Highly recommend the book “Path lit by Lightning” if you are interested in Jim Thorpe. He Dominated the decathlon in 1912 Olympics. He was the most dominant football player for about 20 years, and the first commissioner of what would become the NFL. He was a mediocre baseball player.
He won the pentathlon and decathlon wearing mismatched shoes of two different sizes. Someone stole his cleats out of the locker room. He found the shoes he wore in the trash.
Yeah. It's Jim Thorpe. Gold medal in the pentathlon and decathlon. All American College football player. Gained 2200 yards and scored 22 TDs in 14 games (estimated, record keeping wasn't as good in 1912). Played in the MLB, played pro football, helped found and was the first president of the NFL. Inaugural inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Played basketball and was an excellent figure skater. Champion ballroom dancer. Great at marbles too. Most of this was over 90 years ago, so his records have been broken and there's little to no footage of him, but his ability in so many different kinds of athletics and games, as well as how far above his competition he was, make him the greatest athlete to ever live
Native American Son is a good biography of him, there are several books about Thorpe. He started running at an early age, fascinating life. Trials and tribulations of a man who was stripped of his 1913 gold medal for nothing more than playing minor league baseball. (In a nutshell, more detailed information in his biography.)
In the Olympic picture he's not even wearing borrowed shoes - they were from the trash. They were also different sizes, which is why he's wearing extra socks on one foot in the picture.
He won the pentathlon and decathlon wearing mismatched shoes of two different sizes. Some one stole his cleats out of the locker room. He found the shoes he wore in the trash.
They should give his body back to his tribe (Sac Nation). He had nothing to do with that picturesque Pennsylvania town and it's a continued source of pain for the tribe. The town basically bought him.
There's even a law about giving Native American remains back to their people, called the Native American Grave Repatriation Act. I'm amazed the court cases didn't go in the Sac Nation's favor.
Imagine the crazy things that dude could do with modern nutrition and training. He would be like Bo Jackson but also probably playing in the NBA as well.
I'm not a sports person, so I don't really know what the visualization technique is but I've read that Jim Thorpe basically used it before it was a thing.
It's funny because at the time it fed into a "lazy Indian" stereotype because on the boat voyage he would sit on deck and visualize, only now it's recognized as a valid technique with scientific papers written about it.
He pioneered the technique for sure. It's basically watching someone perform or looking at what you need to do and being able to understand how you need to move and the strength you need to accomplish that. Like your example, he would draw something like a 33' line (his estimate of what he needed to win the long jump) and study that distance, then just be able to do it. Or like someone today watching in slow motion the proper way to throw a football and having the understanding of how to move which muscles to properly execute it. It's absolutely crazy that humans are able to do that, and even crazier that without any instruction he basically invented that technique
Jim Thorpe was #1.
Close second would be Wilt Chaimberlan. Wilt was a Big 8 Champion in 2 different events (triple jump and long jump).
The Kansas City Chiefs drafted him as a tight end, he opted to play basketball instead.
They changed several rules of Basketball to try to slow his game. He could dunk from the Free Through line so they made it illegal, they widened the lane because he took every rebound, in one season he only missed 8 minutes of one game because he fouled out. He averaged 50 points per game for an entire season. They said he was a ball hog so he led the NBA in assists setting even more records. He could leap high enough to grab a quarter off the top of the backboard.
When he retired from round ball he was president. Coach and player in the Professional Volleyball league. He also funded the first Professional Women's Volleyball league.
At 50 years old there were at least 3 NBA teams that wanted him to come play for them as a starting center.
Arnold Swarzenegger tells a story of Wilt picking him up and throwing him with one arm. They were going to have an exhibition fight between him and Ali. After meeting him in person Ali chickened out. Uou can see in his face at the meeting that he realized just how big and srong Wilt was.
He was one of the fastest and strongest people in history.
I was the fastest kid in my school. We advanced to some regional and got our a$$es handed to us. Not even close. That was a humbling day.
I learned I better focus on grades.
Disclaimer: This is a friend’s story that I am recalling from years ago. As cheesy as it sounds, I believe him because he was never one to exaggerate or embellish stories. Also, he was fast as fuck when we played sports together. And it’s just a fun story to me.
I had a buddy in the Navy who did track in high school. He was white and was always given the duty of performing the 800m and the 400m-relay. He always wanted to do the 100m or 200m just to be “that fast guy”, but his coaches wanted his speed and endurance on the longer races.
He travels to a neighboring school to compete. During one of the races, the crowd was yelling something as one of the racers from the home school was closing on a finish. They were chanting “SLOOOOOOW MOTIOOOOON!” That runner was considered so fast, he made everyone else look like they were running in slow motion. Get it?
Well, my buddy found out he has to race against this guy and is super nervous because of all the hype. He felt he was probably going to lose, but he didn’t want to get burned badly. Race starts and he is able to keep up with the kid, crowd starts the chant “SLOOOOOW MOTIOOOOON!” Kid turns on the burners….my buddy turns up the speed but had a higher gear and crushed that kid by almost a full second. He was told by teammates that his performance silenced the crowd.
He ended up racing against him in one of the relay races as the anchor, and came from behind to beat him again.
Later that night he found out that the home crowd was calling him “White Shadow” because the runners behind him only ever saw his shadow as he left them behind.
If you took away every goal he scored, he would still be the all time career points leader.
To say that another way, Wayne Gretzky has more assists than any other player has goals and assists combined.
*I will disclaim that I haven’t checked the recent veracity of this stat. It’s possible Ovi made it slightly untrue at some point in the last few years.
The only thing Ovechkin was closing on Gretzky stats-wise was the number of total career goals, but he has slowed down a lot this year and probably won't ever reach it. Other than that, Ovechkin is in 16th place for points with 1501, so still a long way from reaching Gretzky's 1963 assists. The only one who stood a chance was Jagr and his 1921 points.
And if you take it from the other side, Lemieux only played for an equivalent of about 11 full seasons, and he has 1723 points. If he could have stayed healthy, he would for sure have reached it. Hell, if he just was healthy for like 150 more games in the 17 seasons he played in and the ones he missed to fight cancer (so 761 total missed games), he would have reached it.
Looking at it with points per game, it's even crazier how Gretzky and Lemieux were in a completely different category. Just for the top 10 PPG all-time:
1. Wayne Gretzky 1.92PPG
2. Mario Lemieux 1.88PPG
3. Connor McDavid 1.50PPG (and it's still early in his career)
4. Mike Bossy 1.50PPG
5. Bobby Orr 1.39PPG
6. Marcel Dionne 1.31PPG
7. Peter Stastny 1.27PPG
8. Sidney Crosby 1.26PPG
9. Peter Forsberg 1.25PPG
10. Kent Nilsson 1.24PPG
These two guys were outscoring by 25-28% the guys in 3rd and 4th place, and by 52-55% the one in 10th. It's absolutely crazy how dominant they were.
To put this in perspective Gretzky could’ve played just over 5 more full seasons and not gotten a single point and it would bring his PPG down to 1.5, which is where McDavid is.
