Top 5 athletes of all time

charltonkeston said:

ThreadKiller said:

Brian Jacks

He presented me with a cricket medal/shield when I was at school. I was really surprised how short he was or maybe I was a big 15 year old and didn’t realise it. 
I met him quite a few years later, he had a bouncy castle business, BJs. I hired one for my sons birthday 4th birthday party. We talked about his dips and squats on superstars. He came across as a nice guy. 

Jac_52 said:

Since people are including Tiger Woods I'll stick Ronnie O'Sullivans name in the mix 

killerandflash said:

I'm undecided if Serena would be in the Top 5 greatest Tennis Players of all time, never mind the greatest in all sports. Longevity doesn't by itself make someone better, Jimmy Anderson might be an England great, but I wouldn't say he was necessarily better than Fred Trueman just because he took more TEST wickets, as he's had the benefit of modern diet and medicine, and hardly having to play county cricket for several years.

It's not as if Serena's 23 Slams puts her way ahead of everyone else in the Open Era, Steffi Graf had 22 while Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had 18 each, and arguably prevented each other winning more. And Martina had 32 women's doubles wins, putting her way ahead of everyone else

McBobbin said:

Can we have a list of second best athletes if all time? I'll start with Tony Jarrett 

Addick Addict said:

bobmunro said:

Muhammad Ali
Usain Bolt
Michael Jordan
Michael Johnson
Michael Phelps

Clearly being called Michael gives you a head start!

Indeed. Other athletes of note with the name "Michael":

Michael Jackson
Michael Myers
Michael Caine
Princess Michael of Kent
Michael Droy

Blackheathen said:

This type of thread seems to pop up from time to time.  Surely no list of top sportsmen (or women) is complete without mention of CB Fry.  Best known as a classic England batsman he was also a top class sprinter and world record holder in the long jump - also a hurdler.  He played in a CupFinal for Southampton and - icing on the cake - played rugby for Blackheath and was named in a North v South game which was a sort of international trial.

SDAddick said:

North Lower Neil said:

This photo has been doing the rounds as it's Americans being Americans and forgetting the rest of the world (and Michael Phelps apparently) exist:



But how wrong are they?  At least 4 (I dont watch baseball so little idea there) would be in with a shout to be honest, but then it ignores so many others.

Who would you actually have in yours?

Messi?
Bolt?
Bradman (got to be better than Babe Ruth in a hitting things with a bat sport, surely?)?
Tiger Woods?
Federer?
Cory Gibbs?

So I'm going to be the dickhead who gets really pedantic:

I think there's sometimes a difference between the "Best" athlete in a sport, and the most transformative. 

Tiger Woods is a good example: is he the best ever golfer? Maybe, there are others with more wins and more Majors but he did it in a shorter amount of time. Did he transform golf? I think the answer to that is absolutely. 

I know baseball references wont' be the most popular here, but I think Babe Ruth is probably another one. Was he transformative? Yes, primarily in that he was a good pitcher and hitter, and also one of the biggest and first stars of the sport. Was he the best ever? No, I think there are two players playing now who are better, or at least arguably will be when their careers are finished (Trout and Ohtani). 

I think Michael Jordan is an example of both. He transformed at least a role in basketball in terms of the playmaker/scorer who can do everything, and he was also the best to ever do it.

Manic_mania said:

SDAddick said:

North Lower Neil said:

This photo has been doing the rounds as it's Americans being Americans and forgetting the rest of the world (and Michael Phelps apparently) exist:



But how wrong are they?  At least 4 (I dont watch baseball so little idea there) would be in with a shout to be honest, but then it ignores so many others.

Who would you actually have in yours?

Messi?
Bolt?
Bradman (got to be better than Babe Ruth in a hitting things with a bat sport, surely?)?
Tiger Woods?
Federer?
Cory Gibbs?

So I'm going to be the dickhead who gets really pedantic:

I think there's sometimes a difference between the "Best" athlete in a sport, and the most transformative. 

Tiger Woods is a good example: is he the best ever golfer? Maybe, there are others with more wins and more Majors but he did it in a shorter amount of time. Did he transform golf? I think the answer to that is absolutely. 

I know baseball references wont' be the most popular here, but I think Babe Ruth is probably another one. Was he transformative? Yes, primarily in that he was a good pitcher and hitter, and also one of the biggest and first stars of the sport. Was he the best ever? No, I think there are two players playing now who are better, or at least arguably will be when their careers are finished (Trout and Ohtani). 

I think Michael Jordan is an example of both. He transformed at least a role in basketball in terms of the playmaker/scorer who can do everything, and he was also the best to ever do it.

If we are talking about transformative then we are back to Fosbury .

Literally changed how the sport was played.

or do you mean transformative as in changed how we knew the game could be played? Tiger Woods hit the ball harder and further than anyone before him, Ali juked and jived and talked like nobody before him, Maradona took the ball around people like never before him, Bolt ran faster than man has ever recorded and still had time to showboat in a 9 second race, Ronnie O'Sullivan could win with his left hand in 5 minutes and score a maximum...  

Does dominance and shattering records count or is it about being at the top over a period of time and being the best? Does the sport matter? The competition?

That's why this is such a hard question and such a flipping interesting conversation.