Who is the World's Greatest Athlete?

[flipper]

Agree 100% LB.
All sports require some strength and agility, but I would put my two cents on top level competetive swimming as the sport which requires the performer to use the MOST muscles over the most span of time.
Neither runners nor any other game-athletes are required to use virtually 100% of all their musculature for several minutes continuously. Even studies have demonstrated that swimmers use more calories per minute of competition that any other sport.
I place my vote on one of the world's top swimmers,

A study I saw years ago had soccer as the most physically demanding sport played. Motocross came in second I do believe. The problem with MOST sports is the frequent rest breaks via timeouts, stops in play, etc. Sports like Motcross, Soccer are approx. 45 minutes without a break.

While swimming is indeed demanding you'd probably need to specify the longer distance races to qualify.

great post dogruss. please post on this board more. seems to me sometimes we both post too much on the other board.we need to show are alligence more.

[chitownBUB]

The problem with MOST sports is the frequent rest breaks via timeouts, stops in play, etc. Sports like Motcross, Soccer are approx. 45 minutes without a break.

While swimming is indeed demanding you'd probably need to specify the longer distance races to qualify.

Yes & No...depends on what level of soccer you're talking about.
At all youth levels, and even moreso at the MSL level, half the players on the field at any given time are standing around, far from the action, waiting for the ball to come their way.
In some club soccer, college soccer, and indoor soccer most of the players are in on the action almost continually.
But even motocross has the fact the guy is sitting down the entire time, so some would argue.

[patrick_o'brian]

I doubt there is much concensus on this.
Safe bet would be to go with the guys who dominate their sports (Tiger Woods, Albert Pujols, LeBron, Ronoldo.) BUT
in reality the knock on those guys is that they are very, very skilled at one thing, and a top athlete might just be defined by being talented and skilled at more than one thing.
How about the guy who just won the NCAA decathlon, Jake Arnold or Tom Pappas who just won the USA Outdoor Championships decathlon?
I know these guys are not well known.

Who the Hell is Ronoldo?

[mike radigan]

Who the Hell is Ronoldo?

Soccer player from Brazil:

http://skillfull0.tripod.com/

[dogsrus]

The problem with MOST sports is the frequent rest breaks via timeouts, stops in play, etc. Sports like Motcross, Soccer are approx. 45 minutes without a break.

While swimming is indeed demanding you'd probably need to specify the longer distance races to qualify.

Yes & No...depends on what level of soccer you're talking about.
At all youth levels, and even moreso at the MSL level, half the players on the field at any given time are standing around, far from the action, waiting for the ball to come their way.
In some club soccer, college soccer, and indoor soccer most of the players are in on the action almost continually.
But even motocross has the fact the guy is sitting down the entire time, so some would argue.

GOOD points BUB...... to clarify, I'm talking about the highest level of both sports.

I would argue (from a guy thats raced motocross for 12 years) that anyone "sitting down" the entire time is either injured or in last place . Trust me on this one...it is like doing squats on a roller coaster for 45 minutes.

By the way....I still wonder "who is your avatar".

[chitownBUB]

...seems to me sometimes we both post too much on the other board.we need to show are alligence more.

What other board?
Is there another Bradley board?
The only other one listed here is DOA, with only 2 posts in the past 3 months.

http://www.collegesportsinfo.com/directory/index-schools-a-c.htm

[tornado]

Hey -- I revived this old discussion because I was watching some of the "extreme" sports and skateboarding yesterday and I heard a comment that just puzzled me to no end...

one of the announcers droned about how these skateboarders were among the most highly trained and well conditioned athletes in the world...and suggested that they rivalled Lance Armstrong or Michael Jordan in this category.

I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion....but here's my take...
Many of the skateboarders are, of course, good at what they do, but I highly doubt they can do anything else whatsoever athletic -- as most don't look that athletic, they're short, scrawny at times, chubby at other times, and outside of a few good tricks on a skateboard most appear to have absolutely NO jumping ability, speed, etc..

Lots of my own kids' friends are pretty good skateboarders, yet invariably they are terrible athletes, kinda nerdy, and really can't do much more than their skateboarding plus wearing their baggy pants below their butt cracks.


In this same vein -- since our older discussions always seemed to highlight Lance Armstrong as one of the world's greatest athletes -- I would move to withdraw his name from any further consideration because of the powerful suspicion that he's been doping.

Here's my take...
in every sport it's debatable who was even the best athlete IN THAT SPORT..
if you ask who was the best baseball player or football player -- you get a wide range of legitimate answers...

BUT -- if you ask who was the best basketball player -- about 90% will agree it was Michael Jordan. He dominated his own sports as no other athlete has ever really dominated their own sport.
PLUS -- he was moderately good -- good enough to play professionally -- in TWO other sports (baseball and golf).
I think when all is considered, MJ was the best athlete in any sport ever..

[electricmayhem]

Good points, T.

I'll argue a few other names...

