Good call about Jim Thorpe. But in my defense, he wasn't alive during the "ESPN Era", so does he even count? According to them those people didnt' matter (dripping with sarcasm of course) because to be the greatest ever, you KNOW you have to have competed in the ESPN Era and had your highlights played on SportsCenter with Stuart Scott screaming "Booyah!" in the background (still dripping with sarcasm).
Who really knows but there is no such thing. Too many sports. Don't be so U.S. egocentric. Don't forget football players like Pele and Maradona. Pele bigger than jordan in a worldwide scale.
Are you kidding? I don't remember ever seeing a T&F athlete in any "Superstars" competitions. Probably because they would get their asses handed to them in any event other than running. I remember watching Lawrence Taylor Military Press a huge amount of weight for like 20 reps. What T&F athlete other than some shot or discus guy is going to match that. I would love to have seen Webb compete in a Superstars event. I predict he would finish dead last. The only running events I have seen are 400M or less which is usually dominated by some wide receiver.
Reality Check folks....No distance runner deserves or will ever by the Worlds Greatest Athlete. I don't care if a Kenyan has a "beemonesque" moment and busts out a 1:59:59 marathon and the record stands for ever. He does not deserve to be the World's Best Athlete. Worlds best runner obviously.
Athleticism is about balance and range at being good at many things. Bo Jackson running Track, Football and Baseball, etc. (although you could argue he's probably not very good at distance).
Decathaletes probably come closest to being the best all around athletes followed by Middleweight through Light Heavy weight Boxers.
runtherockies wrote:
Are you kidding? I don't remember ever seeing a T&F athlete in any "Superstars" competitions.
You don't know your Superstars then. Have a look at this list; you may recognise some T&F athletes on it:
Men's Superstars®
1973 - Bob Seagren, Pole Vault
1974 - Kyle Rote, Jr., Soccer
1975 - O.J. Simpson, Football
1976 - Kyle Rote, Jr., Soccer
1977 - Kyle Rote, Jr., Soccer
1978 - Wayne Grimditch, Water Skiing
1979 - Greg Pruitt, Football
1980 - Charles White, Football
1981 - Renaldo Nehemiah, Hurdles
1982 - Renaldo Nehemiah, Hurdles
1983 - Renaldo Nehemiah, Hurdles
1984 - Tom Petranoff, Javelin
1985 - Mark Gastineau, Football
1986 - Renaldo Nehemiah, Hurdles
1987 - Herschel Walker, Football
1988 - Herschel Walker, Football
1989 - Willie Gault, Hurdles + Football
1990 - Willie Gault, Hurdles + Football
1991 - Kelly Gruber, Baseball
1992 - Mike Powell, Long Jump
1993 - Dave Johnson, Decathlon
1994 - Dave Johnson, Decathlon
1998 - Jason Sehorn, Football
1999 - Jason Sehorn, Football
2000 - Jason Sehorn, Football
2001 - Hermann Maier, Alpine Skiing
2002 - Bode Miller, Alpine Skiing
2003 - Jeremy Bloom, Freestyle Skiing
Scores on the doors:
T&F 11
Football 9
Other sports 8
And note that many of the Football players to compete in Superstars were also standout T&F stars, like OJ, White and Walker.
Sergy Bubka, would have to be up there. I remember when sports illustrated gave him the nod over Michael Jordan as the better athlete, now thats saying alot.
Using contemporary rules in sports it's hard to figure. I can think of C.J. Hunter, Kevin Toth, Barry Bonds, Dwayne Chambers, Svetlana Pospelova, Jason Giambi, Kelli White, Lance Armstrong, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Mickey Grimes, Rafael Palmiero, Florence-Griffith Joyner, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Brahim Boulami, Konstantinos Kenteris. Geez, there's so many great athlete's it's really hard to choose !
Andy Van Slyke.
Slowcoach,
I stand corrected. Do they still do the superstars every year? I don't remember what year it was but do you remember seeing Scott Tinley get smoked in the 400? I think he came in dead last and was even beat by a slightly fat baseball player. Don't remember who it was.
Sorry that I'm being US-centric. I just don't know enough about athletes in other countries.
I will second the nomination of Jackie Robinson. An absolute phenom -- was amazing at any sport that he tried. If I'm allowed a second pick I'll take Jackie Joyner-Kersee. It's really hard to argue with a dominant heptathlete (or decathlete for that matter).
Yes, they do. Excuse my ignorance of US sports, but who is Scott Tinley?
If he's an endurance athlete (long distance runner or triathlete) I wouldn't give him much of a chance against any explosive power based athlete, fat or not.
I don't know specifically who is the world's greatest athlete, but I can tell you one thing: It's a boxer.
Slowcoach,
Yes he was a triathelete. It was comical. If I remember correctly he embarrased himself in the obstacle course as well.
Can you point me to a website where you got the results and any info on when the next superstars is going to be held. Thanks....
Jason Rexing
Babe Didrickson, Great at T&F. Her team won the national team AAU championship. SShe was the only member.
When she finished with track and feild she went on and dominated golf. She was the best female athlete period.
What about me?
I wasn't too shabby in my day. 5 golds upstaged by a bunch of slow skating hockey geeks.
I also won the US pro cycling champs a few years later.
Eric
runtherockies,
This is the only site I know that has any coverage of the Superstars:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugout/8973/
The BBC covers the UK Superstars fairly well:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/superstars/default.stm
Other than those, I'm in the dark.
I competed in a Superstars competition that my work place organised, and I finished 3rd. Managed 35 chins in 1 minute. Won the gym tests. The achievement I'm most proud of. Sports' wise. :-)
Bekele and El Guerrouj HANDS DOWN NO QUES ASKED. YOU ALL SUCK IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE
John Landy
I would say it is a tie between Lance Armstrong and the guy who wins the hot dog eating contest every year. He dominates.