Aug 14 2008
The greatest of all time
Megaman has posed a reasonably good question and with the performance of Michael Phelps at Beijing I feel its time to discuss, who is the greatest sportsman of all time?
Sorry ladies I don’t know enough about your records to debate them but I am confident all of the men below could beat the best ladies in a straight up dual so I will exclude women for the moment.
We will also exclude team sports as it is a little subjective to the rest of the teams performance. It is a difficult question to answer and I would love to hear your opinions on the matter. The following is a list of some of my favourites lets see if we can add a few more with comparison records and narrow in a bit.
The problem is that you typically allow your feelings on certain nominees cloud your judgement. For instance I don’t like Tiger Woods all that much (no not because I am a racist) and feel that Jack Nickalus is hands down the better player.
Lets look at the records
Nickalus – 18 majors – 113 tournament wins all time
Woods – 14 majors – 89 tournament wins all time
Unfortunately it looks as though Tiger’s record will out shine the Golden Bear but until then the Bear is king.
Boxing is a pretty tough one. When the sport was combined and had only one ‘international’ champion no ones record beats that of Rocky Marciano with 49 straight wins & zero defeats. Muhumad Ali seems to get all the kudos as the greatest ever but is that just a matter of us believing the hype?
Marciano 49 pro fights – 0 losses
Ali – 61 pro fights – 5 losses
Then on to tennis. I liked Sampras (sometimes boring) but his record stands above for the time being.
Pete Sampras – 14 majors – 64 tournaments
Roger Federer – 12 majors – 55 tounaments
Michael Schumacher was always a favourite of mine (even though most people consider him a cheat). I just loved his absolute never give up attitude. Nevertheless, his record is currently the best.
Schumacher – 7 word championships
Prost – 4 word championships
Then
Valention Rossi – 7 time world motor cycle champion
The list goes on. Who are your nominations?
How can you even mention Rocky Marciano in the same league as the great Muhammad Ali, you spelt his name wrong by the way. Sure Rocky was a great champ but Ali was a three time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. I don’t see how you can compare the two.
I don’t think you can judge this on results alone but they need to be considered. It is more a case of what level the individual took sport to in their time.
Nickalus/Player/Palmer took golf to levels never seen before, Norman added a level of professionalism and made the modern game what it is today, Woods/Ells/VJ have taken the standards to new highs.
Steve Holland (the original superfish) made people believe that the 15 minute barrier could be broken in the 1500m swim, but he never won a gold medal at the olympics, finished with a bronze, these days you won’t make the final unless you can break 15 minutes.
Rob, Marciano could only fight and beat the opponents of the day, which he did in great fashion and the style of the time, but would any of them have beaten Tyson at his short but fleeting best? I doubt it. Does the greatest boxer have to be a heavy weight, Kosta would get my vote any day.
Wally Lewis in his day was unstoppable but Johns took what the game had learned from the greats of that time and became a better player than Lewis ever was (as much as I hate to admit it)
And that’s just it, all sports learn from the group that went before them and improve upon the training regimes and diets and take it to a new level the new greats are as much innovators as they athletes.
For mine the great Sir Donald Bradman would be the greatest not only does his record stand the test of time, he played the game in the spirit it was always intended
Shirvy, I know you have tried to bump the chicks but…. what about Heather Mackay? She was undefeated at squash for 19 years!! Here’s an obscure one; Babe Didrikson- Olympic Gold medal 80m hurdles, javelin & silver high jump + all american basketballer + turned pro golfer during which time she won 17 tournaments straight. They both kind of make Ali’s & Tiger’s records look pretty average. Obviously, it’s always difficult to judge across eras sexes.
Woody, I hope you’re joking about Joey being better than the King. Joey was awesome for Newcastle but people tend to forget that he couldn’t even make the starting side as halfback in rep sides for a most of his career. A lot of players were chosen ahead of him. While I am a huge fan of the King & Joey, they are only arguably the best in their sport by a small margin. Bradman was undoubtedly the best in a sport played by a lot more people. I still don’t think he’s the best sportsman ever. I like all rounders who have been freaks in more than one sport like Bo Jackson; NFL & Baseball.
I was about to ring you and tell you Liz was logging on as you for a minute there Megaman, but you redeemed yourself with some nicely researched comments.
Woody, I’m not a violent man by nature, but if I ever hear you suggest again that Wally wasn’t the best footballer ever by a country mile, there will be trouble.
Joey is easily the next best I’ve seen and I reckon he was a victim of ridiculous selection decisions at times, but Wally dominated the game at origin and test level for years.
I’m with Megaman again as much as it hurts. Bradman was the best by far in cricket (sorry Warnie, I still love you), but if you truly want to judge the greatest sportsperson then some of those who dominated across multiple sports must be considered.
If you just want the person who’s dominated their sport the most, I reckon Bradman or Tiger. Bradman’s record is still so much better than anyone since that he has to be in the mix, and Tiger has dominated golf like no one before him and I reckon he’s the one who’s truly taken it to new levels too. It is made massive leaps in popularity and visibility since he’s been on the scene.
I think Megaman has just shown us all that he has FINALLY learnt how to ‘google’
I’m with Woody on this on…nobody has come within a country mile of Bradman’s record and he was a gentleman of the game also. I think the greatest sportsman title has to go beyond the records and victories and into the persons behaviour and role as a role model to others. Bradman again takes the cake.