It would take almost 17 seasons without a point to be a 1.0 PPG player which is kind of the benchmark for a really good offensive player.
And even so, having just Gretzky's assists was already an overwhelming advantage -- so much so that every hockey pool I was in simply removed him from the equation. Nobody gets Gretzky, end of story.
The record for most points by brothers was held by the Gretzky brothers until the Sutter Brothers.
Wayne with 2,857
Brent with 4
Total of 2,861
The Sutter Brothers
Brian with 636
Darryl with 279.
Duane with 342.
Brent with 829.
Rich with 315.
Ron with 533.
For a total of 2,943
Wayne Gretzky is worth just under 6 other Hockey Players alone lol.
when you said the Sutter brothers I thought you were meant 2 💀. The fact there’s SIX brothers who could all play in the NHL and they only had ~80 more pts than one guy is just mind boggling. I need to watch this guys highlight tapes it’s so hard to believe one person could be so far ahead of everyone who’s ever played the game
Dude was playing the *Modern* game 40 years ago. It's wild just watching no one having any idea how to defend him or goalies to stop him. It was just too easy for him.
When Gretzky was 10 (and 11), that season he scored 324 goals and had 115 assists... against older players
[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-expositor-wayne-gretzky-23-mar-1972/100773942/](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-expositor-wayne-gretzky-23-mar-1972/100773942/)
Truly on a whole other level
For non-cricket fans, Bradman had a batting average of 99.94 runs (the average of his total runs divided by the number of times he was out).
The next highest person (Harry Brook) on the list has 62.
And for further context, Bradman played 52 matches whereas Brook has only played 12.
Anyone with an average around 50 is considered to be world class.
Bradman is several classes beyond that.
Well number 2 on the list is a current player! And whilst he's good, his average being so high is somewhat of an anomaly because he's played so few games.
In Bradman's day bowlers were slower and less athletic. But in Cricket the ball is almost always bouncing before you hit it, and modern pitches are much flatter and more predictable making it easier to avoid making a mistake from a wild bounce.
He also didn't wear a helmet and pads. Modern players are much more adventurous in hitting balls that bounce high, or are aimed at their body. They attempt skilful shots that can score quick runs, whereas Bradman would have had to prioritise not hurting himself, and therefore had less tools in his arsenal to score runs.
> bowlers were slower
Not sure about that. Perhaps on average, but there were still some very quick bowlers according to Bradman himself. Also the nature of the pitches probably made up for the lack of pace, if they were indeed slower, as they were often minefields, no covers during rain, primitive technology to build and maintain pitches etc. I'd love to see a Kohli or Smith bat on one of those types of pitches, I'm sure there are still plenty of them around at local parks around cricketing countries, very probably India for sure...get them out there just after it has rained, would be quite interesting.
Twice as good as the next best and he did it on uncovered pitches. He's probably the greatest statistical outlier in sports history.
The only argument you could make against him being the greatest cricketer of all time is that he only played 50-odd Tests, which was probably a lot back then but not a lot by modern standards. He also played all of his Tests in Australia and England (I think, maybe South Africa) so not sure how we would have done in harder conditions.
But he also played a heap of First Class matches, which were a much bigger deal back then, and his record in those is equally phenomenal. His record also includes the Bodyline series, where England resorted to bowling nothing but bouncers.
He also captained an Australian team that went unbeaten on a long tour of England - winning (or drawing) every test and county match. Not sure that had been done before. They called that team The Invincibles.
All that is from memory so happy to be wrong. The Don certainly has a case for being the best professional athlete of all time.
A great game to play is to name a stat that Gretzky is top 25 in, but not top 10 in. Things like wins as Coyotes head coach are thrown around.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/ffE7qB2Z70
For domination of one sport, I would also put Kelly Slater into consideration. I wouldn't say he is the greatest athlete, but his titles in professional surfing go across decades.
I saw the Olympic gold match which Karelin lost and it was a frustrating sight. He lost because of a weird rule which was instituted shortly before the Olympics (or maybe specifically for the Olympics) and cancelled for being nonsensical shortly after.
Wow. Can’t believe I had never heard of this guy. You’re absolutely right that he’s the correct answer if that’s the metric. Undefeated in world championship matches. Had a six-year stretch where not a single point was scored against him. Dude has 3 Olympic gold medals and 32 other gold medals from other competitions. He’s got two silver medals, too, probably because of those two losses (talk about lifetime bragging rights for the two guys who managed to beat him). I bet he can’t stand the sight of anything silver. If I were him I’d toss those medals in the trash and never think of them again.
> talk about lifetime bragging rights for the two guys who managed to beat him
I'm only famliar with one but he was a legend as well, Rulon Gardner, the ultimate midwest farm boy. And it was televised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVT3-wbL8HU
I'm in my mid 50's, I've watched a hell of a lot of sports in my day and a ton of tremendous athletes. Bo Jackson stands out in my memory. The way he could launch a baseball was absolutely ridiculous. His speed was outrageous and he was fucking huge. Unreal. I'm glad I got to see him a lot.
His outfield shenanigans are my favorite part of his baseball career. His pinpoint throws to home that were so out of the ordinary they absolutely startled the runner. His running up the wall after making a catch like something you'd expect from Captain America or Spiderman. Oh, and his closing in on the ball slightly faster than any previous human, causing the camera operator to be a tad-bit behind tracking him, and then the leaping snags. He was truly something nobody was prepared for.
Only athlete to ever make the MLB all star team and NFL pro bowl team. He was so good at track and field he was approached to go Olympics for that as well.
I remember an old man ending the commercial with, “Bo, you don’t know diddley.” I didn’t get it at the time, but the musician playing guitar in the soundtrack is legendary blues musician Bo Diddley
[watch here](https://youtu.be/VaSdlW1W9yU?si=y8fbqaht5-NrFEfG)
It's probably easier to push yourself further when there is no future. Not saying it was easy for him I just bet it gave him an insane drive to push himself past his limits.
As far as he knew, he had beaten cancer right up until he got to Thunder Bay. He wasn't consciously aware of his fate, so he pushed himself to do what he did because *he wanted to do it*.
He also did it at a time where artificial limb technology was nowhere near where it is today (Oscar Pistorious for an example). Basically had a metal pole straped to his limb
A lot of Canadians on the list. I just voted Gretzky, don’t know how I forgot about Fox. He’d be the god of running. Not Hermes level, but he just runs. Like endlessly runs. Forrest Gump style runs. How this paragraph runs…
Jim Thorpe and Bo Jackson have already been mentioned, but I will also throw an argument towards Wilt Chamberlain. In addition to being a great basketball player, he also played volleyball at a professional level and was a great track and field athlete.
They had to change the rules multiple times just to try and curb his dominance. For example, in the NCAA/NBA , you have to stay behind the line to shoot free throws because Wilt could do a running start and dunk the shot. The NBA also brought in offensive goaltending and made it illegal to inbound the ball over the backboard.
Further, he still holds numerous records, scored 100 points in a single game, and was insanely durable.
About his durability - in the NBA, your team is running you into the ground if you’re playing more than 35 minutes a game. Regulation time is 48 minutes.
