We name the greatest athletes of all time in the wake of Usain Bolt’s remarkable feats at Rio Olympics
FROM Usain Bolt to Michael Jordan to Serena Williams and even our own Don Bradman, we take a look at the greatest sportspeople of all time. VOTE AND HAVE YOUR SAY
IS The Greatest still The Greatest?
This is the question rising provocatively from the best moments of the Rio OIympics where Usain Bolt has redefined not simply his sport but sport itself.
WHO’S THE GREATEST? VOTE IN THE POLL BELOW
For many decades list of the greatest sportsman of all time normally start with boxing legend Muhammad Ali and the rest compete for the minor medals.
Ali is such a fixture at the top of the list that one of his nicknames is The Greatest.
Some would throw Michael Phelps into the equation but the greatest of all time has star power that lights up a stadium without even have to switch the lights on.
This is where Bolt stands out.
Showmanship, razzle dazzle, charisma, charm ... he has it all and takes it wherever he goes.
We see the great runners so infrequently you cannot afford to miss them.
Do you know anyone who did not watch him run the Olympic 100m?
The greatest sportsman of all time must be more than a sportsman. He has to take his sport to new heights and new places, be its salvation if necessary which Bolt unquestionably was to athletics.
Here is our list of the greatest sportspeople of all time.
1. USAIN BOLT
When the Jamaican showman crossed the line for his third consecutive 100 metre Olympic title it ended all argument. He is the greatest athlete who has ever lived. And he is invincible. It’s possible he could have already rightfully claimed the No 1 position before Rio but this was extra special. About as special as a sporting moment can get. And it didn’t even matter what he did in the 200 metre or whether or not he retires at the end of this week. Usain Bolt has in a relatively short period of time become the most famous athlete on the planet. Not only does he own the world record and nine of the 30 fastest 100 metres times in history and the world record in the 200 metres, he has made people who don’t care about athletics take notice. He is the super human runner who puts bums on seat. He not only wants to win, he wants to give the audience their money’s worth by putting on a show doing it. More than that though, he is a generous athlete who gives back to his sport and his country by working with disadvantaged kids.
2. MUHAMMAD ALI
In a year when we lost this icon of world sport it seems unfair to knock him off the No 1 spot — a position he has held on many lists of this nature for decades. But we have. The measure of Ali’s greatness was the wall-to-wall coverage he was afforded when he died earlier this year. He was remembered as man who not only transformed the sport of boxing, but was a key figure who changed the opinion of a generation. Of course, he was an egotistical loudmouth who spoke first and then spoke again. But it is his exploits in the ring that make him one of the most revered sportsman of all time.
3. MICHAEL JORDAN
A truly global sports star, Michael Jordan is remembered not only as the man that made basketball cool, he was the first to make serious money out of his chosen sport. He wrote the playbook for mixing sport with corporate success at the same time as inspiring young basketballers across the country — especially African-American children — to believe basketball was a serious sport that could change their lives forever. Jordan’s awards include five most valuable player awards.
4. MICHAEL PHELPS
His exploits at the Rio Olympics catapulted Phelps towards the top of this list with a bullet. With 28 Olympic medals — 23 of them gold — he is the most decorated Olympian who has built a reputation as a fierce competitor who beats his opponents before he even gets into the pool. His 23 Olympic golds are the same number Brazil had won as a nation before these Games. He made his debut as a teenager at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, retired temporarily after the London games but made his comeback for Rio, his fifth Games.
5. SIR DONALD BRADMAN
Bradman’s fame was so enduring that right up until the week of his death in 2001 at age 92 he was still receiving a mail basket full of letters each week asking for his autograph.
For almost a century the benchmark for a champion batsman is a Test average of 50. Few reach it. Barely anyone reaches much above it. Bradman all but doubled it.
Bradman’s career transcended not just his sport but all sport. He became a symbol and a national treasure of Australia.
He was ahead of his time as a fast-paced batsman and a thinker with several columns he wrote about the need for cricket to keep pace with the rhythms of society as relevant as ever given the boom of Twenty20 cricket.
