Who are your ten greatest ATHLETES of all time?

[charlie and algernon]

Heard this discussion on Mike and Mike in the Morning. They were talking about where Michael Phelps stood on a list of the greatest athletes of all time. Do individual sport athletes have an advantage over team sport athletes? Does actually winning a title or medal count more? What about athletes who participate in more than one sport like Bo Jackson?


Here's my list

1. Jim Thorpe
2. Walt Chamberlin
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Bo Jackson
5. Pele
6. Jerry Rice
7. Michael Jordan
8. Lance Armstrong
9. Tony Azevedo
10. Tiger Woods

[WinkyDink]

1. Babe Didrickson, Mark Spitz, Juan Manuel Fangio (F1), Carl Lewis (T&F), Klaus Dibiasi (diving),

Lance Armstrong, Bobby Jones (golf), Jean-Claude Killy (skiing), Muhammad Ali, Sandy Koufax, Olga Korbut.

It's killin' me to omit basketball! Oh, heck: Gotta add Wilt the Stilt!

[charlie and algernon]

2. that's a good list

Every one of those deserves mention on a "greatest" list. An argument could certianly be made for Michael Schumacher as F1's representative on the list. 7 Championships, including a mind blowing 5 in a row, plus holding every other record in F1.

[WinkyDink]

8. Re: F1~~I know; but as a McLaren-Mercedes fan, I hate Schumi! :)

[Stuart G]

3. Someone almost always left off of all lists..........

.... Eric Heiden won 5 gold medals in speedskating (500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m),(1980 Winter Games). setting 4 Olympic records and 1 world record (10,000m) in the process. Heiden was the first to win 5 individual gold medals at one Games.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the time, I recall that Heiden decided ... not to cash in on this
....He did not I think appear in any ads, make any money, or get rich off of this accomplishment.....That makes him even a greater athlete, then....say.....Tiger Woods.., or Lance Armstrong...

[taterguy]

4. I guess women can't be great athletes

:eyes:

[charlie and algernon]

7. Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Billie Jean King

certianly belong in the mix

My list certianly wasn't an end all list, just a start of a discussion.

[begin_within]

5. I would also add these to the list

Paavo Nurmi
Bobby Orr
Roger Federer
Jack Nicklaus
Wayne Gretzky
Greg Louganis
Mickey Mantle
Babe Ruth
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Sonja Heine
Billie Jean King
Bonnie Blair
Nadia Comenici
Wilma Rudolph

[charlie and algernon]

9. I would put in Pete Sampras over Federer

[Twillig]

6. Mine

Jim Thorpe
Bo Jackson
Deion Sanders
Jim Brown
Eric Heiden
Bob Hayes
Wilt Chamberlain
Mark Spitz
Jean Claude Killy

I went for multi-sporters, and those that were most dominant.

Killy swept all alpine events in '68.

Heiden, won all 5 of his events. 500, 1000, 1500, 5000, and 10000 meter races.


I just didn't get the fuss over a lucky hockey team.

[I Have A Dream]

10. Nadia Comaneci

Absolutely amazing!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. sachin tendulkar (rated as worlds' number 1 cricket player)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. also flo jo

[charlie and algernon]

15. definitely

[IndianaJones]

13. mine..

1. Wilt
2. Bo
3. Jordan
4. Ali
5. Woods
6. Phelps
7. Jim Brown
8. Herschel Walker
9. Jackie Robinson
10. Jim Thorpe

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. steffi graf

she was a pleasure to watch

[Orrex]

16. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Barbaro

:shrug:

[Burma Jones]

39. Secretariat

[pokerfan]

17. MJ, Bo and Lance sprung immediately to mind

I would include:

Babe Ruth. Non baseball fans might not be aware that he was also a pitcher before he bloated up like Elvis. Could crush the ball and was a damned good baserunner.

The Iron Horse Lou Gehrig.

Gordie Howe. Fast legs, fast hands, fast fists.

Jackie Robinson lettered in four sports at fucla.


Edited to add The Other Babe, Babe Didrikson.

[AngryAmish]

18. Roy Jones Jr. has to be on the list

[XNASA]

19. Jordan, Payton, Banks, Mikita, Butkus, Williams, Santo, McMahon..

Ditka & Ditka.