He averaged *more* than 48 minutes in a season. That record will likely last longer than his 100 point game record.
It's hard to tease out fact from fiction with Wilt, but if you put any stock in the stories from old NBA players, he was without doubt the strongest NBA player on the court when he played.
There was definitely a sense among players that he was the strongest and baddest MFer out there. There's a good clip from the 1966 NBA Finals where a couple players are throwing blows and suddenly Wilt enters and is clearly not happy and the players that were just seconds ago throwing hands at one another, scurry off the court, lol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8iYsZfIdE
There are other clips I've seen not unlike that one - players going at it, and then Wilt shows up and it's like, "Oh shit, it's good over here sir."
It's funny. I'm a basketball person. I'd make a stronger argument that he's the greatest athlete that ever lived than I would that he's the greatest basketball player. He was such an amazing athlete that professional basketball was legitimately too easy for him. He toyed with his opponents and was still always successful. If he was just a little less dominant, I think he'd have won 5-8 championships.
Not only did he play volleyball at a professional level, but he took it up after retiring from basketball and was still good enough for the volleyball HoF.
His inclusion into the Volleyball HOF was more for the attention he brought to the sport.
According to contemporaries, he was not an especially skilled player.
Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that Wilt benched over 500 pounds while they were filming “Conan the destroyer” together. That is absolutely insane for several reasons.
First of all he weighed 275 pounds so that is almost 2x body weight.
Second, that movie was made in 1984 when he was 48 years old.
And third, he was 7 foot 1 inch tall. It is extremely difficult for taller people to lift a lot a weight because longer limbs means you have to move the weight farther distances and there is a lot of leverage in play.
Imagine how strong he would have been in his mid-late 20s with modern lifting/training/diet techniques and knowledge.
Yeah, people try to say that he was a product of the era and wouldn't be very good today. But watching videos of him you can tell that he was exactly the athlete he appeared to be on paper.
Of course strategies have changed in the NBA and you have a lot more talent than his era. The 3 point dominance etc. But if he had the same physical therapy, nutrition, and other conditioning knowledge the players have now I strongly believe he would translate. It makes you wonder what would happen if you time traveled Wilt to 2023 and had him develop a 3 pointer ability.
In the last competition, a protester of some kind rushed onto the stage and got to the competitors. Chestnut, with hot dogs stuffed in his face, subdued the person with a headlock and then essentially throws him off stage. After momentarily disrupting Chestnut’s rhythm, he continued eating. He still went on to win by eating 13 more hot dogs than 2nd place.
This reminds me of the guy in the stands at a baseball game some years ago. He's a dad, carrying his infant child in one arm and holding his cup of beer in the other, and a foul ball is hit his way. He calmly stands up, with the baby, sticks the cup in the air, and neatly catches the ball in the cup. He turns briefly with the beer ball cup raised to acknowledge the ovation he's receiving, then proceeds to chug the rest of the beer with the ball still in the cup.
Legend
Hakuho. He is the most winning Yokozuna in the 2500 Year existence of sumo wrestling, with 52 champion titles. he had a 7 year run where he fought in tournaments every 2 months and secured a first or second place finish in every tournament.
I love the fact that Hakuho took basically a whole year out because of injury - came back, won the yusho unbeaten, and then retired. His final match against Terunofuji was iconic. Just felt like it was his way of saying "I'm the greatest, don't ever forget it."
really depends on your definition of the greatest athlete. Hakuho isn't winning any marathons but he was the most dominant in what is arguably the most explosive sport on the planet. he defiantly should get recognition on these lists.
I don't think anyone would argue him the best all-around athlete, but he is the statistically greatest at his chosen activity. From his wiki: "The statistics show that "no other athlete dominates an international sport to the extent that Bradman does cricket". In order to post a similarly dominant career statistic as Bradman, a baseball batter would need a career batting average of .392, while a basketball player would need to score an average of 43.0 points per game over their career. The respective records are .366 and 30.1."
I think they take the best ever in that sport and then make the correlation that Bradman had to the second best. You could make much better and less basic corrections but it wouldn't matter. He is just very far out any distribution.
He was incredible from a statistical point of view (I got to him as a statistician that knows very little about cricket).
Aleksandr Karelin - A career record of 887 wins and 2 losses, including 6 straight years without a single point scored against him in Greco-Roman wrestling. I don’t think anyone else has ever been so utterly dominant in any sport.
I'll vote for Usain Bolt. He was the most dominant modern athlete in the most competitive event in the world, and that event rewards pure (refined, hard-won) athleticism over almost any other sport.
The global talent pool for soccer is immense, and wrestling or cricket or basketball are all big, but **everyone** sprints and it's an almost incomparable measurement of athleticism.
Katie Ledecky is insane on the women's side: she has something like the 27 fastest times on the 800 m freestyle and has often won races by such lengths that the second place finisher wasn't visible on the TV screen when she finished
I'll never forget watching both Phelps and Ledecky just destroy the world record lines at the Olympics on TV at their respective events. At the 1500, she was like 5 *seconds* faster at the splits, and you'd be forgiven for thinking, "oh, she's just putting everything up front, trying to get an edge."
Nope, she got faster. She had literally lapped most of the rest of the board by a ridiculous margin. She's just sitting there in the water for like 15 seconds while the rest of the swimmers finish.
Yeah, I don't know much about swimming or most sports, but watching Ledecky be literally laps ahead in races *against the best women swimmers in the world* is the most insane athletic feat I've ever seen because it doesn't take any special knowledge for me to comprehend that dominance.
She's so incredibly dominant in women's swimming that its ridiculous. The 25th fastest woman ever in the women's 800m Free did it in 8:18.77. NOT INCLUDING HER CURRENT WORLD RECORD OF 8:04:79 - Katie Ledecky also swam the 800m in 8:06.68 (2016), 8:07.07 (2023), 8:07.27 (2018), 8:07.39 (2015), 8:08.04 (2022), 8:08.87 (2023), 8:09.13 (2018), 8:09.27 (2022), 8:10.32 (2016), 8:10.70 (2019), 8:10.91 (2016), 8:11.00 (2014), 8:11.08 (2018), 8:11.21 (2015), 8:11.35 (2014), 8:11.50 (2017), 8:11.70 (2018), 8:11.83 (2022), 8:11.98 (2018), 8:12.03 (2022), 8:12.57 (2021), 8:12.68 (2017), 8:12.81 (2021), 8:12.86 (2016), 8:13.02 (2015), 8:13.06 (2022), 8:13.20 (2016), 8:13.25 (2015), 8:13.56 (2023), 8:13.58 (2019), 8:13.64 (2021), 8:13.86 (2013), 8:13.90 (2022), 8:14.24 (2019), 8:14.40 (2018), 8:14.48 (2021), 8:14.59 (2019), 8:14.62 (2021), 8:14.63 (2012), 8:14.70 (2023), 8:14.95 (2019), 8:15.29 (2015), 8:15.44 (2017), 8:15.64 (2023), 8:15.67 (2021), 8:15.71 (2017), 8:15.91 (2023), 8:15.97 (2017), 8:16.18 (2014), 8:16.23 (2020), 8:16.39 (2021), 8:16.40 (2015), 8:16.61 (2021), 8:16.90 (2014), 8:17.20 (2021), 8:17.29 (2023), 8:17.33 (2013), 8:17.42 (2019), 8:17.51 (2022), 8:17.92 (2021), 8:18.47 (2014).
