Greatest Sportspersons/athletes of All Time

[Niall]

Is UFC to niche to consider Jon Jones?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Jahangir Khan. He won 555 consecutive matches...

Beaten by Ross Norman*




*Random Kiwi

Actually Heather McKay (Aussie woman) was even more dominant in squash than Jahangir Khan. She only lost 2 matches in about 20 years.

 

[Coronis]

Lewis Hamilton in F1 deserves a shout

Others to be mentioned: Fangio, Schumacher, Verstappen* (I’d say Prost/Senna were a level below these guys)

Leigh Matthews for AFL? (I’m not Victorian so who knows really)

Jim Thorpe is a shout for decathlon perhaps?

Not an expert by any means but NFL discussion would include Brown, Rice, Taylor and Brady.


Idk if you’d call her an athlete but shoutout Black Caviar (or Luke Nolen) (again no expert on horse racing or her level of competition)

Never really watched Rugby so can’t comment much outside of seeing Lomu highlights.

League is hard for me but if I had to pick the most dominant in a certain position, I’d say Irvine on the Wing.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Others to be mentioned: Fangio, Schumacher, Verstappen* (I’d say Prost/Senna were a level below these guys)

Leigh Matthews for AFL? (I’m not Victorian so who knows really)

Jim Thorpe is a shout for decathlon perhaps?

Not an expert by any means but NFL discussion would include Brown, Rice, Taylor and Brady.


Idk if you’d call her an athlete but shoutout Black Caviar (or Luke Nolen) (again no expert on horse racing or her level of competition)

Never really watched Rugby so can’t comment much outside of seeing Lomu highlights.

League is hard for me but if I had to pick the most dominant in a certain position, I’d say Irvine on the Wing.

You're underrating Senna way too much..... I think alongside Hamilton and Schumacher and probably Fangio, an excellent case can be made for Senna to be the GOAT of F1. He's like the Ali of F1, his charms and charisma surely are bonus points. I though would personally choose Schumacher.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Richie McCaw and Michael Jones are ahead of Lomu in rugby. Add Joost Van Der Westhuizen and Dan Carter and that would be my top 5. Pieter-Steph Du Toit could reach that level too.


Edit: Oops - forgot John Eales. The trouble with rugby union is that the physical requirements height/weight/speed etc. for different positions are so variable it is really hard to say who is the best.

 

[Jumno]

M Ali, Pele, M Jordan, Messi, Tendulkar, Bradman, Tiger Woods, Federer, Bolt in no order

 

[Molehill]

Idk if you’d call her an athlete but shoutout Black Caviar (or Luke Nolen) (again no expert on horse racing or her level of competition)

Horse Racing is an interesting one. Black Caviar beat all she had to but wasn’t really that highly rated. The two I’d mention would be Frankel and Arkle. The latter in particular was so damn good they had to change the handicap system.

 

[Coronis]

You're underrating Senna way too much..... I think alongside Hamilton and Schumacher and probably Fangio, an excellent case can be made for Senna to be the GOAT of F1. He's like the Ali of F1, his charms and charisma surely are bonus points. I though would personally choose Schumacher.

If we’re talking about qualifying he’d be in the discussion. Prost was a better racer and vice versa. Those top guys managed to combine the best of both worlds imo.

 

[kyear2]

Don't know man.... Since retirement of Fed and Nad's decline I hardly feel like Novak has worthy competition. Yes, his longevity is inhumane; but do you feel he's better than Roger?

I'm the biggest Fed supporter and had never been a fan of Dkoker, don't like the way he plays the game and quite frankly bland as hell. Hell I even back Rafa in matches not including Roger, but it's hard not to call Dkoker the GOAT at this point.

Damn that hurt.

 

[kyear2]

You're underrating Senna way too much..... I think alongside Hamilton and Schumacher and probably Fangio, an excellent case can be made for Senna to be the GOAT of F1. He's like the Ali of F1, his charms and charisma surely are bonus points. I though would personally choose Schumacher.

Lewis has now broken all of Michael's records, so hard to get past him. Sena and Prost are really close and were very competitive with Max being one for the future, of course Fangio.
Stewart and Clarke along with Seb for the tier below.

 

[Ali TT]

So of sports people I've been fortunate enough to watch in my lifetime, using the immutable measure of "how the **** did they just do that?", gives me:
- Jordan
- Bolt
- O'Sullivan
- Federer

It's possible that Jordan and Bolt will (or even have) been surpassed by people who've come since but none have been so far ahead of their peers in those sports as there were during their careers. Fed has been surpassed by two of his own peers although neither quite had the "how..." factor he managed.

