What sports are the hardest to achieve the highest level?

Gymnastic, and it's not even close. If you don't start early (by the age of 10 or even earlier), you have no chance.

It's interesting to get different perspectives but the answer is- it's very tough to achieve the highest level in ANY sport.

Any sport that requires a genetic advantage in order to be successful. Sprinting, long distance running, basketball, swimming, etc. No matter how hard you work, you will never be successful because you simply don't have the genetics.

1) NBA, no question. You have to be a freak of freaks athletically, hard worker, and extremely skilled. There are a bazillion other talented athletes vying for a few NBA roster positions.

Tennis? Despite lower participation rates it is still incredibly cutthroat to make it to the top and the payoff at the top is enormous. . Inside the top 100 the skill set is virtually the same -- so what gets you to the very very top is something indiscernible. Junior tennis in SoCal and Florida is still a jungle

This is exactly what i meant. Thanks dude

xlev2 wrote:

Tennis? Despite lower participation rates it is still incredibly cutthroat to make it to the top and the payoff at the top is enormous. . Inside the top 100 the skill set is virtually the same -- so what gets you to the very very top is something indiscernible. Junior tennis in SoCal and Florida is still a jungle

what does "highest level" mean?

In tennis, I'd say being able to play at a major makes you "top level." That's 128 players at the us open. Making a semifinal is like being an nba all 1st team, and is something past top level. Same with olympic final, that's like being on one of the nba all teams. Top level is larger than that. There is just a larger financial incentive to play top level basketball than run top level track. I don't know what the 100th ranked tennis player is making.

Soccer it's even more unclear what top level means. Do you need to be on a champions league qualifying team from one of the good leagues? Do you just need to be in a top flight league?

That being said, if we're talking someone in the middle 95% of height, basketball is by far the hardest to be top level.

The biggest problem with soccer is that when watching it you lose the excuses of not being a genetic freak as to why you weren't able to make it in that sport. I think even tennis is becoming mostly a tall-man's game.

When I meant highest level...i meant like being the Michael jordan or the world record holder or the pele. Tennis is limited to only so many people on earth. Not every kid on the planet has played tennis. I view that as easy becuase less people are fighting for it. Most rich sports. When I meant was "what sport has the most people fighting for the top"

Easily wrote:

NFL quarterback

Agreed. It's like playing chess while you're constantly shuffling and moving around and getting pounded into oblivion. It requires a unique level of physicality and intelligence. There are probably less than 10 people on the planet who can do it at the highest level.

Good point re : soccer

re: highest level --- I guess I equate that with being basically a household name. In tennis that's Williams / Federer now. My old coach played at Wimbledon twice but you never heard of him, of course

but if the question is who gets to the top out of the largest pool, for sure you are right basketball. Millions of kids out there trying to make it

World Cup soccer MVP (Golden Ball)

Worldwide that's the most competitive sport as far as high participation and high glory. Plus only every four years.

In the US, becoming an NBA all star is the hardest.

Basketball has high participation and low cost of participation.

And with the money they make, it is extremely competitive to make an NBA roster.

You only have 5 starters per team.

I think it's harder to play at a high major league level in baseball, but the ratio of people who seriously try to play baseball over the number of major leaguers is lower than who seriously play basketball over the number if NBA players.

All that said, if I ever got to play in an NBA game, I may be able to make a shot. Certainly if left open.

I could never hit a major league pitch in baseball.

John Utah wrote:

Money answers this question. Follow the money. Look at the list of the highest paid athletes in the world an you have your answer(s).

This might be true if there were no salary caps. If there weren't, the Lebron's and Tom Brady's of the world would be pulling in 100 million/year

I am sure this is a matter of perspective, in any other country than the US you would get very differents answers from whats given here.

Football has the biggest, strongest, fastest, most talented athletes playing at the highest level of competition. The quarterback and coaches are playing chess every play. It really is a beautiful game.

It is hard to compare anyone to the highest level in running. Literally Bekele.

Yes for sure, which is why Bolt is insanely rich. My initial comment said that if you wanted to find the answer to the original question just look at the world's top paid athletes. Bolt is on that list in total compensation.

Banana Bread wrote:

It is hard to compare anyone to the highest level in running. Literally Bekele.

I don't want to knock running but it takes little skill or brainpower compared to most sports.

Another reason track is the hardest is the standardization. A regulation track, FAT, doping control, legal wind, means a world record is a fair comparison not only to all your contemporaries, but to all other athletes ever of all time. You don't say the whatever-year Dodgers were better than the whatever-year Yankees without having to argue about it. So there is a more rarefied "top level" than other sports have, much harder to reach.

Track beats other racing sports at this too. Records in swimming and cycling still steadily advance because of evolving techniques and technology.

Snooker is the hardest sport in which to achieve the highest level. It is so demanding that the upper echelons are truly out of reach save to the amazingly gifted.