break now, and I still got a couple of names I wanted to mention, so I'll let you guys say a few words about them, I'm sure most of you have plenty to say:


Michael Jordan

Babe Ruth


(and he's last for a reason...one of my next threads will be about classic baseball cards, and boy is Babe gonna star there

Of course athletic ability would be the prime determining factor for any list but I'd add "heart" to my list as a close second. Heart, the urge to succeed in your field, the intestinal fortitude to go on when you're on the ropes, the desire to give your all.

I try to discount the current or near-current "stars" when compiling such an all-time list. There's a lot I weigh against long time performance by a particular athlete.

I also add some credence to public appeal.

With all this in mind I'll name some that come to mind right now (in no particular order):

1. Jim Thorpe - probably the greatest athlete of the 20th century. He won the pentathlon AND decathlon in the Olympics, played professional football, baseball and basketball.

2. Babe Ruth - probably the single biggest name in sports of the 20th century. His prowess with the bat overshadowed his wonderful pitching skills, too.

3. Muhammad Ali - arguably the greatest prize fighter of all-time. His speed and boxing skills overshadowed decent power and the ability to take a punch.

4. Secretariat - IMO the greatest racehorse of all-time. Winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths is one of the greatest single best athletic performances ever. He defined "heart".

5. Tiger Woods - awesome physical skills, concentration and desire add up to make him the best of the best golfers.

By sport:

Baseball- Willie Mays

Football - Jerry Rice

Basketball - Wilt Chamberlain

Hockey - Wayne Gretzky

Boxing - Ray Robinson

Golf - Tiger Woods

Tennis - Pete Sampras

Olympics - Carl Lewis

Granted, I never saw half of these men play, but I'm trusting their "legends".

It's hard to name just one.

Earl Campbell wasn't the best football player ever, but I haven't seen anyone surpass him in his freakish combination of speed and power. Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker are close. Also, for pure athleticism Rod Woodson was an unbelievable athlete and one of the greatest defensive backs ever.

I agree with SC on Babe Ruth. If he had not converted to playing the outfield, he would have undoubtedly gone down as one of the greatest pitchers ever. The gap between his talent and the rest of the players during his time was far greater than that of any superstar in any sport, including Wayne Gretsky and Michael Jordan.

Jim Thorpe, as SC mentioned, played three team sports very well and was an olympic legend.

Carl Lewis in my opinion...He was great in many fields of athletics..

Us of the older generation (SC) will remember the feats of Jim Thorpe. Well, we remember reading about them. There was a good movie about his life (probably from the 50's) starring Burt Lancaster as Thorpe. I went to school with his grandson, but he was not an athelete. Actually a wise-guy, trouble-maker type. Was killed in car accident at age 13-14.

I'll agree with SC - Babe, Ali, Tiger, but not the horse.

In boxing definitley Ali.

In athletics i would go for British decathlon king Daley Thompson,the master of 10 events!

The Greatest Athlete of All Time =

* MICHAEL JORDAN *

and that's the whole story

Gale Sayers was a pretty good athlete in football. He could do it all as a running back in the 1960's and it is unfortunate that injuries cut his career short. Another name I would throw out there is "Bullet" Bob Hayes who was inducted into the NFL Hall-of-Fame this year. Bob was an Olympic athlete who won two Gold Medals in the 1964 Olympics and then went on to the NFL where he helped innovate the Wide Receiver position. These two don't have the same star power as some of the others, but they were still greats.

A couple of years before Sayers - Jim Brown, THE BEST!!

Pelé was awarded "Athlete of the Century" or something like that wasn't he? I believe it was an european magazine (L'Equipe from France probably) that handed out the award. Michael Jordan could give him a good run and Michael Phelps is going to go down up there too.

Phil "the Power" Taylor.

In years to come the only name people will say is that of Usain Bolt i imagine!!

What about the "Big Ern" - Ernie McCracken.

What a specimen:




...

And don't forget about this little shooter:

I feel it.

How about Bill Werbeniuk?

Bah! Horsefeathers!

He couldn't shine Marciano's shoes! The Rock would have bitch slapped Ali all over the ring.