It has to be Lance Armstrong. He overcame cancer to win the Tour de France!
It has to be Lance Armstrong. He overcame cancer to win the Tour de France!
Caitlyn Jenner. The only woman to win a major men's championship.
Pele is the greatest.
Saying that Jordan has had more influence than Pele is having a very North American view of the world.
It is not the reality. Pele is bigger than Jordan in most of the World, also because Football is bigger than basketball in most of the world.
Those who have never left the US might lack the awareness on how big football (soccer) actually is in most of the World so I will try to help :
It is the biggest sport in:
- Every single country in South America (debatable in Venezuela and Guyana perhaps)
- Mexico, plus most of the countries in Central America
- Every single country in Europe (debatable in Austria, perhaps the Baltic countries it is debatable as well)
- Every single country in Africa (forget about running - have you ever been to Ethiopia or Kenya to ask? I Have)
- Every single country in the Middle East
- Several countries in Asia - including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and probably Japan (debatable if bigger than baseball)
It is hard to name anyone that is not a footballer when the Sport is so much more influential than other sports in most of the world.
I respect the pick of Muhammad Ali, as he transcended the sport, but there should be nobody else in the discussion, not even Jordan.
As of other footballers, some of which cited here:
- Maradona: perhaps more talented than Pele. Perhaps. Greater? No, and by a huge margin.
- Cristiano Ronaldo: a beast of an Athlete but never won a World Cup. Pele won three. Ranking him above Pele in greatness is absurd.
- Messi: most people consider him inferior to Maradona in terms of skill. Never won any titles for Argentina either.
Some here should also read a bit of history - Pele was able to even stop a war for a while in 1969 - read about the Biafran War in Africa.
by the way, the only serious election i know to name the athlete of the century, back in 1981, elected Pele. He beat Ali, Owens and others.
Marit Bjørgen.
Time Traveler from 2002 wrote:
It has to be Lance Armstrong. He overcame cancer to win the Tour de France!
Good one.
Michael Johnson WR in 200,300,400,4x400 at once
fishing is a sport wrote:
Has anyone mention Jesus? I mean fishing is a sport. And he was a pretty damn good fisherman. Not to mention he could to walk on water and raised himself from the dead. Pretty much an all-around stud!
Haha :)
Roger Federer
Diego Maradona or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Björn Dählie
Kenenisa Bekele
my God. I've lived long enough to see someone mentioning Rummenigge as the greatest athlete athlete ever.
he was not even close to be the greatest german footballer. Clearly inferior to Gerd Muller, Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthaus...
how come can it possibly be named the greatest athlete ever?
I have chosen Muhamad Ali despite being not a black
but I feel the same oppression that Muhammad Ali felt at the end of 50s in America.
I give a small example, among a lot of other example, of oppression:
some days ago in a discussion a person wrote these lines to me:
your people have done this and that in Europe (immigration problems) and your country is put under the watch of WADA
it's this kind of words that is a modern form of oppression
Pélé, Michael Johnson belongs to the category of persons domesticated by the west. They never tend a hand to land of their origin (Africa).
Better, when asked a list of best footballer in the century, Pelé choose to ignore third world countries and did favor to the European countries.
Roger Federer I will never chose him. Simply because his sport is a sport of privileged and rich countries.
I respect your choice, and as I mentioned in my post there really should be nobody else in the discussion other than Ali and Pele. I just don't see your point on the list of best footballers of the century. Pele is known for this Fifa 100 list back in 2004 where he appointed many South American and African athletes as part of the best 100 players at that time. I don't know what's the list you are talking about.
Passant wrote:
I have chosen Muhamad Ali despite being not a black
but I feel the same oppression that Muhammad Ali felt at the end of 50s in America.
I give a small example, among a lot of other example, of oppression:
some days ago in a discussion a person wrote these lines to me:
your people have done this and that in Europe (immigration problems) and your country is put under the watch of WADA
it's this kind of words that is a modern form of oppression
Pélé, Michael Johnson belongs to the category of persons domesticated by the west. They never tend a hand to land of their origin (Africa).
Better, when asked a list of best footballer in the century, Pelé choose to ignore third world countries and did favor to the European countries.
Roger Federer I will never chose him. Simply because his sport is a sport of privileged and rich countries.
Primo Numero Uno wrote:
Air Jordan IV Bred wrote:
#23 Michael Jordan
This is the only person I can think of that is absolutely transcendent figure in their sport and unquestionably the greatest ever in their sport as far as the major sports. There are really only two other arguments to be made.
I think you could make an argument for Gretzky as a clear GOAT but he does not have the level of transcendence that Jordan has. Jordan's championships are a quarter-century past and he is still the most popular BB player in the world.
The one other argument you could possibly make is Babe Ruth. But given he played in a very diluted time when the sport was still segregated I think there are a lot of issues when comparing him to more recent greats like Mays, Williams, Bonds, or Trout.
But Gretzky and Jordan are in sports nearly noones competes in. I said Marit Bjørgen. I am also wrong of course. But it is the same mistake.
I think comparing sports is nearly impossible but my pick would be Eric Heiden the man who won golds in every olympic distance in speed skating. This is a feet which I believe can never be duplicated and would be like winning the olympic track 100M, 400M, 800M, 1500M, 5k, and 10k. My number 2 pick would be Cy young based on his lifetime achievement of 511 wins. # 3 would be the present reigning olympic champion in women’s gymnastics Simone Biles
Lance overcame a lot but then lost his way and became the biggest liar and cheater in sports history. His mean spiritedness to many around him puts him in a catagory of one of the worst athletes ever
Surprised no one has at least mentioned Jesse Owens. 3 world records and tied another in less than an hour. Plus he messed with Hitler and lived to tell about it. And how many of these guys had the stones to race a horse on foot?
blue harrier wrote:
I think comparing sports is nearly impossible but my pick would be Eric Heiden the man who won golds in every olympic distance in speed skating. This is a feet which I believe can never be duplicated and would be like winning the olympic track 100M, 400M, 800M, 1500M, 5k, and 10k. My number 2 pick would be Cy young based on his lifetime achievement of 511 wins. # 3 would be the present reigning olympic champion in women’s gymnastics Simone Biles
The shortest speed skating distance is 500m, which took 37-38 seconds during Heiden's era. So that's more like 400m sprint than 100m. The longest distance, 10000m, took 14-15 min, which is more like 5000m run than 10000m run. So his range was more like 400m to 5000m, if you compare it to track.
Muhammad Ali
I only truly respect a few. Klitschko brothers & Karelin. Lasha is close, as are Mariusz P., and Ed Coan.
Good Dog wrote:
Danny Ainge was a better all around athlete than 90% of the people cited.
From what i could tell, he had a glass jaw.
https://youtu.be/oWcoOmtfcXsNot the only time that happened either. I cant remember who it was but Ainge got git so hard one time he got spun around and the camera pick up on bis eyes crossing before he hit the floor.
Babe Ruth. Made Hall of Fame as a hitter and could have done so as a pitcher.
Aleksandr Karelin
Change my mind