Knew this thread would be filled with unknown American sportsmen lmao.

I'll get in on this...

It is def. Jim Thorpe, people just don't talk about him because of how long ago it was. While other athletes have played two sports, he dominated multiple, throw in a gold medal as well

From a pure athletic standpoint, LeBron is #2, even though I can't stand him. If dude played soccer he would be a goalie and no one would ever score, if he played football he would moss anyone at WR. You should not be allowed to be 6'8 265 and move the way he does

Nah its a legit answer, it all just depends on what you think of when someone says "greatest athlete ever". Do you factor in success in their sport, or just pure God given talent and their use of it.

im going to get some hate for this but imo, its floyd mayweather.

jason "the pisslord" genova

Ummm, Tom Brady. And it isn't even close.

Bo Jackson

This comes to mind in terms of athleticism

Natural gift. Probably Bo Jackson.

Best at sport. Brady or Jordan

Best woman. Lia Thomas

What? Throwing a rugby ball with good timing and precision doesn't make you a good athlete. He probably wouldn't even make the top 100k of all time.

Brian Shaw hands down. Likely the strongest human to ever walk the planet

Bo Jackson

RG3 would have an argument if not for injuries. 400m national champion in HS, got to the NFL to play the games most difficult position, responsible for the read option reappearing in the NFL when nobody thought possible.

Wayne Rooney was a drunken bastard and still has the scoring record for the worlds most prestigious club, had the ability to play anywhere up front or in the middle, in spite of not taking care of his body at all. You have to be crazy athletic to overcome that personal life.

Toe Rogan

Are we talking all around athlete?

came in here to mention him.

IMO tennis is the most all-around athletically demanding sport. with basketball being close.

i just cant get behind someone like Usain Bolt. literally the ONLY thing he did was run. theres so much more to athletic capability than running, with hand-eye coordination being one of the big ones, which Federer has in spades.

just off the top of my head id probably go:

Federer
Ronaldo
Bo Jackson
Michael Jordan
Karelin
Babe Ruth
Mike Tyson


just to name a few

conor mcgregor

Brick Lesser.

I'm a big Federer fanboy but I'd call Nadal and Djoko more athletic.

Ronaldo did so much more than others in a sport most have tried in.

Gretzky excelled in a less popular sport.

Purely physical feats are sort of a different conversation.

Muhammad Ali
He had it all

If people are throwing around Gretzky's name ITT and talking about "champions" and "wins", then he's a fair choice.

I personally think we're comparing apples and oranges if we're trying to say pure athletic specimens like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders are comparable to dudes who excelled at one specific niche sport. Granted, Tyson might>>>>>Mayweather since he was the heavyweight champ and would absolutely wipe the floor with him in any direct athletic competition, even outside the realm of boxing.

Actually im gonna go ahead and throw out the non physical sports like tennis, athletics and swimming.
I suppose being goat athlete should incorporate this aspect as well?

I love phelphs, tennis goats, bolt.



But i guess it fall to soccer, basketball, hockey, football, and combat sports.


Gretzky, Ronaldo, Messi, Jordan, Wilt, Fedor, Bo

Probably Achilles or Alexander the Great.

What’s up deeks!

Yes & Hercules, Batman, Popeye, & that dude from Beauty & the Beast who ate all those eggs.

Gretzky keeps coming up but I watched him play back in the early days. You do realize he was never pounded on like Lemeiux? Marty McSorley protected Wayne's ass.

That guy cannot even lace the boots of Garrincha, Cruyff, Matthaus, Diego, Platini or Robson.

You think Gretzky revolutionized a sport more than Michael Jordan did?

In 1984 Baseball and Football were king in the USA, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis I don't know which was #3 but they were far behind.

At that time and historically, championships were built around big men. Russell, Wilt, Jabbar, even Larry had McHale in the post along with a very decent Parish. That's precisely why Sam Bowie was picked ahead of him. He came to a team that typically sold about 25% of their tickets. He was faster, jumped higher, and did things on the court that no one thought was possible. The best offensive and the best defensive player in the league a the same time.

He made the worst team in the league the best, and took a somewhat fringe sport to Worldwide attention. I'd even suggest he is the first global superstar sports icon.

Look at the league today, the big man is almost dead, or at least transformed into an athlete like Gianis, for decades teams searched for the next Jordan after thinking the shooting guard was an accessory. Big men were the standard before him.

He's my pick, but mostly because I saw it all happen in front of me in Chicago. Head to head with Brady, Michael is obviously more talented athletically and I would say had a greater win to will and impacted all aspects of the game, where a qb only plays offense. Hard to knock Gretzky, but Jordan was bigger faster stronger. I don't know enough about soccer to even know who the true goat is of that sport.

Single sport athletes cannot be compared to team sport athletes, but there are a lot of solid choices itt.