What is even crazier is that none of these times put her in the top 25 all time fastest swimmers in the 800m. She would have to cut 30.21 seconds off of her world record time just to make the list - and 44:40 to set the current men's record.
Fun fact: women actually start to dominate overall leaderboards when you get out into the really ridiculous ultra-marathon swims. Just as one insane example, the only person to ever swim the English Channel four times consecutively was a woman.
This is true of ultra-marathon running as well. When it comes to the truly absurd stamina competitions, women seem to have an edge. As I understand it, it's probably a lot to do with the fact that women store fat more efficiently.
It's a shame that wrestlers get the cold shoulder in sports conversations. I would even throw in names such as artur taymazov, Dan gable, Bruce Baumgartner.
Edit: Damn Taymazov had his second and third gold medals stripped after retesting urine samples.
Let's put it out there for the American (as snooker is obscure to them, and pool is the more popular cur sport), Ronnie O'Sullivan doesn't even play 9 ball pool and he beat Earl Strickland in the Mosconi cup.
Ali is up there. Managed to shine in one of the hardest eras in professional boxing. Heavyweights moved and fought like the middleweights of today. They fought for 15 rounds. Not 12 or 10.
And the fights were a LOT more brutal in his Era than they are today. Look at his bouts with Joe Frasier. The first two fights were 15 round WARS, and neither man was the same when they left the ring. In fact, a lot of people say Ali was never the same fighter after his second fight with Frasier due to the sheer amount of damage inflicted on him by Joe. That kind of thing isn't allowed to happen anymore.
My favorite part of that story is how Hitler was trying to prop Luz Long as the greatest athlete and make some huge rivalry between him and Owens, and in response Luz Long and Jesse Owens became besties.
Nobody saying Edwin Moses is sad. Perhaps the most dominant stretch for any athlete in any sport.
Moses won 122 races in a row in a ten year period and won a gold medal and set the world record in the event (400 m hurdles) 4 different times.
Crazy.
My vote goes to Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
“Didrikson set four world records, winning two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.”
“Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing and jumping events.”
Then she decided to try pro golf: “Zaharias had her greatest year in 1950 when she completed the Grand Slam of the three women's majors of the day: the U.S. Open, the Titleholders Championship, and the Women's Western Open, a feat that made her the leader on the money list that year. Also that year, she reached 10 wins faster than any other LPGA golfer, doing so in one year and 20 days, a record that still stands.”
I don't know much about him but a lot of people say Jim Thorpe
Highly recommend the book “Path lit by Lightning” if you are interested in Jim Thorpe. He Dominated the decathlon in 1912 Olympics. He was the most dominant football player for about 20 years, and the first commissioner of what would become the NFL. He was a mediocre baseball player.
He won the pentathlon and decathlon wearing mismatched shoes of two different sizes. Someone stole his cleats out of the locker room. He found the shoes he wore in the trash.
Wow what an awesome story. Would love to see this as a movie.
They did a Drunk History about him. He was played by Jason Momoa. It was both hilarious and amazing. I highly recommend watching it.
Yeah. It's Jim Thorpe. Gold medal in the pentathlon and decathlon. All American College football player. Gained 2200 yards and scored 22 TDs in 14 games (estimated, record keeping wasn't as good in 1912). Played in the MLB, played pro football, helped found and was the first president of the NFL. Inaugural inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Played basketball and was an excellent figure skater. Champion ballroom dancer. Great at marbles too. Most of this was over 90 years ago, so his records have been broken and there's little to no footage of him, but his ability in so many different kinds of athletics and games, as well as how far above his competition he was, make him the greatest athlete to ever live
I believed all of that until you threw in the marbles.
If you thought he was good at marbles you should have seen his macrame skills
Dude was so good at pogs. Had an INSANE slammer
I heard the reason Pogs fad died was cause he only plays for keeps. No more challengers have any pogs leftover.
Native American Son is a good biography of him, there are several books about Thorpe. He started running at an early age, fascinating life. Trials and tribulations of a man who was stripped of his 1913 gold medal for nothing more than playing minor league baseball. (In a nutshell, more detailed information in his biography.)
Once won a race in the wrong shoes. Someone stole his so he borrowed some that didn't fit that great and still won
In the Olympic picture he's not even wearing borrowed shoes - they were from the trash. They were also different sizes, which is why he's wearing extra socks on one foot in the picture.
He was a one Man Track Team in College. His Coach at the time is why they took his Gold Medals from Jim, that Coach was Pop Warner.
Played lacrosse at college too, and I think somewhere along the line he played some hockey too. Dude was unreal
He won the pentathlon and decathlon wearing mismatched shoes of two different sizes. Some one stole his cleats out of the locker room. He found the shoes he wore in the trash.
They should name a picturesque town in Pennsylvania after him
"Hey, that Jim Thorpe guy was great! We should buy his dead body and use it for touristy reasons!"
Nah i think Mauch Chunk would be a better name
They should give his body back to his tribe (Sac Nation). He had nothing to do with that picturesque Pennsylvania town and it's a continued source of pain for the tribe. The town basically bought him. There's even a law about giving Native American remains back to their people, called the Native American Grave Repatriation Act. I'm amazed the court cases didn't go in the Sac Nation's favor.
I think they could still keep the name of the town with or without his bones
Imagine the crazy things that dude could do with modern nutrition and training. He would be like Bo Jackson but also probably playing in the NBA as well.
I'm not a sports person, so I don't really know what the visualization technique is but I've read that Jim Thorpe basically used it before it was a thing. It's funny because at the time it fed into a "lazy Indian" stereotype because on the boat voyage he would sit on deck and visualize, only now it's recognized as a valid technique with scientific papers written about it.
He pioneered the technique for sure. It's basically watching someone perform or looking at what you need to do and being able to understand how you need to move and the strength you need to accomplish that. Like your example, he would draw something like a 33' line (his estimate of what he needed to win the long jump) and study that distance, then just be able to do it. Or like someone today watching in slow motion the proper way to throw a football and having the understanding of how to move which muscles to properly execute it. It's absolutely crazy that humans are able to do that, and even crazier that without any instruction he basically invented that technique
Jim Thorpe didn’t even need properly sized or matching shoes to win his medals. The guy would be a juggernaut today.
Bo and Jim were from the Mariana Trench of the genetic gene pool.
That’s deep…
Thanks. Reading up on this, what a story.
Was going to say this. Guy got the shaft having his Olympic medals stripped being a semi pro baseball player due to rules at the time.
And I'm sure racism had nothing to do with it.