[IndianaJones]

32. Rex Grossman too. nt

[Bennyboy]

20. Mine..

No particular order:

Joe Montana
Tony Hawk (dominated hsi sport and made it famous)
Karch Kiraly (nobody dominatd for so long as karch, two different ways)
Michael Phelps (What we are wathcing right now is just too much)
Carl Lewis
Muhammed Ali
Ken Clymo (disc Golfer 9 time World Champon)
Jim Thorpe
Tiger Woods
Lance Armstrong

[hvn_nbr_2]

21. Jesse Owens, maybe Roger Bannister nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. Barry Sanders, Gordie Howe, Bart Starr, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jackie

Joyner, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Mike Utley, and Magglio Ordonez.

While I am positive that many will disagree with me, I believe in this list because I believe a great athelete is one who excels "off the field of competition" as well as on.

If you want to be truly inspired, read Mike Utley's story. What a human being.

http://www.mikeutley.org/

[IndianaJones]

34. forgot about Sanders...knock Thorpe off my list and put Barry in. nt.

[ScreamingMeemie]

43. If he had played for anyone but the Lions, he would have had

numbers that will never be touched.

[Joe Fields]

23. My list...

Jim Thorpe
Bill Russell
Tiger Woods
Hank Aaron
Joe DiMaggio
Michael Jordan
Wayne Gretzky
O.J. Simpson (don't hate me)
Jerry Rice
Babe Diedrickson

[HEyHEY]

24. Mine

Bobby Orr
Muhamed Ali
Mario Lemeiux
Martin Brodeuer
Trevor Linden
Jason Varitek
Donovan Bailey
Percy Williams
The great one
Oscar De La hoya

[jobycom]

26. You left out hockey

:rofl:

[jobycom]

25. My criteria would have to include someone talented across the board

not just in one sport, so I'd leave off people like Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig, no matter how much I'd admire them, though I might include someone who excelled at one sport, but was still gifted in all areas.

Here's the list of the greatest I know, which mostly includes people with exposure to American audiences.

1) Babe Didrickson-Zaharias--Anyone who doesn't put her number one doesn't know about her. She was All American in basketball, world champion in track and field, the top female golfer ever, the only female golfer to outright qualify and make the cut at PGA events, and a legend at everything she attempted. If half the stories of her are true, she has no equals. She was banned from professional football training camps after lining up as a defensive back and flattening the men. She once attempted a triple somersault--a feat only one woman had ever accomplished--without any practice or experience at diving, and came a quarter turn from completing it. Oh yeah, and she once won a sewing competition at the Texas State Fair.

2) Jim Thorpe--he was like a male Babe Didrickson

3) Jackie Robinson--people claimed that baseball was his fourth best sport.

4) Lottie Dodd--the youngest female singles champion at Wimbledon. Set the record at 15 in 1887, and it still stands. Also excelled at archery, golf, and field hockey.

5) Bo Jackson--He might be number one if not for that hip injury.

6) Jim Brown--considered by many the greatest football player ever, and the greatest lacrosse player ever.

7) Jackie Joyner-Kersee--Two gold medals in the Heptathlon, and one in the long jump. Three other medals. Holds the world record in the heptathlon, and holds near record time in other track and field events.

8) Mark Spitz-- I know he was only a swimmer, but the skills it takes to master the different types of strokes qualifies him. And yeah, Michael Phelps is in danger of bumping him down.

9) Herschel Walker--Football, track and field (just missed the Olympics while playing pro football), bobsledding (did make the Olympics), six degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do. Yeah, he's a surprise pick, but I stand by it.

10) Michael Phelps--Most gold medals in world history. He belongs.

[charlie and algernon]

28. that's a great list

I really wish I had put Babe in instead of the Water Polo guy. I was looking for ideas for the list and read this:

Jump into a pool. Tread water for an hour. Don't touch the sides or bottom. Swim about two miles. Throw a ball the size of a volleyball upward of 70 mph. All the while, get punched, pinched and kicked in the mouth, eyes, nose and places you don't want to think about.

That's water polo, a sport that requires the skills of baseball, the strategy of soccer, the teamwork of basketball, the endurance of a marathon, the exertion of swimming, the grit of hockey, the contact of football, the danger of boxing and . . .