That leaves O'Sullivan who I don't think will ever be matched in his sport, nor even have anyone come close to his peak level of performance.

A few HMs - Serena and Martina, Phil Taylor, Tiger Woods, SchumacherM, Messi & CRonaldo.

 

[capt_Luffy]

So of sports people I've been fortunate enough to watch in my lifetime, using the immutable measure of "how the **** did they just do that?", gives me:
- Jordan
- Bolt
- O'Sullivan
- Federer

It's possible that Jordan and Bolt will (or even have) been surpassed by people who've come since but none have been so far ahead of their peers in those sports as there were during their careers. Fed has been surpassed by two of his own peers although neither quite had the "how..." factor he managed.

That leaves O'Sullivan who I don't think will ever be matched in his sport, nor even have anyone come close to his peak level of performance.

A few HMs - Serena and Martina, Phil Taylor, Tiger Woods, SchumacherM, Messi & CRonaldo.

I would probably toss in Tendulkar for that "how'' factor as well..... He definitely had peers comparable to him (mainly Lara), but I think he describes your "how" factor very well. A 16 year old prodigy turning into the best batsman of modern age and playing for 23 years and being 'god' for more than a billion people handling that immense pressure, I think is the definition of ''how" factor.

 

[Jumno]

Tendulkar has to be there.

Only cricketer up until then to feature in the times magazine. Richie Beneud featured him in his 11.

Top Wisden cricketers of all time.

Hardest era averaged 59 in test.
World cup most runs.
World cup man of the tournament 03.
Most man of the match awards.
Most hundreds.
Most runs in both formats.
Most tests.
169 Vs SA 96, 145 Vs Steyn, 100 chasing 380 Vs Eng 08. Perth hundreds. 155 Vs Warne facing a deficit. Tendulkar 100 50th test century deficit.
Odi final wins 100 Vs Sri l 98, CB series 08. 67 titan cup final. Sharjah 98 hundred Vs Aus.
Man of the series in Australia 99/00.

His hundreds does not feature in top test knocks top 10.

140 in losing cause odi game Vs Pak 04. 136 losing cause Vs Pak 99. 170 odd Vs Aus losing cause odi.

193 Vs Eng 02 won test. Vital madras hundred Vs Aus 01.

It was Tendulkar fires or nothing for Indian fans in the 90s and 00s.

He was literally god worshipped for a time in India. Loved all around the world.

Exceptional conduct and controversy free.

He handled the pressure, fame, mass hysteria very well.

 

[honestbharani]

I thought the days of the Sachin fanboi facebook/email threads were a thing of the past.

FWIW, in as much as I can compare across sports (and I really cant), I feel Federer is the greatest sportsman I have seen.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

So of sports people I've been fortunate enough to watch in my lifetime, using the immutable measure of "how the **** did they just do that?", gives me:
- Jordan
- Bolt
- O'Sullivan
- Federer

A few HMs - Serena and Martina, Phil Taylor, Tiger Woods, SchumacherM, Messi & CRonaldo.

Phelps has to be up at that level.

 

[capt_Luffy]

I thought the days of the Sachin fanboi facebook/email threads were a thing of the past.

FWIW, in as much as I can compare across sports (and I really cant), I feel Federer is the greatest sportsman I have seen.

I think Sachin deserves to have some fanboys.... You can think Lara was better, but my god, the importance of Sachin in not only Indian cricket but Indian culture as a whole is incomparable to anyone post War.

 

[Ali TT]

Phelps has to be up at that level.

Yeah, not such a great fan of swimming but sure, he'd be up there. As would Armstrong, were it not for the PEDs.

No chance for Sachin in my book. Yes, he had that "how..." factor but not beyond anything a number of other cricketers I've seen do doesn't quite reach that rarified air. There may be other criteria folks could use that would see him up there - he certainly symbolised the transition of Indian cricket from a national pastime, but still globally second tier, to hyper-professionalised world domination, and in that sense a hugely impactful sportsperson, although how much of that can be attributed directly to him is another matter.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Reinier Paping for winning this race in 1963: https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/67926417

 

[capt_Luffy]

Reinier Paping for winning this race in 1963: https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/67926417

Never knew of this extreme sport. Was a fantastic read.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Never knew of this extreme sport. Was a fantastic read.

Yeah. I read the article last night and had a similar reaction. What a challenge! Not exactly easy to train for either given that (at best) you probably have two weeks notice that the race’ll take place.