Dave Winfield was a phenomenal athlete in his day. I believe he's the only human drafted in four professional sports leagues - MLB, NBA, ABA, NFL.

Jim Thorpe was the first person regarded as a multi-sport superstar. I'm pretty sure that in addition to his Olympic fame, he played in the NFL and MLB, and possibly played pro basketball.

Of guys from my generation growing up, Bo Jackson would have been other-worldly if injuries wouldn't have grounded him. Deion Sanders, nevermind his broadcasting, was fantastic in the NFL and very good in MLB.

I'm the same age as Antwaan Randle El, and I don't know that I've ever seen a better multi-sport amateur athlete in person.

[tornado]

Good points, T.

I'll argue a few other names...

Dave Winfield was a phenomenal athlete in his day. I believe he's the only human drafted in four professional sports leagues - MLB, NBA, ABA, NFL.

Jim Thorpe was the first person regarded as a multi-sport superstar. I'm pretty sure that in addition to his Olympic fame, he played in the NFL and MLB, and possibly played pro basketball.

Of guys from my generation growing up, Bo Jackson would have been other-worldly if injuries wouldn't have grounded him. Deion Sanders, nevermind his broadcasting, was fantastic in the NFL and very good in MLB.

I'm the same age as Antwaan Randle El, and I don't know that I've ever seen a better multi-sport amateur athlete in person.

all good athletes...but I'll toss ex-Bradley Brave Ray "The Rocket" Ramsey into that discussion..

I know it was a long time ago without modern training techniques..

BUT -- Ray actually PLAYED or competed in THREE different sports at the top pro level (basketball, football, track) and was asked, drafted, and offered to play pro baseball as well but did not have the time!
That makes him one of the only four-sport athletes ever!

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12981

[SFP]

Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world. The guy can run like a deer and is also considering playing soccer. No one mentioned gymnasts. My god talk about athletics. They have power, speed, endurance and agility beyond most athletes.

Swimmers probably can knock the charts out of power, speed and endurance but most lack any sort of agility. Michael Phelps will even say he is completely clumsy outside of the pool. Agility and extreme coordination is part of the equation. That is why I'll always say that the NBA has the best collection of athletes in the world.

[Da Coach]

Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world...

Maybe you could make that argument a year and a half ago, but he hasn't won anything lately. His times have gone down since the 2009 World Championships and he hasn't won anything since the summer of 2009.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world. The guy can run like a deer and is also considering playing soccer. No one mentioned gymnasts. My god talk about athletics. They have power, speed, endurance and agility beyond most athletes.

Swimmers probably can knock the charts out of power, speed and endurance but most lack any sort of agility. Michael Phelps will even say he is completely clumsy outside of the pool. Agility and extreme coordination is part of the equation. That is why I'll always say that the NBA has the best collection of athletes in the world.

In the world of professional sports, it probably goes to either an NBA or NFL player. Baseball players don't belong on a list of best athletes. I can't find the exact quote, but Barkley basically has said that baseball players are made out of tissue paper. When they run into each other, one isn't getting back up. Baseball is mainly a niche skill sport like golf. Or bowling.

For pure athletics it would have to be an NFL player. Strength, speed, and agility are all required for the NFL more so than the NBA (or soccer...).

I would vote for Chris McCormack, but I'm biased.

[dogsrus]

Agree 100% LB.
All sports require some strength and agility, but I would put my two cents on top level competetive swimming as the sport which requires the performer to use the MOST muscles over the most span of time.
Neither runners nor any other game-athletes are required to use virtually 100% of all their musculature for several minutes continuously. Even studies have demonstrated that swimmers use more calories per minute of competition that any other sport.
I place my vote on one of the world's top swimmers,

Swedish studies many years ago rated Soccer the number one most physically demanding sport in the world....followed by motocross .

ONE of the factors was time involved.....soccer is basically 40 yard wind sprints for 40 minutes at a time. Professional motocross was two 45 minute "moto's.

In football, basketball....you get lots of breaks through timeouts....offense/defense....

I agree with whomever said it depends on what you call an athlete. Is it the best at his/her sport OR someone like a decathalete that can do alot of things well....(run, jump, throw....)

[molar50]

Rafael Nadel

I know many people, especially those who have never played tennis, think tennis players are not top pro athletes. But, most of the men are in top condition, and have to perform with agility and mental toughness without the benefit of a team (except in doubles) or a coach during the match. If you have ever seen Rafael Nadel in person, who know he is one of the top athletes in the world and has dominated his chosen sport.

[SFP]

The best athlete I ever knew was the type of guy where you would head to some waterfalls and while you were scared to jump off the cliff into the water he would do a double back flip. He could pick up any sport and within a week be the best. He was called up to senior varsity in basketball while only a freshman. This guy could never have made it to the NBA or NFL because he was only 5'8" but he was a professional wind surfer and did go on the Planter Peanuts World Tour for a lot of years. I tend to believe extreme coordination is the number one trait of a great athlete.