Who is the best sportsman or sportswoman of all time?

[Cohiba Stevie]

I would vote pele, but that list is atrocious...

[Pilgrims]

Somebody else - AP McCoy

[Pilsner14]

No Gretz???? Classiest, most dominating sportsman of all time.

Go oil!

[IcedCanuck]

I voted somebody else: Wayne Gretzky.

[dvickery]

secretariat

derrek

[NMJoe]

secretariat

derrek

Lol. Indeed! And although I'm sure being a jockey is taxing, let's face it, he's not running 1 1/4 furlongs with a horse on his back.

[CigarB]

secretariat

derrek

X2 - Dominating

[ckearns]

For me its Jack Nicklaus. Period. End of Story. Not only is he a very decorated athlete, he's the epitome of a class act human being.

[MIKA27]

You could also add Michael Schumacher to the list.

7 X F1 world champion and holding every other record there is in F1.

Yes indeed, I second that.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:

Championships: 7 Drivers world championships.

Races: 292 (291 starts)

Wins: 92

Podiums: 154

Pole Positions: 68

Fastest Laps: 76 (Still unbeaten)

Career points: 1,519

Honours:

Schumacher has been honoured many times during his career. In April 2002, for his contributions to sport and his contributions in raising awareness of child education, he was named as one of the UNESCO Champions for sport,^[127] joining the other eight which include Pelé, Sergey Bubka and Justine Henin. He won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award twice, in 2002 and 2004 for his performances in the 2001 and 2003 seasons respectively. He has also received nominations for the 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 awards.^[128] No-one has been nominated more times than Schumacher in the award's seven-year history.

[Ken Gargett]

apparently schmacher was considered by this bloke for his list but he could not find room for him.

obviously a very talented driver but i'd tend to agree with him not there - for me, car racing has the extra variable of the car itself. you can argue that someone has a better cricket bat or golf club than a competitor but i suspect that the difference is far more minimal. that, for me, rules out drivers and also jockeys. i know others won't agree.

and if you doubt that gear makes a difference at this level, have a look at swimming records before and after the supersuits were banned.

[Wil]

for me, car racing has the extra variable of the car itself. you can argue that someone has a better cricket bat or golf club than a competitor but i suspect that the difference is far more minimal. that, for me, rules out drivers and also jockeys. i know others won't agree.

and if you doubt that gear makes a difference at this level, have a look at swimming records before and after the supersuits were banned.

wow. i actually agree with something ken said

[Jason55555]

Ayrton Senna > Michael Schumacher just a side note lol

Easily MICHAEL JORDAN hands down, Brought basketball to the world everyone in the world knows basketball=MJ , Most exciting to watch, and taught younger basketball players hard work trumps all, Michael Jordon dominated the NBA for his entire career more than any athlete has ever dominated a sport. He is also a superb golfer, so so baseball player lol, and probably more.

For sure the greatest athlete in history.

5 MVP awards, 6 NBA titles, 2 Olympic gold medals, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, 9 All-Defensive First Team honors, 14 NBA All-Star Game appearances, 3 All-Star Game MVP awards, 10 scoring titles, 3 steals titles, 6 NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. 1999's greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN.

G.O.A.T

[Ken Gargett]

Ayrton Senna > Michael Schumacher just a side note lol

Easily MICHAEL JORDAN hands down, Brought basketball to the world everyone in the world knows basketball=MJ , Most exciting to watch, and taught younger basketball players hard work trumps all, Michael Jordon dominated the NBA for his entire career more than any athlete has ever dominated a sport. He is also a superb golfer, so so baseball player lol, and probably more.

For sure the greatest athlete in history.

5 MVP awards, 6 NBA titles, 2 Olympic gold medals, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, 9 All-Defensive First Team honors, 14 NBA All-Star Game appearances, 3 All-Star Game MVP awards, 10 scoring titles, 3 steals titles, 6 NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. 1999's greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN.

G.O.A.T

no doubt jordan is one of the greatest - when i lived in the states (and this was when they claimed that the bulls would not win a flag because, as good as jordan was, he couldn't carry the team), i'd work out the timing of his games just to watch him. but "more than any athlete has ever dominated a sport" so demonstrably not true. in actually terms of domination, bradman has been shown to be so far ahead of anyone else that it really is daylight second. and he did that over a 1/4 of a century and that included being sidelined by WWII. i think someone posted earlier about the actual stats.

[coblos]

Easily MICHAEL JORDAN hands down, Brought basketball to the world everyone in the world knows basketball=MJ , Most exciting to watch, and taught younger basketball players hard work trumps all, Michael Jordon dominated the NBA for his entire career more than any athlete has ever dominated a sport. He is also a superb golfer, so so baseball player lol, and probably more.

For sure the greatest athlete in history.

5 MVP awards, 6 NBA titles, 2 Olympic gold medals, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, 9 All-Defensive First Team honors, 14 NBA All-Star Game appearances, 3 All-Star Game MVP awards, 10 scoring titles, 3 steals titles, 6 NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. 1999's greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN.

G.O.A.T

Don't forget to add "Owner of the worst team in professional sports" to that list of achievements.

[Agricola]

I'd like to nominate Valentine Vezzali.

"Vezzali is the first fencer in Olympic history to win three Individual Foil gold medals at three consecutive Olympics – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. She also won thirteen gold medals at the World Fencing Championships, six in individual competitions (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011) and another seven in team competitions (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2010), plus four silver medals (two individual, 1994 and 2006, and two with Italian team, in the same years) and two bronze medals (individual, 1995 and 1998).

In European championships, she won nine gold medals (individual: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010; team: 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010), three silver medals (individual: 2003, 2007; team: 2007), two bronze medals (individual: 1993; team: 1998)."

Whilst doing all that she had a baby too, unfortunately it wasn't with me

[khomeinist]

OJ Simpson

[canadianbeaver]

Maybe some non-list members...

Lou Gehrig; Roger Federer; Larry Bird.

[brazoseagle]

The better version of Lou Gehrig was mentioned = Cal Ripken Jr.

Ken shouldn't WorldWide notability factor in to this. Shouldn't being the best require a world wide awknowledgement? Most of us Americanos don't know of these Cricket players listed and some others mentioned, but everyone has heard of Michael Jordan and Gretzky and others. I think that matters.

[canadianbeaver]

No such thing as Cal Ripken Jr's disease

[khomeinist]

Cal is the sensitive (wo)man's choice.

I prefer guys like Ricky Henderson and Mr. October!!

The straw the stirs the drink baby.....

OAKLAND ATHLETICS

[canadianbeaver]

The straw the stirs the drink baby..... I LOVE THAT.

OK, Cal Ripken Jr it is.

[Jason55555]

For sure Ken, I see you point i'm from the West Indies and a vivvid cricket lover I have much respect for "The Don" and what he did in cricket(even thought he was a pain in the ass for the WI's lol) yes he did dominate longer but....

When looking into best sportman or sportwomen of all time, I believe you have to take into consideration that basketball is the 4th hardest sport to play behind Boxing, Ice Hockey,and Football and this is a proven statistical fact, So i'll rehash that statement to say in regards to MJ / more then any athlete has ever dominated a sport at that high caliber of difficulty level.

Also for the pro for MJ - Look what he did for the sport outside the arena, everyone knows MJ even a little kid in China knows "I wanna be like Mike" he made basketball one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports, Air Jordan a billion dollar industry built off one mans ability to play the game.

[jedipastor]

Jordan for me. He was just awe-inspiring.

[khomeinist]

Can I vote again for a Buffalo Bills legend?

[KB24]

KOBE BEAN BRYANT