"Wrestling. Think of wrestling in the water," Azevedo said. "You're focused in on trying to score, working with teammates while you're getting roughed up like you wouldn't believe. You should see the stuff that goes on under the water. And all the while you're trying not to die from drowning. I'd put water polo up with any sport in the world." http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/08/Sports/World_s_Greatest_Athl.shtml

[jobycom]

31. Thanks. I wish I'd included Ali and Mark Zupan, but didn't think of either.

[NJmaverick]

27. hmmm....

1) Lawrance Taylor
2) Phil Simms
3) Harry Carson
4) Michael Strahan
5) Tiki Barber
6) Eli Manning
7) Mark Bravaro
8) Sam Huff
9) Homer Jones
10) Carl Banks

[Twillig]

29. How did Joe Don Looney not make the 10?

:)

[NJmaverick]

30. 25 days just wasn't enough to make the cut

it's a tough list

[jobycom]

33. I thought the OP said athletes, not pretenders.

I only say that because LT can't find me. :hide:

[NJmaverick]

36. lol, you better hide, because LT is going to be looking for you

[charlie and algernon]

37. Mike and Mike talked about putting LT near the top of the list

They never actually made a list, but discussed putting LT at the top of such a list for the way he revolutionized that position.

[jobycom]

41. Yeah, because he was such a great golfer.

In all seriousness, he's arguably the best defensive player ever, and if I took an angle on the question that included athletes who had the greatest impact on their sports, he'd probably be in the top ten, or close. Along with people like MJ, Ali, Chamberlain, Ruth, Gretsky, Nickolaus...

I just went a different direction on my answer. Even so, I thought about him, and probably would have listed him in the top thirty if I'd kept going. Maybe higher if I knew anything about him outside of football and golf. :)

There, maybe that will keep him from killing me?

[Joe Fields]

35. I had the pleasure AND displeasure of watching Bo Jackson

when he was in uniform as a Kansas City Royal. Always entertaining, but rarely an asset to the team. Still, he was one of the only people I've ever seen who could throw a runner out on third, tagging up to run home on a sac fly from the warning track on the fly, with deadly accuracy.

[jobycom]

42. Bo!

I saw Bo play the Rangers a couple of times in person. He was always a favorite to match up against Nolan Ryan, because Ryan was a strike-out artist, and Bo led the league in striking out, but when Bo connected on a fast ball, it never came down. So one game, which I didn't see in person, Bo swung at a fastball and topped it. It hit the ground once, and then struck Nolan square in the mouth. Nolan went down. Bo, to his eternal credit, took a couple of steps towards first, saw what had happened, and stopped running to watch Ryan as the team and trainers and everyone ran out to check on him. Someone got the ricocheted ball and tagged Bo out, but his only concern was for Ryan.

After a couple of minutes, Ryan got up, blood covering his shirt and face. They tried to pull him out of the game, but he refused. He just wiped the blood off his face and stepped back on the bag, and they finally cleared out and left him in. The next batter--no idea who it was--had to face Ryan, with blood trickling down his chin and onto a shirt that looked straight out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ryan grabbed the ball, hunched over the mound the way he always did, wound up, and piped a fast ball down the middle. The batter jumped out of the box for a called strike. He was so distracted by the blood he couldn't even watch the ball. Two more fastballs, two more times backing out of the box--the third time the batter barely even hoisted the bat--and the inning was over.

One of the coolest damn things I've ever seen. After the game, Ryan sent the bloody shirt to Bo Jackson, autographed and signed "It's always a challenge to face you."

He probably struck out too much to help the team, and IIRC, the royals didn't have a lot of on-base men for Bo to knock in back then, so his power just wasn't effective there. But he was still amazing to watch.

[Burma Jones]

38. OK,

What we in the US call Track and Field is called Athletics elsewhere, so here are the Athletes:

Carl Lewis
Paavo Nurmi
Abebe Bikila
Daley Thompson
Micheal Johnson
Edwin Moses
Al Oerter
Lasse Viren
Parry O'Brien
Bob Mathias



Other Great(est)s in other sports:

Michael Phelps
Vasiliy Alekseyev
Lance Armstrong
Alexander Karelin
Michael Jordan
Jim Brown
Ted Williams
Wayne Gretzky
Pele

[graywarrior]

40. The Dream Team

Boston Celtics 1980's