Who is, regardless of sport or sex, dead or alive, the greatest athlete ever?

elephino wrote:

Fugu wrote:

Wilt Chamberlain. His combination of speed, strength and length will probably never be matched. 45+ in vertical, triple jumped over 50ft, sub 11 100, 56 ft shot put, sub 2 800 all while being over 7 ft tall.

Wilt deserves to be mentioned, but pretty much all the circulated track numbers are myths.

His 10K was legendary.

John_James

CartmanBrah wrote:

Alex Honnold. Perfect execution, or death.

I came here to say Honnold as well. Honnold makes most sports into a joke. I think wrestling, running, boxing, are an avenue to approach the brilliance of Honnold, but c'mon, soccer? Or baseball?

Sure, Pele was a great athlete, but soccer is just such a horrible platform to display athletic ability, baseball as well, maybe basketball is a little better, and football a little better than that.

Honnold's court/field/stadium was made be geology. There were no rules to exploit, no calls to go in his favor, no teammates to help. No silly limiting factors like speedwalking, not using your hands, TV timeouts or a dumb replay. There was no possibility of a lucky break, and there could not be an unlucky one. The consequence of anything but perfection was. a grizzly death.

Making a jumpshot at a "clutch" moment, frankly, seems like a quaint joke or a youth sports thing.

Additionally, his performance required absolutely top level mental and physical preparation. Every single aspect of every single detail was trained to brilliance.

Usain Bolt always seemed to me to be the next evolution of athlete. A man of that size with that kind of speed, and he went most of his career uninjured. I have little doubt you could have put him in nearly any sport at a young age and he would have come to dominate as a professional.

Honnold certainly puts his life on the line with his free solos, but he’s not even the best climber alive today, let alone of all time. Honnold himself concedes he’s not as great as Tommy Caldwell, for example. Watch the Dawn Wall...

Secretariat was dominant, but he was a horse. If any of you think Jordan or Pele or Gretsky or Woods, et al were as dominant as Simone Biles, you just wrong.

Stoppit Smith wrote:

Athletically, all things included, I have to go with Rich Froning.

Yes, I know letsrun and Cross-Fit don't mesh well.

But in terms of fitness, it is Froning.

Few in any sport can lift and carry what Froning can.

Froning is slower than a junior high school girl. He is not fit.

That Scottish ultra runner who used to eat sausages, what's his name...?, had a humungous thread on him here on LR.

STEVE THE ADDICT^^^^^^""""-""""-'-"--^' wrote:

As far as dominating their sport is concerned:

Wayne Gretzky

Wilt Chamberlain

Michael Jordan

Pele

Lionel Messi

Jim Brown

Barry Sanders

Not a single one of these posers can beat me in a mile race, a bike race, skiing, tennis, etc.. They are good at their little niche, but not able to beat me in almost any sport.

Dave Reading would have to be up there too.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8132057

Rainy Day wrote:

This is an impossible question, but a few front runners:

Jordan

Bolt

Bo Jackson

Tiger

Brady

Barry Sanders

Lemieux

Lance Armstrong

Before the haters chime in, I’d bet my life sav

Good list. Maybe add Jim Brown, Gretzky, Deion Sanders,

Yes Caldwell might be a better technical climber, but he does not have the mental strength of Honnold, and that strength very much sets him apart in what is conceivable...and makes him the total package.

I’m sure there were guys technically better than Gretzky, but he was very good technically and combined that with his situational awareness, and therefore was the best overall.

Add Honnold too.

BTW, Honnold and Caldwell are buddies.

Freerider on El cap (Honnold’s famous free solo) is an “easy climb.” (5.12d). I get it, no belay, but this about the best athlete, not the bravest.

Dawn wall, probably the hardest Climb in the world, and hardest on el cap at 5.14d. Only 3 men have ever climbed the whole thing, Caldwell being the first. Honnold hasn’t yet.

"Freerider on El cap (Honnold’s famous free solo) is an “easy climb.” (5.12d). I get it, no belay, but this about the best athlete, not the bravest."

Wut?

There’s no chance I’m reading any of this thread, so apologies if I’m repeating anyone. But the obvious answer is:

Caitlyn Jenner

Without a single doubt, Simone Biles. Her athleticism is unmatched.

fndjxjtnt wrote:

Yes Caldwell might be a better technical climber, but he does not have the mental strength of Honnold, and that strength very much sets him apart in what is conceivable...and makes him the total package.

I’m sure there were guys technically better than Gretzky, but he was very good technically and combined that with his situational awareness, and therefore was the best overall.

Caldwell does not have the mental strength of Honnold? That’s a joke. Spend some time reading about them and their feats, many done in partnership, and then reconsider what you’ve concluded.

Jim Thorpe: I mean this guy:

https://www.rodbeemer.com/2013/05/22/pawnee-runner/

Chris Sharma over Honnold and Caldwell.