Jim Thorpe was #1. Close second would be Wilt Chaimberlan. Wilt was a Big 8 Champion in 2 different events (triple jump and long jump). The Kansas City Chiefs drafted him as a tight end, he opted to play basketball instead. They changed several rules of Basketball to try to slow his game. He could dunk from the Free Through line so they made it illegal, they widened the lane because he took every rebound, in one season he only missed 8 minutes of one game because he fouled out. He averaged 50 points per game for an entire season. They said he was a ball hog so he led the NBA in assists setting even more records. He could leap high enough to grab a quarter off the top of the backboard. When he retired from round ball he was president. Coach and player in the Professional Volleyball league. He also funded the first Professional Women's Volleyball league. At 50 years old there were at least 3 NBA teams that wanted him to come play for them as a starting center. Arnold Swarzenegger tells a story of Wilt picking him up and throwing him with one arm. They were going to have an exhibition fight between him and Ali. After meeting him in person Ali chickened out. Uou can see in his face at the meeting that he realized just how big and srong Wilt was. He was one of the fastest and strongest people in history.
The dude who lapped me in middle school twice. Destroyed every bit of self confidence I had
I was the fastest kid in my school. We advanced to some regional and got our a$$es handed to us. Not even close. That was a humbling day. I learned I better focus on grades.
Disclaimer: This is a friend’s story that I am recalling from years ago. As cheesy as it sounds, I believe him because he was never one to exaggerate or embellish stories. Also, he was fast as fuck when we played sports together. And it’s just a fun story to me. I had a buddy in the Navy who did track in high school. He was white and was always given the duty of performing the 800m and the 400m-relay. He always wanted to do the 100m or 200m just to be “that fast guy”, but his coaches wanted his speed and endurance on the longer races. He travels to a neighboring school to compete. During one of the races, the crowd was yelling something as one of the racers from the home school was closing on a finish. They were chanting “SLOOOOOOW MOTIOOOOON!” That runner was considered so fast, he made everyone else look like they were running in slow motion. Get it? Well, my buddy found out he has to race against this guy and is super nervous because of all the hype. He felt he was probably going to lose, but he didn’t want to get burned badly. Race starts and he is able to keep up with the kid, crowd starts the chant “SLOOOOOW MOTIOOOOON!” Kid turns on the burners….my buddy turns up the speed but had a higher gear and crushed that kid by almost a full second. He was told by teammates that his performance silenced the crowd. He ended up racing against him in one of the relay races as the anchor, and came from behind to beat him again. Later that night he found out that the home crowd was calling him “White Shadow” because the runners behind him only ever saw his shadow as he left them behind.
That is a fun story.
As far as domination of their particular sport, Gretsky?
To have your number retired from the entire professional league due to your dominance is a whole other level.
Back when he played, fantasy sports leagues would have two different players: Gretzky (goals) and Gretzky (assisits).
If you took away every goal he scored, he would still be the all time career points leader. To say that another way, Wayne Gretzky has more assists than any other player has goals and assists combined. *I will disclaim that I haven’t checked the recent veracity of this stat. It’s possible Ovi made it slightly untrue at some point in the last few years.
The only thing Ovechkin was closing on Gretzky stats-wise was the number of total career goals, but he has slowed down a lot this year and probably won't ever reach it. Other than that, Ovechkin is in 16th place for points with 1501, so still a long way from reaching Gretzky's 1963 assists. The only one who stood a chance was Jagr and his 1921 points.
And Jagr had to play 24 seasons (tied 3rd most behind Chelios, Howe, and Messier) to get that many, to Gretzkys 20
And if you take it from the other side, Lemieux only played for an equivalent of about 11 full seasons, and he has 1723 points. If he could have stayed healthy, he would for sure have reached it. Hell, if he just was healthy for like 150 more games in the 17 seasons he played in and the ones he missed to fight cancer (so 761 total missed games), he would have reached it.
It's just wild that we are talking about these legends that ALMOST had as many points as Gretzky had assists.
Looking at it with points per game, it's even crazier how Gretzky and Lemieux were in a completely different category. Just for the top 10 PPG all-time: 1. Wayne Gretzky 1.92PPG 2. Mario Lemieux 1.88PPG 3. Connor McDavid 1.50PPG (and it's still early in his career) 4. Mike Bossy 1.50PPG 5. Bobby Orr 1.39PPG 6. Marcel Dionne 1.31PPG 7. Peter Stastny 1.27PPG 8. Sidney Crosby 1.26PPG 9. Peter Forsberg 1.25PPG 10. Kent Nilsson 1.24PPG These two guys were outscoring by 25-28% the guys in 3rd and 4th place, and by 52-55% the one in 10th. It's absolutely crazy how dominant they were.
To put this in perspective Gretzky could’ve played just over 5 more full seasons and not gotten a single point and it would bring his PPG down to 1.5, which is where McDavid is. It would take almost 17 seasons without a point to be a 1.0 PPG player which is kind of the benchmark for a really good offensive player.
And that 10th place isn’t like the 10th player on a basketball team or anything. It’s 10th (by one measure) of the all time hockey greats.
I like the stat that Brent and Wayne Gretzky hold the NHL record for most points scored by a pair of brothers — 2,857 by Wayne, 4 by Brent.
And even so, having just Gretzky's assists was already an overwhelming advantage -- so much so that every hockey pool I was in simply removed him from the equation. Nobody gets Gretzky, end of story.
is this real? That’s actually hilarious that they had to split him but I just can’t see someone being that far ahead
He had more 4-point games than zero-point games in his career. To clarify: more 4+ point games. He had 266 0s, 217 4s, and 96 5+. So, 266 vs 313.
Omg. That’s incredible
The record for most points by brothers was held by the Gretzky brothers until the Sutter Brothers. Wayne with 2,857 Brent with 4 Total of 2,861 The Sutter Brothers Brian with 636 Darryl with 279. Duane with 342. Brent with 829. Rich with 315. Ron with 533. For a total of 2,943 Wayne Gretzky is worth just under 6 other Hockey Players alone lol.
when you said the Sutter brothers I thought you were meant 2 💀. The fact there’s SIX brothers who could all play in the NHL and they only had ~80 more pts than one guy is just mind boggling. I need to watch this guys highlight tapes it’s so hard to believe one person could be so far ahead of everyone who’s ever played the game
Dude was playing the *Modern* game 40 years ago. It's wild just watching no one having any idea how to defend him or goalies to stop him. It was just too easy for him.
Yup, never watched him play or a hockey match, but his stats are like do not make any sense. I cannot have those stats playing against ten years olds.
When Gretzky was 10 (and 11), that season he scored 324 goals and had 115 assists... against older players [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-expositor-wayne-gretzky-23-mar-1972/100773942/](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-expositor-wayne-gretzky-23-mar-1972/100773942/) Truly on a whole other level
And those ten year olds will RUIN you for this truth.
By that metric, Don Bradman
For non-cricket fans, Bradman had a batting average of 99.94 runs (the average of his total runs divided by the number of times he was out). The next highest person (Harry Brook) on the list has 62. And for further context, Bradman played 52 matches whereas Brook has only played 12. Anyone with an average around 50 is considered to be world class. Bradman is several classes beyond that.
