"Jesse Owens is the greatest athlete of all time in my opinion. I think you’d have to put Usain Bolt second. I’d put myself third and I’d put Lewis fourth. But Lewis is the greatest athlete ever.”- Michael Johnson
I remember at the 2009 Worlds there was a press conference featuring Johnson and when asked if Bolt can break his 200m WR Johnson relied maybe 1 day but he had to improve a bunch to get it. MJ looked like a fool when a few days later in less than ideal conditions Bolt destroyed the 200m WR.
"Jesse Owens is the greatest athlete of all time in my opinion. I think you’d have to put Usain Bolt second. I’d put myself third and I’d put Lewis fourth. But Lewis is the greatest athlete ever.”- Michael Johnson
Jesse Owens competed in 4 National Championships
1933 F: 100 meters; S/F: 7/7; D: 30 JUN 1 Ralph Metcalfe 10.5 MR 2 James Johnson......who? 3 Jesse Owens 4 Paul Starr 5 Hudson Hellmich 6 Don Bennett
He came in third there, he lost to Metcalf again in 34 lost to Eulace Peacock in 35, did win in 1936. He was not a dominate sprinter.
He was a dominate long jumper.
Curious if MJ can really talk sprint history, doesn't look like it to me. You can't have a 3-7 record vs anpther sprinter and be the best sprinter.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
Edwin Moses won 107 straight finals (122 races) over a 10 yr span, how could he not have been mentioned? Or does Johnson not consider 400m hurdles sprinting? It certainly is athletic.
I've never been a fan of ranking athletes all time because they compete in different eras.
As a Canadian who witnessed Johnson LOSE vs. Bailey in the much hyped 150m race, I think Johnson was a great 200/400 sprinter but not even the best pure sprinter of his era.
That would be Bailey/Greene.
3rd all time? ok whatever Michael.
"I've never been a fan of ranking athletes ..." and proceeds to rank athletes.
Johnson is certainly the greatest long sprinter in history and the greatest 200m/400m runner in history. But, he didn’t even break 10 in the 100m. There is no doubt he could have broken 10 in the 100m, but he never actually ran the 100m when he was in great shape. He also never competed on the global level at 100m. In my opinion, that takes him out of the discussion for best sprinter ever. If you want to be called the greatest sprinter ever, you need 100m global titles and records. Sorry MJ. You were awesome, no doubt about that, but without 100m credentials, you ain’t one of the greatest sprinters of all time. Just like Rudisha isn’t one of greatest middle distance runners of all time. Greatest at 800, but without 1500m/mile credentials, he isn’t a complete middle distance runner.
All respect for MJ for recognizing Carl’s greatness, even though there was some competitive-induced bad blood between them.
MJ and Carl should be superstars in the country!!
Bolt never broke 45. Take him off the greatest of all time list? Fred kerley greatest of all time with his 100-400 range?😂
You need to balance range with dominance. We can talk about Rushdie and Elg not being complete middle distance guys. They are still going to be in almost everyone’s list of middle distance guys. Bolt and MJ both dominated 2 out of 3 sprints for close to a decade. Hard to match that. I can come up with a half dozen guys to fight it out for those tops spots. I find it hard to argue against bolt as 1. But the rest is a pickem.
100% agree with him on Carl Lewis, greatest track athlete in history. Jesse Owens I’d not #1. His career, while spectacular, was too short.
Bolt is the greatest sprinter of all time, by a wide margin.
That is the problem with most of the pre 1960 people. Most of them didn’t have long careers. They did an Olympics and then got a job. There were a few exceptions
I remember at the 2009 Worlds there was a press conference featuring Johnson and when asked if Bolt can break his 200m WR Johnson relied maybe 1 day but he had to improve a bunch to get it. MJ looked like a fool when a few days later in less than ideal conditions Bolt destroyed the 200m WR.
Disagree. This is only easy to say in retrospect. The previous year Bolt had run 19.31 after running his famous 9.69, a run so easy it was obvious he could have run 9.5 had he pushed it.
It wasn't a surprise to see him run 9.5 in 2009 because everyone knew he could already do it. The 200 was more uncertain - he ran 19.31 running through the line, so what did that mean a year later?
Lewis was a proven drug cheat who had his positive tests covered up. LR seems to conveniently ignore the systemic American doping that has gone on for decades in sprinting while harping on middle distance and marathon doping.
Lewis is the greatest American drug cheat of which he has many, many, many competitors.
Jesse Owens is the most over rated sprinter in history. The guy had a 3-7 record vs Temples Eulace Peacock, he once lost five races in a row to Peacock. Injuries to Peacock ruined his Olympic hopes in 1936. Owens lost to Ralph Metcalf numerous times, was beaten by James "Who?" Johnson at our 35 Nationals. Owens was the greatest long jumper ever up to Ralph Boston in the 60's.
Tommie Smith held 11 world records, he was the first sub 44.00 4x4 relayer, his 19.5 200 straight was considered to be the greatest mark in the spors histrory at that time. He beat the great Lee Evans in the 400 and ran down the soon to be Olympic 100m champ Jimmy Hines on a pre Olympics 4x1 anchor leg. Smith has to be on that Mount Rushmore for sprinters.
I worked with Willie Neal the uncle of NFL fullback Lorenzo Neal, he ran with Tommie while at Lemoore high school, they were good friends. He talked about how all that raised fist stuff was because of pressure from Tommie's wife, she was the one pushing that stuff not Tommie In his book "Blackthink" Jesse Owens says the same thing, more about doing what the wife wanted.
Bob Hayes was the first sub 6.0 60 cat, histories first sub 10.00 on dirt (windy) twice ran a 200m world record, ran the 100 yard world record at 9.3, 9.2 and a gang of 9.1's. From the beginning of time up to the arrival of Bob Hayes nobody in history had ever ran faster. That Olympic 4x1 anchor the greatest display of speed ever seen up to 1964. If hed stayed in the sport he's beatng Hines UP in Mexico City in 68, 9.85 sounds about right.
Obviously Bolt has to be there and we can go with Johnson also for obvious reasons.
How about
1.Bolt
2.MJ
3.Tommie Smith
4.Bob Hayes
Carl Lewis the greatest track AND field athlete.
Yes, but have you considered Owen's taking a fat dump on the beliefs of Eugenicist at the perfect time. Hitler never recovered and resigned from his duties not even 10 years later. Case closed.
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