Who is the greatest athlete of all time?

Novak

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No "greatest athlete" list is complete without a mention of the legendary Anderson spider Silva. In his prime, pound for pound, he is the most athletic individual I have ever witnessed.

[video=youtube;fN-EwBpCh_c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-EwBpCh_c[/video]
 
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Unannounced Fart said:
Based on accomplishments, I think it would have to be Jim Thorpe. But it would have been awesome if Bo Jackson had a longer football career, as I think he would have gone down as an all-time great. Dave Winfield is a great mention, too, as he was drafted by teams from all 3 major sports. Too bad he only played baseball professionally, though.
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He was drafted in the 17th round of the NFL Draft, and the 5th round of the NBA Draft. Quite the accomplishment for sure, but let's not pretend that he was considered a superstar in either.
 

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Rory Sparrow said:
He's not one of the top 4 athletes of all-time. Probably not even top 400. Possibly not even top 4000.

Very good baseball player. Average college basketball player. Good for him.

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Well, here's an ESPN Page 2 Article saying he's top ten.
http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=degree/list_allaroundathletes

And if you do searches on it, loads of articles saying he's up there. But whatevs.
 

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Rory Sparrow said:
I've never seen a single article saying Dave Winfield is "up there". I don't recall him being mentioned in the old SportsCentury Top 100 list.

That ESPN Page 2 Article is terrible. The author should be fired. Here is what he said about Winfield...

But there's more. He was also good enough to play pro basketball, drafted by both the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Stars after starring as a power forward on Minnesota's Big Ten championship team. And he was such a great athlete that even though he never played a single down in college, the Vikings selected him in the 1973 draft. No other athlete has ever been drafted in all three pro sports.

Winfield never played pro basketball. He wasn't good enough. He was a 6th man in college. Other athletes have been drafted in all three pro sports. I already listed them. Only Dave Logan had any sort of pro career. Common sense would say its more impressive for a guy like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders to be all-stars at two pro sports than it is for a guy like Dave Winfield to be drafted by three sports. One is actually based on performance, the other based on conjecture.
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I would have deion that as well. Brian Jordan as another.

But again, there are others and many people place Dave there. You can disagree with it all you want but you are insinuating that it's far fetched and I believe you are wrong here.
 
CubsWin

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Rory Sparrow said:
I've never seen a single article saying Dave Winfield is "up there". I don't recall him being mentioned in the old SportsCentury Top 100 list.

That ESPN Page 2 Article is terrible. The author should be fired. Here is what he said about Winfield...

But there's more. He was also good enough to play pro basketball, drafted by both the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Stars after starring as a power forward on Minnesota's Big Ten championship team. And he was such a great athlete that even though he never played a single down in college, the Vikings selected him in the 1973 draft. No other athlete has ever been drafted in all three pro sports.

Winfield never played pro basketball. He wasn't good enough. He was a 6th man in college. Other athletes have been drafted in all three pro sports. I already listed them. Only Dave Logan had any sort of pro career. Common sense would say its more impressive for a guy like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders to be all-stars at two pro sports than it is for a guy like Dave Winfield to be drafted by three sports. One is actually based on performance, the other based on conjecture.
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I remember Winfield being a starter. At least for one year (maybe more?) But he certainly wasn't a star. Ron Behagen and Jim Brewer were the top players on those good Gopher teams back then. Here's more on Winfield:
http://btn.com/2010/10/19/big-ten-icons-dave-winfield/
 
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I'd say Jim Thorpe, but best I've seen is Bo Jackson. Even though I was young, I still remember him being a star in baseball and football.
 

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One glaring omission among the names listed so far - Jackie Robinson.

Robinson was a 4 sport athlete in college. He won an NCAA championship in the long jump. He played college football and basketball. And wound up in the baseball HOF.

As for some mentioned here - "no big men moved like Shaq"? Seriously? How about Chamberlain, Russell, Jabbar and Olajuwon? ALL were better athletes than Shaq.

Williams is considered by some as baseball's greatest hitter, but athletically? Please! And the Babe was a terrific pitcher as well. Not "a pitcher who moved to the OF." A dominant pitcher.
 

TL1961

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Many athletes we know from one pro sport were drafted in others - just goes to show the ability so many have.

The one I find most interesting (I guess the least expected, anyway) is Tom Glavine. A baseball hall of famer drafted by an NHL team.
 
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What about Lance Armstrong? I am not sure how to factor in the whole PED discussion because it is my belief that 75%+ of professional athletes use (or have used) some type of PED at some time in their career...So PED issues aside, the Tour de France is a grueling endurance challenge..Armstrong dominated for what 10 straight years..also what about iron man athletes..2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bicycle ride and then a full marathon..that's insane!!


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Lol at Brock JUICED TO THE GILLS Lesnar being on here.....

Look, the ultimate proving ground for large power athletes in North America is the NFL.

Brock couldn't sniff being even a starting player in the NFL, while STEVEN NEAL started for the best team/one of the best OL's of his generation.

Neal was better on the mat as well.

Did someone say Brock had great agility, LOLwhat.....Warren Sapp was 90X as quick and agile and functionally flexible than that overgrown, AAS-inflated wannabe viking.

Brock at no time in his life was a top level explosive athlete compared to the insane guys that are in the NFL, not never.

Oh, and LOL at private workout numbers, lol. Guy was stiff as a board and looked completely unathletic in pre-season NFL games against also-rans.
 
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