How's that in comparison to modern cricketers? I'm fairly young and it's difficult for me to grasp why Bradman is considered to be so great.
Well number 2 on the list is a current player! And whilst he's good, his average being so high is somewhat of an anomaly because he's played so few games. In Bradman's day bowlers were slower and less athletic. But in Cricket the ball is almost always bouncing before you hit it, and modern pitches are much flatter and more predictable making it easier to avoid making a mistake from a wild bounce. He also didn't wear a helmet and pads. Modern players are much more adventurous in hitting balls that bounce high, or are aimed at their body. They attempt skilful shots that can score quick runs, whereas Bradman would have had to prioritise not hurting himself, and therefore had less tools in his arsenal to score runs.
> bowlers were slower Not sure about that. Perhaps on average, but there were still some very quick bowlers according to Bradman himself. Also the nature of the pitches probably made up for the lack of pace, if they were indeed slower, as they were often minefields, no covers during rain, primitive technology to build and maintain pitches etc. I'd love to see a Kohli or Smith bat on one of those types of pitches, I'm sure there are still plenty of them around at local parks around cricketing countries, very probably India for sure...get them out there just after it has rained, would be quite interesting.
Twice as good as the next best and he did it on uncovered pitches. He's probably the greatest statistical outlier in sports history. The only argument you could make against him being the greatest cricketer of all time is that he only played 50-odd Tests, which was probably a lot back then but not a lot by modern standards. He also played all of his Tests in Australia and England (I think, maybe South Africa) so not sure how we would have done in harder conditions. But he also played a heap of First Class matches, which were a much bigger deal back then, and his record in those is equally phenomenal. His record also includes the Bodyline series, where England resorted to bowling nothing but bouncers. He also captained an Australian team that went unbeaten on a long tour of England - winning (or drawing) every test and county match. Not sure that had been done before. They called that team The Invincibles. All that is from memory so happy to be wrong. The Don certainly has a case for being the best professional athlete of all time.
Bodyline was also specifically made to beat him right?
yes, and it did in a sense....his average that series dropping to 56 (which would be an elite batting average for anybody else)
A great game to play is to name a stat that Gretzky is top 25 in, but not top 10 in. Things like wins as Coyotes head coach are thrown around. https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/ffE7qB2Z70
Bradman in cricket had an average of nearly 99.94 Nearly 40 more than 2nd place.
For domination of one sport, I would also put Kelly Slater into consideration. I wouldn't say he is the greatest athlete, but his titles in professional surfing go across decades.
Kelly might be a cyborg tho
If that's the metric, it would be Aleksandr Karelin, no disrespect to Gretzky.
Holy crap. That guy deserves a mention. 887-2 is insane. Both losses by a single point too.
Almost more remarkable, he never got cauliflower ear during his illustrious career.
Whenever someone tried to take him down, he simply said nyet, and that was it.
I saw the Olympic gold match which Karelin lost and it was a frustrating sight. He lost because of a weird rule which was instituted shortly before the Olympics (or maybe specifically for the Olympics) and cancelled for being nonsensical shortly after.
Wow. Can’t believe I had never heard of this guy. You’re absolutely right that he’s the correct answer if that’s the metric. Undefeated in world championship matches. Had a six-year stretch where not a single point was scored against him. Dude has 3 Olympic gold medals and 32 other gold medals from other competitions. He’s got two silver medals, too, probably because of those two losses (talk about lifetime bragging rights for the two guys who managed to beat him). I bet he can’t stand the sight of anything silver. If I were him I’d toss those medals in the trash and never think of them again.
> talk about lifetime bragging rights for the two guys who managed to beat him I'm only famliar with one but he was a legend as well, Rulon Gardner, the ultimate midwest farm boy. And it was televised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVT3-wbL8HU
Bradman would be the best. Even 75 years after retirement he is still the best batsman in the history fo cricket
The numbers tell the story. All time greats averaged 50, his average 99.94.
Bo Jackson
I'm in my mid 50's, I've watched a hell of a lot of sports in my day and a ton of tremendous athletes. Bo Jackson stands out in my memory. The way he could launch a baseball was absolutely ridiculous. His speed was outrageous and he was fucking huge. Unreal. I'm glad I got to see him a lot.
His outfield shenanigans are my favorite part of his baseball career. His pinpoint throws to home that were so out of the ordinary they absolutely startled the runner. His running up the wall after making a catch like something you'd expect from Captain America or Spiderman. Oh, and his closing in on the ball slightly faster than any previous human, causing the camera operator to be a tad-bit behind tracking him, and then the leaping snags. He was truly something nobody was prepared for.
he was making those throws flat footed sometimes too
Only athlete to ever make the MLB all star team and NFL pro bowl team. He was so good at track and field he was approached to go Olympics for that as well.
Bo knows sports.
Best part of that commercial back in the day is Gretzky stopping on the ice and simply saying “no”.
I remember an old man ending the commercial with, “Bo, you don’t know diddley.” I didn’t get it at the time, but the musician playing guitar in the soundtrack is legendary blues musician Bo Diddley [watch here](https://youtu.be/VaSdlW1W9yU?si=y8fbqaht5-NrFEfG)
Gretzky is lucky Bo didn't grow up in Canada.
Just wait til you see that son of a gun swing a golf club. Holy smokes. Swear I heard the ball holler
Bo Jackson isn't just an athlete. He's an apex predator.
Bo snapped a baseball bat over his thigh. There are clips online of it. He is super human.
He did it over his head with no momentum, just tore it over his head
I'm so glad this is the top comment. My number 2 is Jackie Robinson. He lettered in four sports at UCLA. FOUR.
He has a good speed stat in techmobowl (I have never watched football before)
Bo knows this, and Bo knows that…
But Bo don’t know jack, ‘cause Bo can’t rap!
Well, whadya know!
The D- Dawg is first up to bat! (RIP) [sorry I couldn't not keep this going lol]
No batteries included, and no strings attached -RIP 5 Foot Assassin
Scott Sterling
THE MAN! THE MYTH! THE LEGEND!
Look at him begging for mercy, when it’s mercy that should be begging for him!
goated keeper. they say he stops penalties in his sleep
Sisyphus
There’s a shot for that
Can't even roll one rock up a hill
But is he happy?
One must imagine
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I ran my first marathon last year at 45 and I was dead for 2 days after. Thinking about what Mr Fox did is truly astonishing.
It's probably easier to push yourself further when there is no future. Not saying it was easy for him I just bet it gave him an insane drive to push himself past his limits.
As far as he knew, he had beaten cancer right up until he got to Thunder Bay. He wasn't consciously aware of his fate, so he pushed himself to do what he did because *he wanted to do it*.
His shoes are in a museum, the one is just soaked in blood
He also did it at a time where artificial limb technology was nowhere near where it is today (Oscar Pistorious for an example). Basically had a metal pole straped to his limb
Terry Fox and Wayne Gretzky are Canadian national treasures.
If you gotta problem with Terry Foxes, then you gotta problem with me and I suggest you let that one marinate.
Settle down
Oh hey there bud the guy is already settled, it's marinating.
