Best Athlete in the world

[Korea 734]

I'm pretty sure I said athletic attributes.....

[Korea 734]

I agree with Rmpr, Tennis probably needs more athleticism than basketball or football, but you can't really compare athletes from different sports. How do you compare a powerhouse like Lebron to someone as fit and agile as Djokovic or as fast as Ronaldo.

Tennis...

I think not.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Best athletes? Way too broad. By the definitions given above, I'd probably have track guys at the top with Bolt being #1. That said, I think this definition of athletics is impossible to work with because you can't compare physical abilities that are vastly different across many different sports and places some attributes over others for no real reason. Why is jumping more important to being a top athlete than hand-eye co-ordination? Why is speed more important than endurance? "pure athletic attributes" is nonsense because there are plenty of athletic attributes that are not mentioned here at all. There is a visual test that is incredibly misleading. The strongest people in the world are actually a little fat and definitely not cut at all. Someone like Haile Gebrselassie is as good an athlete as there ever was, but he was slender and wouldn't fit into these definitions. I've played many sports and many at a pretty decent level and the single hardest thing to do in any sport is to hit a baseball. The hand-eye coordination and reaction time required is absolutely insane. I can't even imagine playing tennis at the intensity professionals do for the length of time they do. Have you ever played squash? It's a brutal sport which requires insane athleticism. How about boxing? UFC? How about decathlon? It's endless and not restricted to popular team sports. (Anyway, in the NFL you can know who the best athletes are because they do the combines which measure all that stuff and the best athletes are almost never the best players. Calvin Johnson and AP were both elite talents, but not top "athletes" by your definition. Not like Vernon David or Darius Heywood-Bey or Mike Mamula.)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Tennis...

I think not.

Yeah, I didn't think so either until I actually tried to play it!

[Korea 734]

Yeah, I didn't think so either until I actually tried to play it!

Might as well put ping pong!

[Korea 734]

Best athletes? Way too broad. By the definitions given above, I'd probably have track guys at the top with Bolt being #1. That said, I think this definition of athletics is impossible to work with because you can't compare physical abilities that are vastly different across many different sports and places some attributes over others for no real reason. Why is jumping more important to being a top athlete than hand-eye co-ordination? Why is speed more important than endurance? "pure athletic attributes" is nonsense because there are plenty of athletic attributes that are not mentioned here at all. There is a visual test that is incredibly misleading. The strongest people in the world are actually a little fat and definitely not cut at all. Someone like Haile Gebrselassie is as good an athlete as there ever was, but he was slender and wouldn't fit into these definitions. I've played many sports and many at a pretty decent level and the single hardest thing to do in any sport is to hit a baseball. The hand-eye coordination and reaction time required is absolutely insane. I can't even imagine playing tennis at the intensity professionals do for the length of time they do. Have you ever played squash? It's a brutal sport which requires insane athleticism. How about boxing? UFC? How about decathlon? It's endless and not restricted to popular team sports. (Anyway, in the NFL you can know who the best athletes are because they do the combines which measure all that stuff and the best athletes are almost never the best players. Calvin Johnson and AP were both elite talents, but not top "athletes" by your definition. Not like Vernon David or Darius Heywood-Bey or Mike Mamula.)

Hitting a baseball requires skills/technique, not pure athletic ability. (Hitting a home run maybe)

UFC was a group of nonathletic men until recently. You know why Jon Jones is so freaking good.. It's due to the fact he is a pure athlete that fights mma..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Might as well put ping pong!

LOOOOL You really should pick up a racket sometime and try playing Tennis. Let me know how much you last

[Korea 734]

LOOOOL You really should pick up a racket sometime and try playing Tennis. Let me know how much you last

I went up against my friend's buddy that was nationally ranked. Obviously, I lost badly, however, it was not cause of pure athletic ability.

I played tennis all summer when I was 18-20..... I think I would know, since we have tennis courts everywhere here.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Hitting a baseball requires skills/technique, not pure athletic ability. (Hitting a home run maybe)

UFC was a group of nonathletic men until recently. You know why Jon Jones is so freaking good.. It's due to the fact he is a pure athlete that fights mma..

But there's the problem. Your definition of "athletic ability" is incredibly narrow and is being skewed to mean a few things: quickness, jumping ability, and strength. Really, what makes Russell Westbrook for example one of the best athletes? He's quick and can jump really high. Relative to other elite athletes, he's not strong, doesn't have fantastic stamina or flexibility, etc...You take AP and put him next to Usain Bolt, what exactly would AP be better at? Bolt is faster, can jump higher, is stronger, etc..., But being an elite RB is a different skill and Bolt would be awful at it. . You look at Lance Armstrong and he was able to dominate one of the most difficult things people can do for years and even with steroids that takes incredible stamina, strength, etc...None of the people on your list could have done anything close to what he did. Look at Michael Phelps. Strength, speed, endurance, everything... Team sports require specific skills and people who dominate those sports are great at those specific skills. Speed is no more an athletic ability than flexibility and power is no more an athletic ability than endurance.

