Who is the greatest athlete in history? My top 3 picks are Muhammad Ali and...

[rightwinger]

Jordan, Ali, Prefontaine.

Pre was a great distance runner but not on an international level. He did not even medal in the Olympics

Pre was an idol of mine growing up. As was Jordan and Ali. I could have mentioned Bolt, Ruth, Thorpe, etc, but it was Pre that had the most influence on me, and therefore consider him one of the greatest of all time. JMHO.

I was running HS track at the time and I also loved Pre.
He was like a Rock Star

But GOAT? We have many, many track stars who dominated world wide
Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens

 

[SmokeALib]

Jordan, Ali, Prefontaine.

Pre was a great distance runner but not on an international level. He did not even medal in the Olympics

Pre was an idol of mine growing up. As was Jordan and Ali. I could have mentioned Bolt, Ruth, Thorpe, etc, but it was Pre that had the most influence on me, and therefore consider him one of the greatest of all time. JMHO.

I was running HS track at the time and I also loved Pre.
He was like a Rock Star

But GOAT? We have many, many track stars who dominated world wide
Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens

I hear you. I could have mentioned Owens and Lewis, or even Frank Shorter - who medaled in two consecutive Olympics in the 70s, including one gold. It's a pretty subjective topic. It would be like somebody mentioning Dan Marino or Jim Kelly in their top 3, neither of who ever won a Superbowl. All great athletes.

 

[DGS49]

Obviously, we are not talking about pure athletic ability. Best to focus on most impactful on their sport.

Babe Ruth saved baseball after the Black Sox scandal and changed the nature of his game.

Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

To a lesser extent...Arnold Palmer, Wayne Gretzky, Pele, The "Budweiser" guys in bowling (Bluth, Carter, Weber, etc), Pete Sampras.

 

[Unkotare]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

 

[longknife]

Jesse Owens by far #1

 

[rightwinger]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

 

[Unkotare]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

 

[rightwinger]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Wrong

 

[Unkotare]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Jordan.

.

 

[rightwinger]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Jordan.

.

Wrong

 

[Unkotare]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

 

[rightwinger]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

Jack Johnson

 

[Fiero425]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

Only boxers? Real athletes can run, jump, and do other maneuvers over just punching someone's lights out! When I think of best athletes, I think of Bo Jackson, Babe Dietrich, or even Deion Sanders who played 2 or more sports!

 

[Unkotare]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

Only boxers? Real athletes can run, jump, and do other maneuvers over just punching someone's lights out! When I think of best athletes, I think of Bo Jackson, Babe Dietrich, or even Deion Sanders who played 2 or more sports!

Now think of them in a ring with a boxer.

 

[WheelieAddict]

The greatest athletes in history and why they are so great

My top 3 are - Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather and Michael Jordan. Reasons go beyond sporting achievement, but their impact on the world and cultural beliefs as well. Just watched a documentary on Ali and damn that is one incredibly talented sportsman. Respect

Jim Brown. One of the best lacrosse players ever.
Was Jim Brown better at lacrosse than football?

 

[BuckToothMoron]

Bo Jackson, Jordan and Gretzky.

Had Bo Jackson not been injured, he may have been a hall of famer in 2 major sports. No soccer players yet. Ask this question in Europe, Africa and S. America and most of the response would be soccer I imagine.

 

[BuckToothMoron]

Jordan, Ali, Prefontaine.

Pre was a great distance runner but not on an international level. He did not even medal in the Olympics

Pre was an idol of mine growing up. As was Jordan and Ali. I could have mentioned Bolt, Ruth, Thorpe, etc, but it was Pre that had the most influence on me, and therefore consider him one of the greatest of all time. JMHO.

I was running HS track at the time and I also loved Pre.
He was like a Rock Star

But GOAT? We have many, many track stars who dominated world wide
Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens

I hear you. I could have mentioned Owens and Lewis, or even Frank Shorter - who medaled in two consecutive Olympics in the 70s, including one gold. It's a pretty subjective topic. It would be like somebody mentioning Dan Marino or Jim Kelly in their top 3, neither of who ever won a Superbowl. All great athletes.

Marino maybe in top 10 of QBs, maybe. Neitherhe or Kelly were as good as Elway tho. And Elway was drafted by the Yankees.

 

[BuckToothMoron]

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

Only boxers? Real athletes can run, jump, and do other maneuvers over just punching someone's lights out! When I think of best athletes, I think of Bo Jackson, Babe Dietrich, or even Deion Sanders who played 2 or more sports!

Now think of them in a ring with a boxer.

If that’s your criteria, put your best boxer in the octagon with Fedor Emelianenko. They wouldn’t last one round.

 

[DGS49]

Saying you disagree ("bull") is not a rebuttal.

Anecdote from Chamberlain's autobiography. During the time when Cassius Clay was banned from boxing (in effect), there were various plots to schedule events so he could make some money. He fought a karate expert in Japan, for example.

One such fiasco was presented to Wilt Chamberlain: a boxing match with Ali. Chamberlain was inhumanly strong, relatively quick, and had an inhuman length of "reach." Thought he could do anything he wanted. He liked the idea.

But before the ball got rolling, one of his friends got wind of it and asked him a simple question: "What could you do to Ali in a one-on-one basketball game?" "Now ask yourself: what makes you think he couldn't do the same thing to you in a boxing ring."

The match, obviously, never happened. Wilt backed out after this conversation.

 

[rightwinger]

....
Wilt Chamberlain was simply the most impactful player in the history of his sport.

Muhammad Ali brought more attention to boxing than any other champion in history.

....

Absurdly untrue in both cases.

No other player dominated the way Wilt did
They changed the rules to stop him

Ali is the GOAT

Bull/Bull

Rocky Marciano

Joe Lewis

Jack Dempsy

John L Sullivan

Only boxers? Real athletes can run, jump, and do other maneuvers over just punching someone's lights out! When I think of best athletes, I think of Bo Jackson, Babe Dietrich, or even Deion Sanders who played 2 or more sports!

I would have loved to see what Bo Jackson could have accomplished in a full career. He had HOF skills in two sports. His career ended in an instant

Deion was not at the level of Bo, but was a HOF football player and held his own in baseball

I don’t know how to rate Babe Diedrickson. She was a track athlete who ended up playing women’s professional golf. She was a great female athelete at a time there was not much female completion