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Greatest Athletes of all time

cowboysfan

cowboysfan

U19 Debutant
As I was watching Tiger Woods get an Eagle on the 18th and get the lead in the US open on basically one leg I thought this guy will go down as the greatest golfer of all time-but he is more than that ;he transcends that sport and is one of the all time greatest athletes this world has the privilege to see.I am making this list to see what you guys think should be the top 10 greatest athletes of all time. In no particular order at the momment-maybe we can vote later.

1)Tiger woods-13 majors and counting(jack nickalaus had 18)

2)muhammed ali

3)Pele

4)Don Bradman-

Athlete Sport Statistic Standard deviations
Bradman Cricket Batting average 4.4
Pele Soccer Goals per game 3.7
Ty Cobb Baseball Batting average 3.6
Jack Nicklaus Golf Major titles 3.5
Michael Jordan Basketball Points per game 3.4
Bjorn Borg Tennis Grand slam titles 3.2

enough said.

5)michael jordan

6)Babe Ruth(baseball)

7)Wayne Gretzky(ice hockey)

8)michael schumacher

9)Roger Federer(he will have the record for the most Majors but he may never win the French)

10)Jim Brown(NFL Great)

11)Secretariat(LOL-I know but the Belmont was one of the greatest two and a half minutes of racing I have seen,it still gives me goosebumps every time I watch it one youtube)
 
Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I love this topic, and even though I simply don't have enough knowledge about certain sports to compare Tiger Woods in golf, Jordan in NBA, Pele in soccer/football, Gretsky for hocket, Ali for boxing etc. its still something, when brought up, that I absolutely love discussion/reading opinions about.

Its awesome (yet futile obviously) comparing the absolutely elite champions of all champions of different sports.

I do think Bradman stands out the most just for how much better he was to everyone else, but he'll unfortunately never receive the fame of some others due to the Americanisation of other sports, which cricket hasn't experienced. Of more modern times, really, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods seem the best.

For those who know anything about F1, will Schumacher always have doubt over his actual greatness due to how much better his car was, and the fact that after the change of rules, he came back to the pack a bit, or is he seen as being even better for the fact that the rules had to be changed because of him?
 
T

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Bradman has to be up there in terms of how much he dominated his sport, it's hard to find someone else who dominated his sport to the same extent as Bradman.

In this topic, IMO it's always important to think about how many countries actually care about the sport in question. Take Phil Taylor, for example. He's won however many world titles he's won, but this is helped by the fact that, broadly speaking, only one country gives a monkeys about darts. If other countries cared about it, it's very possible that there would have been others to challenge his dominance. In Taylor's case of course there's also the fact that half of the other darts players don't play in his organization.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Jono said:
For those who know anything about F1, will Schumacher always have doubt over his actual greatness due to how much better his car was, and the fact that after the change of rules, he came back to the pack a bit, or is he seen as being even better for the fact that the rules had to be changed because of him?
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I don't pretend to be an expert, in fact I don't really care for formula one, but he did win the title twice with Benetton with a car that was generally regarded as not the best at the time.

Anyway, Jahangir Khan is another name to throw into the mix. Admittedly playing a minority sport (squash), he was unbeaten for 555 consecutive matches! from wiki.
 
T

The Baconator

International Vice-Captain
Jono said:
For those who know anything about F1, will Schumacher always have doubt over his actual greatness due to how much better his car was, and the fact that after the change of rules, he came back to the pack a bit, or is he seen as being even better for the fact that the rules had to be changed because of him?
Click to expand...
I think one thing that might hold Schumacher back is the lack of elite competition during his period of dominance. His career started too late to ever have a championship battle against Senna or Prost, but he finished too early to face today's talented young drivers in their primes.
 
Jamee999

Jamee999

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
I don't pretend to be an expert, in fact I don't really care for formula one, but he did win the title twice with Benetton with a car that was generally regarded as not the best at the time.

Anyway, Jahangir Khan is another name to throw into the mix. Admittedly playing a minority sport (squash), he was unbeaten for 555 consecutive matches! from wiki.
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I'm unbeaten in competitive squash, just quietly.
 
steds

steds

Hall of Fame Member
Said before that I don't really count people who compete in motorsports as "athletes." But if you're going to harp on about that F1 dross, I'm going to raise you a proper motorsports hero - Joey Dunlop.
 
Sanz

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Burgey said:
Are you Heather Mackay?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_McKay
She deserves a mention here, as does Jesse Owens imo.
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Jahangir Khan - The Great Pakistani qualifies as both great sportsmen as well as great athlete. Very few would match his success as a sportsman.

Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively. This was not only the longest winning streak in squash history, but also one of the longest unbeaten runs by any athlete in top-level professional sports.
 
Burgey

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Sanz said:
Jahangir Khan - The Great Pakistani qualifies as both great sportsmen as well as great athlete. Very few would match his success as a sportsman.

Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively. This was not only the longest winning streak in squash history, but also one of the longest unbeaten runs by any athlete in top-level professional sports.
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Can't have been the longest streak in squash history, coz Mackay went through from about 1966-79 without losing a match.

But certainly I would but Jahangir right up there as a sportsman and athlete.

Woods would go down as one of the great sportsmen of all time, however, whilst he's a superb athlete by golf standards, and likely by those of a number of sports in terms of general fitness, I wouldn't say his purely physical prowess would qualify him.
 
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Smudge

Smudge

Hall of Fame Member
I used to have a passing interest in squash in the 1980s due to NZers Ross Norman and Susan Devoy. The reign of Jahangir Khan was staggering, but even more depressing for a NZ squash follower was that Jahangir was eventually usurped by Jansher Khan, another Pakistani. It's like there was a production line coming out of Pakistan...
 
A

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Voltman said:
I used to have a passing interest in squash in the 1980s due to NZers Ross Norman and Susan Devoy. The reign of Jahangir Khan was staggering, but even more depressing for a NZ squash follower was that Jahangir was eventually usurped by Jansher Khan, another Pakistani. It's like there was a production line coming out of Pakistan...
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jansher has nearly as impressive a record as jahangir....
 
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