Phelps does look like a genuine contender though
I agree with the behaviour and role model points guys, but I’m interested in why you’re not including Tiger on that basis. His behaviour and sportsmanship has always been exemplary (that means ‘really good’ IASM) and his role in breaking down the racial boundaries at Augusta in particular is a great message for young black & asian people.
I know you didn’t want to include teams SJ, but the Dragons sides that won 10 or 11 in a row in the 50′s and 60′s must rate a mention somewhere surely.
From the books I have read about Bradman he is not always regarded as a gentlemen of the game. I get the feeling he was a bit more like Steve Waugh, a bit edgy and not to be trifled with. I will except tough but fair.
I still don’t see how you can rank Tiger abover Nickalus yet? Nickalus got past the big slump in his game and made it back. Tiger may never have a slump but until his win record exceeds the Golden Bears I will not agree with you.
Sorry Megaman, Any top male squash player of the day would have beaten Heather Mackay. She is possibly the best Women sports person ever but not the best. They don’t rank the greatest scientist on a gender basis so I don’t see why this should occur with the greatest sportsperson. Harsh but absolutely true.
And Rob, Thank you for not calling me a racist but I can’t agree. Ali was beaten and beaten bad a couple of times. Part of being the best of the best is knowing when your time is up… and Rocky passed this test.
Lats throw in Makybe Diva and Blacks a Fake surly they qualify as athletes
The mighty Diva for sure, although that screws SJ’s chicks rule. No doubt some idiot will ridicule you for wanting to include animals in a contest that is judging the best sports ‘person’, but I’m with you. Her record was awesome, clearly better than any other horse we’ve seen since at least Pharlap, and arguably better.
Is she the best racehorse of all time, or can someone find a challenger from Europe or the States?
What about Lance Armstrong? 7 x Tour De France wins with a bout of cancer in between….
I’m also thinking we need to exclude sports like AFL, Baseball, Rugby etc that are only played in a small number of countries. That would exclude the Don or course, but I don’t reckon you can call him the best when he didn’t even compete against athletes from the US, China and most of Europe and Africa.
From a pure boredom point of view, you can add Basketball and half the olympic ‘sports’ to that list as well for all I care.
We’re including drug assisted athletes now are we?
Has he been proven to be a druggo? If so, he’s out. If we just go on speculation then we’ll have to rule out half the olympic athletes of the last 20 years…..
When I’m trying to decide who the greatest ever is, the spirit they played doesn’t come into it. Otherwise I would have ruled the Don out. He was not the most loved by those who knew him apparently & if you ever saw that interview he did with Ray Martin…he was boring.
For mine, they have to satisfy some simple criteria;
1. played a very competitive sport (not like swimming where only the kids in warm climates with asthma take it seriously.)
2. they were far better than those they competed against.
3. longevity
4. perfomed when it counted under pressure
I still have no idea who. I don’t think Tiger is up there though. I love him & think he’s probably the best golfer. Definitely the most popular & has grown the sport. But only rich countries play & how many kids at school take golf seriously?
Carl Lewis?
What about the most popular sport on the planet – soccer/football?
I can’t say i’ve seen him play but Pele is well regarded here. Maradona is out because of his drug connections.
The achievements of Lance Armstrong should never be understated. The only mistake he made was Sheryl Crow!
Whats wrong with Sheryl Crow?
What about the great pole vaulter Sergey Bubka? He was world champion for 16 years straight and is the only athlete in any event to win 6 consecutive world titles.
Bubka set world records 35 times, 18 times indoors and 17 times outdoors and earned the nickname of “the Tsar”. Not too shabby!
Finally a sensible debate between the lowlife rabble of this site. You all make some very pertinent points. Even though I do think that some of you are too easily biased towards those sportspeople hyped by the media eg Tiger & Ali & those close to home eg NRL players & cricketers. If you were to suggest those individuals as candidates globally you would be laughed out of town!
Velcrap, for the 1st time in your life, you’ve sounded intelligent with your football suggestion as a sport from which to choose a winner.
If only you losers could put as much thought and effort into more important topics such as religion, politics and economics.
team sports are banned. if you can callbsoccer a sport. I allowed bradman as bating is very individual.
What about Daley Thompson, Michael Johnston as contenders?
who is michael johnston tunksy? michael johnson perhaps? I do recall watching him at the 2000 olympics in a 400m heat and he just stood out as so much the superior athlete. his run looked absolutely effortless in comparison to the rest of the field.
bubka is a good nominee reeegitz. he was the king that bloke
daley thompson was a great athlete in his sport but individualy he would win nothing.
still 1 tough competitor though.
Carl lewis is another great choice.
P.S. never said Bradman was a saint and you don’t have to be liked to be the best…you need a friend buy a dog
Kelly slater for surfing
I guess surfing is a sport so he should be in the mix but it would kill me if a surfer was crowned the greatest of all time.
What about all those Russian gymnastic girls, Hav’nt seem too many blokes that can keep up with them. the ones that try you cant consider them to be blokes anyway. What is all this sexist stuff about anyway? some of the best people I have had sex with have been women. I wont listen to any negative comments about the “fairer gender”.