6. SERENA WILLIAMS
Regarded by most as the greatest female tennis player of all time, Williams built her legend with brute force. She became world number one for the first time in 2002 and since then has held that position for 302 weeks, as of this week, and 179 of those were consecutive. She has won 38 major titles and a two-time grand slam winner. Her arrival on the tennis scene, along with her sister Venus, introduced power play to the women’s game and it has never looked back. She makes the list ahead of other greats, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova or Margaret Court, because of her complete domination of a game that is more competitive than ever. She is more than just a tennis player, she is a pop culture phenomenon.
7. ROGER FEDERER
On the subject of tennis players, Federer makes the list for much the same reason — pure dominance. The number of quality tennis players who could make this list is many. (It could have been Rod Laver). But Federer is the King. he ruled over men’s competition that has never had so depth. The key to Federer’s greatness is his game has it all — power, finesse and endurance. He is also one of those rare tennis players who transcends the sport and has fans outside of those who like to watch a green ball his over a net.
8. TIGER WOODS
Great players change the game and it stays changed long after they fade. Tiger Woods went somewhere golfers traditionally loathed — the gym — and the professional world followed his lead. He literally changed the shape of golf and that is apart from the impact of his 14 majors and 79 tour wins. Television rights skyrocketed to record levels on the back of his fame. Ratings soared when he was in contention for a major. Whatever his failings at a philandering husband there is little doubt that in the absolute prime of his career he was the most formidable golfing force of all time.
9. PELE
Pele is lauded as the man who attached soccer to the phrase “the beautiful game.’’ For much of his two decade career it felt as if he was the game.
There are those who say that some modern stars such as Lionel Messi now challenge him as the game’s greatest player but Pele’s gold plated statistic is that he remains the only player to win the World Cup three times.
As a mesmeric striker he was an intelligent, with brilliant, precise skills and wondrous creativity such as the bicycle kick which he repopularised. In 1999 the International Olympic Committee named him athlete of the 20th century.
10. JESSE OWENS
Sometimes in life it’s not just what you do but what it all means that leaves the lasting imprint. Owens won four gold medals in front of Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics when the home town were craving gold medal winners to prove their supremacy. Hitler, who loathed African-Americans was not amused. Many decades later a street in Berlin would be named after Owens who once broke three world records in 45 minutes at an athletics titles in America.
11. JACK NICKLAUS
More than half a century after he won his first major title ‘The Golden Bear’ is still regularly named on top of lists rating the most influential people in golf. It was his weighty word that was one of the keys in getting golf in the Olympics. Tiger Woods drove himself beyond breaking point chasing Jack’s 18 major wins and has pulled up four short. Many golf fans are happy about that. The thought of Jack being king sits nicely with the golfing world.
12. ROD LAVER
John McEnroe loves him. Roger Federer thinks he’s the best. He is so humble that when he looks at today’s stars he asks “I wonder how I would have handled their games?’’
But old time admirers are sure he would have found a way. Rod Laver always did.
He was the number one player in the game from 1964-70 in the four years before tennis turned professional and the three years after it. No player has matches his 200 singles titles. He remains the only man to achieve a calendar grand slam twice. Clay, grass or hardcourt … he was a devastating force on them all with near technical perfection and a peerless all court game.
13. NADIA COMANECI
Great sportspeople don’t just play sport they lift the popularity of that sport. So it could be said of the great Romanian gymnast who won five Olympic gold medals and, famously, in 1976 became the first gymnast to be given a perfect 10. The scoreboard could not cope with perfection after the people who designed it were told a “10’’ could never happen. So her 10 was recorded as 1.00. In 2000, when Laureus named her one of the athletes of the century there was not a single discerning voice.
14. DAWN FRASER
Fraser one of only three swimmers to win the same event three times, taking the 100m freestyle in Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo, matching what Bolt did in the pool. She might have even won a fourth had she been banned for stealing a flag in Tokyo. Colourful, charismatic and controversial she has the big personality to match her big achievements.
15. KELLY SLATER
Surfing without Kelly Slater would seem much like The Phantom of the Opera without the phantom. He and the sport have grown with and popularised each other. He’s been an inspiring role model in that he is cool but not too cool for the room. He has been world champion 11 times and is both the youngest (at 20) and oldest (at 39) title winner, a rare achievement in any sport. He has taken the sport into mainstream recognition through his acting on series like Baywatch, all the while remaining admirably unpretentious as is the surfing way.
Originally published as We name the greatest athletes of all time in the wake of Usain Bolt’s remarkable feats at Rio Olympics
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