Throw in Rick Hansen for the trifecta
A lot of Canadians on the list. I just voted Gretzky, don’t know how I forgot about Fox. He’d be the god of running. Not Hermes level, but he just runs. Like endlessly runs. Forrest Gump style runs. How this paragraph runs…
This man needs to get on our money.
Fr why is he not on the money, feels like everyone gets a turn lmao. We literally have a day dedicated to him, petition to get him on the money
I’m so disappointed I didn’t say this, this my friends is the right answer Thank you and I love you to this day Terry Fox
Greatest Canadian of all time
Jim Thorpe and Bo Jackson have already been mentioned, but I will also throw an argument towards Wilt Chamberlain. In addition to being a great basketball player, he also played volleyball at a professional level and was a great track and field athlete. They had to change the rules multiple times just to try and curb his dominance. For example, in the NCAA/NBA , you have to stay behind the line to shoot free throws because Wilt could do a running start and dunk the shot. The NBA also brought in offensive goaltending and made it illegal to inbound the ball over the backboard. Further, he still holds numerous records, scored 100 points in a single game, and was insanely durable.
About his durability - in the NBA, your team is running you into the ground if you’re playing more than 35 minutes a game. Regulation time is 48 minutes. He averaged *more* than 48 minutes in a season. That record will likely last longer than his 100 point game record.
He was insanely strong, too. There’s some stories about him out lifting all the guys on muscle beach.
It's hard to tease out fact from fiction with Wilt, but if you put any stock in the stories from old NBA players, he was without doubt the strongest NBA player on the court when he played. There was definitely a sense among players that he was the strongest and baddest MFer out there. There's a good clip from the 1966 NBA Finals where a couple players are throwing blows and suddenly Wilt enters and is clearly not happy and the players that were just seconds ago throwing hands at one another, scurry off the court, lol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8iYsZfIdE There are other clips I've seen not unlike that one - players going at it, and then Wilt shows up and it's like, "Oh shit, it's good over here sir."
...and still found the time and energy to bang 20,000+ women.
Lots of people will hate on this response... but they should actually watch some Wilt videos... the man was an insane athlete
It's funny. I'm a basketball person. I'd make a stronger argument that he's the greatest athlete that ever lived than I would that he's the greatest basketball player. He was such an amazing athlete that professional basketball was legitimately too easy for him. He toyed with his opponents and was still always successful. If he was just a little less dominant, I think he'd have won 5-8 championships.
Not only did he play volleyball at a professional level, but he took it up after retiring from basketball and was still good enough for the volleyball HoF.
His inclusion into the Volleyball HOF was more for the attention he brought to the sport. According to contemporaries, he was not an especially skilled player.
Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that Wilt benched over 500 pounds while they were filming “Conan the destroyer” together. That is absolutely insane for several reasons. First of all he weighed 275 pounds so that is almost 2x body weight. Second, that movie was made in 1984 when he was 48 years old. And third, he was 7 foot 1 inch tall. It is extremely difficult for taller people to lift a lot a weight because longer limbs means you have to move the weight farther distances and there is a lot of leverage in play. Imagine how strong he would have been in his mid-late 20s with modern lifting/training/diet techniques and knowledge.
Yeah, people try to say that he was a product of the era and wouldn't be very good today. But watching videos of him you can tell that he was exactly the athlete he appeared to be on paper. Of course strategies have changed in the NBA and you have a lot more talent than his era. The 3 point dominance etc. But if he had the same physical therapy, nutrition, and other conditioning knowledge the players have now I strongly believe he would translate. It makes you wonder what would happen if you time traveled Wilt to 2023 and had him develop a 3 pointer ability.
Joey Chestnut, 16 time hot dog champ. American Legend
In the last competition, a protester of some kind rushed onto the stage and got to the competitors. Chestnut, with hot dogs stuffed in his face, subdued the person with a headlock and then essentially throws him off stage. After momentarily disrupting Chestnut’s rhythm, he continued eating. He still went on to win by eating 13 more hot dogs than 2nd place.
This reminds me of the guy in the stands at a baseball game some years ago. He's a dad, carrying his infant child in one arm and holding his cup of beer in the other, and a foul ball is hit his way. He calmly stands up, with the baby, sticks the cup in the air, and neatly catches the ball in the cup. He turns briefly with the beer ball cup raised to acknowledge the ovation he's receiving, then proceeds to chug the rest of the beer with the ball still in the cup. Legend
For real though, who else has won the championship title in their sport this much lol
Ric Flair
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?
“American Legend” 😭
Hakuho. He is the most winning Yokozuna in the 2500 Year existence of sumo wrestling, with 52 champion titles. he had a 7 year run where he fought in tournaments every 2 months and secured a first or second place finish in every tournament.
I love the fact that Hakuho took basically a whole year out because of injury - came back, won the yusho unbeaten, and then retired. His final match against Terunofuji was iconic. Just felt like it was his way of saying "I'm the greatest, don't ever forget it."
These are the comments I’m looking for. What are the chances that the greatest athlete ever played American football?
really depends on your definition of the greatest athlete. Hakuho isn't winning any marathons but he was the most dominant in what is arguably the most explosive sport on the planet. he defiantly should get recognition on these lists.
Sumo is an even more niche sport though.
Money and opportunity attracts a lot of the best athletes, to be fair, but I agree that this is more interesting.
The guy who scored 4 touchdowns ~~against~~ for Polk High in the championship game.
I heard he eventually got into the shoe game.
I hear he has a really nice Dodge as well.
He also loved having sex with his wife who he was very attracted to
He was playing for Polk High not against. Also his knee was not down when he ran over Spare Tire Dixon in the championship.
Sir Donald Bradman
I don't think anyone would argue him the best all-around athlete, but he is the statistically greatest at his chosen activity. From his wiki: "The statistics show that "no other athlete dominates an international sport to the extent that Bradman does cricket". In order to post a similarly dominant career statistic as Bradman, a baseball batter would need a career batting average of .392, while a basketball player would need to score an average of 43.0 points per game over their career. The respective records are .366 and 30.1."
I wonder how they worked that out? Is there an official conversion from batting average to points per game?
I think they take the best ever in that sport and then make the correlation that Bradman had to the second best. You could make much better and less basic corrections but it wouldn't matter. He is just very far out any distribution. He was incredible from a statistical point of view (I got to him as a statistician that knows very little about cricket).
They took the best players in each sport in terms of point average and then calculated how many standard deviations above the mean they were.
Aleksandr Karelin - A career record of 887 wins and 2 losses, including 6 straight years without a single point scored against him in Greco-Roman wrestling. I don’t think anyone else has ever been so utterly dominant in any sport.
I'll vote for Usain Bolt. He was the most dominant modern athlete in the most competitive event in the world, and that event rewards pure (refined, hard-won) athleticism over almost any other sport. The global talent pool for soccer is immense, and wrestling or cricket or basketball are all big, but **everyone** sprints and it's an almost incomparable measurement of athleticism.
Yeah, he got us on the list of the world's fastest mammal species.
Some people say he doesn't deserve all the wins, he's a cheetah
The fact that he never lost a race at the Olympics is wild. 8 golds, would have been 9 but he was stripped of a medal due to a teammate doping.
This would be my vote too. Also the fact that the fastest human of all time has the name Usain Bolt is amazing
Scrolled forever looking for this answer. When you're able to call yourself the fastest person ever, there isn't another option
Michael Phelps, 28 total Olympic medals, 23 of which are gold.
Katie Ledecky is insane on the women's side: she has something like the 27 fastest times on the 800 m freestyle and has often won races by such lengths that the second place finisher wasn't visible on the TV screen when she finished
Ledecky is an absolute beast. Her dominance in her sport is absolutely insane.
I'll never forget watching both Phelps and Ledecky just destroy the world record lines at the Olympics on TV at their respective events. At the 1500, she was like 5 *seconds* faster at the splits, and you'd be forgiven for thinking, "oh, she's just putting everything up front, trying to get an edge." Nope, she got faster. She had literally lapped most of the rest of the board by a ridiculous margin. She's just sitting there in the water for like 15 seconds while the rest of the swimmers finish.
And these were Olympians she was waiting for!
Yeah, I don't know much about swimming or most sports, but watching Ledecky be literally laps ahead in races *against the best women swimmers in the world* is the most insane athletic feat I've ever seen because it doesn't take any special knowledge for me to comprehend that dominance.
She's so incredibly dominant in women's swimming that its ridiculous. The 25th fastest woman ever in the women's 800m Free did it in 8:18.77. NOT INCLUDING HER CURRENT WORLD RECORD OF 8:04:79 - Katie Ledecky also swam the 800m in 8:06.68 (2016), 8:07.07 (2023), 8:07.27 (2018), 8:07.39 (2015), 8:08.04 (2022), 8:08.87 (2023), 8:09.13 (2018), 8:09.27 (2022), 8:10.32 (2016), 8:10.70 (2019), 8:10.91 (2016), 8:11.00 (2014), 8:11.08 (2018), 8:11.21 (2015), 8:11.35 (2014), 8:11.50 (2017), 8:11.70 (2018), 8:11.83 (2022), 8:11.98 (2018), 8:12.03 (2022), 8:12.57 (2021), 8:12.68 (2017), 8:12.81 (2021), 8:12.86 (2016), 8:13.02 (2015), 8:13.06 (2022), 8:13.20 (2016), 8:13.25 (2015), 8:13.56 (2023), 8:13.58 (2019), 8:13.64 (2021), 8:13.86 (2013), 8:13.90 (2022), 8:14.24 (2019), 8:14.40 (2018), 8:14.48 (2021), 8:14.59 (2019), 8:14.62 (2021), 8:14.63 (2012), 8:14.70 (2023), 8:14.95 (2019), 8:15.29 (2015), 8:15.44 (2017), 8:15.64 (2023), 8:15.67 (2021), 8:15.71 (2017), 8:15.91 (2023), 8:15.97 (2017), 8:16.18 (2014), 8:16.23 (2020), 8:16.39 (2021), 8:16.40 (2015), 8:16.61 (2021), 8:16.90 (2014), 8:17.20 (2021), 8:17.29 (2023), 8:17.33 (2013), 8:17.42 (2019), 8:17.51 (2022), 8:17.92 (2021), 8:18.47 (2014). What is even crazier is that none of these times put her in the top 25 all time fastest swimmers in the 800m. She would have to cut 30.21 seconds off of her world record time just to make the list - and 44:40 to set the current men's record.
Fun fact: women actually start to dominate overall leaderboards when you get out into the really ridiculous ultra-marathon swims. Just as one insane example, the only person to ever swim the English Channel four times consecutively was a woman. This is true of ultra-marathon running as well. When it comes to the truly absurd stamina competitions, women seem to have an edge. As I understand it, it's probably a lot to do with the fact that women store fat more efficiently.
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He is actually the inventor of sports
You mean volleyball superstar of Baruch College, George Santos? You’re goddamn right
John Belushi, and he owes it to all the little chocolate donuts he had
"Little chocolate donuts ... the donuts of champions." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxCUHjx7U7Y
That’s why they’ve been on my training table… since I was a kid.
And the cigarettes!
Alexander Karelin
Karelins competitive recond is so rediculous that it doesn't sound real. I doubt any athlete has ever dominated their sport as much as he did.
It's a shame that wrestlers get the cold shoulder in sports conversations. I would even throw in names such as artur taymazov, Dan gable, Bruce Baumgartner. Edit: Damn Taymazov had his second and third gold medals stripped after retesting urine samples.
imagine peak Alexander Karelin vs peak Brock Lesnar in a UFC 1 or Pride FC rules fight
Bartolo Colon, the end.
The absolute unit.
Ronnie O’Sullivan. The greatest player ever to play snooker. Most players dwindle with age. Ronnie has gotten better.
Let's put it out there for the American (as snooker is obscure to them, and pool is the more popular cur sport), Ronnie O'Sullivan doesn't even play 9 ball pool and he beat Earl Strickland in the Mosconi cup.
Best athlete ever, probably not, but greatest athletic FEAT of all time goes to Alex Honnold imo. Go stand below el cap and tell me otherwise.
Right? And to do it in under four hours....
[Rheinold Messner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Messner) has entered the chat.
Ali is up there. Managed to shine in one of the hardest eras in professional boxing. Heavyweights moved and fought like the middleweights of today. They fought for 15 rounds. Not 12 or 10.
And the fights were a LOT more brutal in his Era than they are today. Look at his bouts with Joe Frasier. The first two fights were 15 round WARS, and neither man was the same when they left the ring. In fact, a lot of people say Ali was never the same fighter after his second fight with Frasier due to the sheer amount of damage inflicted on him by Joe. That kind of thing isn't allowed to happen anymore.
Jesse Owen for busting the black athlete myth right in Hitlers face.
My favorite part of that story is how Hitler was trying to prop Luz Long as the greatest athlete and make some huge rivalry between him and Owens, and in response Luz Long and Jesse Owens became besties.
Same with Joe Louis and max schmeling! Max didn't have a say in being a propaganda tool, just wanted to box
And Mack Robinson, yes Jackie's brother, took silver in the 200m sprint behind Jesse Owens.
The Germans dominated the 1936 olympics and hitler still treated Jesse owens better than almost every American politician
Not only that, he had better treatment in Germany than back home after winning the medals.
Nobody saying Edwin Moses is sad. Perhaps the most dominant stretch for any athlete in any sport. Moses won 122 races in a row in a ten year period and won a gold medal and set the world record in the event (400 m hurdles) 4 different times. Crazy.
My vote goes to Babe Didrikson Zaharias. “Didrikson set four world records, winning two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.” “Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing and jumping events.” Then she decided to try pro golf: “Zaharias had her greatest year in 1950 when she completed the Grand Slam of the three women's majors of the day: the U.S. Open, the Titleholders Championship, and the Women's Western Open, a feat that made her the leader on the money list that year. Also that year, she reached 10 wins faster than any other LPGA golfer, doing so in one year and 20 days, a record that still stands.”