[Korea 734]

But there's the problem. Your definition of "athletic ability" is incredibly narrow and is being skewed to mean a few things: quickness, jumping ability, and strength. Really, what makes Russell Westbrook for example one of the best athletes? He's quick and can jump really high. Relative to other elite athletes, he's not strong, doesn't have fantastic stamina or flexibility, etc...You take AP and put him next to Usain Bolt, what exactly would AP be better at? Bolt is faster, can jump higher, is stronger, etc..., But being an elite RB is a different skill and Bolt would be awful at it. . You look at Lance Armstrong and he was able to dominate one of the most difficult things people can do for years and even with steroids that takes incredible stamina, strength, etc...None of the people on your list could have done anything close to what he did. Look at Michael Phelps. Strength, speed, endurance, everything... Team sports require specific skills and people who dominate those sports are great at those specific skills. Speed is no more an athletic ability than flexibility and power is no more an athletic ability than endurance.

Westbrook might be a knucklehead, but that boy sure has amazing stamina and flexibility. Also if anything, basketball players all have good stamina and for myself stamina is more into the mental aspect rather than pure athletic ability.

AP is more explosive than Bolt. I dont know if you know but Bolt is slow off the blocks, so essentially pro football players could beat him in a 40yd dash, however, in a 100 or 200 its no chance versus Bolt... Also, please tell me how Bolt is stronger and can jump higher than AP? AP vertical was 39' and he weighed a good +25lbs more than Bolt, who is +5' in height... AP is stronger, quicker, more explosive and probably would be comparable in verticals...

Lance Armstrong also took drugs and NO, he is not. Everything he did were stamina based, not on pure athletic base.

Pure athletic ability is strength, agility, top speed, acceleration, vertical, etc. Running a marathon is not pure athletic ability.

[zolayes 14,489]

It would be interesting to know what sports people have played and at what level

[Korea 734]

Pure athleticism at its best...

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Fernando Torres

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Lebron James

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

U might laugh but Rafael Nadal actually is one of the best athletes in the world. He is incredibly fast, has immense stamina, is agile, can jump and is strong and has great explosive power.

Also many NFL and Rugby players are outstanding athletes. but i do not know much about them. In America there is a whole other culture about athleticism. They also have better experts for sports nutrition and diverse medical substances...

David Haye is also an amazing athlete.

But we have to take more into account than speed and strength. I think coordination ability is also important. Because of that I'd also have Ashton Eaten, the decatlon champion in the list.

[Korea 734]

U might laugh but Rafael Nadal actually is one of the best athletes in the world. He is incredibly fast, has immense stamina, is agile, can jump and is strong and has great explosive power.

Also many NFL and Rugby players are outstanding athletes. but i do not know much about them. In America there is a whole other culture about athleticism. They also have better experts for sports nutrition and diverse medical substances...

David Haye is also an amazing athlete.

But we have to take more into account than speed and strength. I think coordination ability is also important. Because of that I'd also have Ashton Eaten, the decatlon champion in the list.

Fast as in what... Like Usain bolt fast, Theo walcott fast or just tennis fast....

Agility like Messi or Devin Hester or just tennis quick.....

Jumping with a 48' vertical like Jordan or 43' like Carter...

Probably not, he's athletic for his sport but if you compare him to other athletes, Nadal is no where near them....

It's kind of like Tiger Woods and Serena Williams, they have such a psychical edge over everyone in their respecitve sports, however, in other sports, they would be either average or underpar athletically.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Fast as in what... Like Usain bolt fast, Theo walcott fast or just tennis fast....

Agility like Messi or Devin Hester or just tennis quick.....

Jumping with a 48' vertical like Jordan or 43' like Carter...

Probably not, he's athletic for his sport but if you compare him to other athletes, Nadal is no where near them....

It's kind of like Tiger Woods and Serena Williams, they have such a psychical edge over everyone in their respecitve sports, however, in other sports, they would be either average or underpar athletically.

There are always superior men in the respective disciplines but athelticsm is about you all-round package.

You really underrate the physical demands of Tennis. Nadal might not be the best at any of the categories, but he is one of the best all-round athletes. Walcott&Bolt are olympia fast, but at olympia there is only 100m. I know many Tennis players who sprint the 40yards as fast as NFL wide receivers. Nadal is probably more agile than Messi in terms of time he needs to radially alterate the direction of his body. Tennis is one of the sports which requires the highest agility cos you don't have to turn your entire body within millisecs. B I wanna see Messi or Walcott bench as much, beat Nadal in a marathon or leap as high. I wanna see Bolt doing a slalom run or a Marathon faster than Nadal. i wanna see Michael Jordan, Messi or anyone only doing the running of a 6 hours tennis match. Only Tennis players can stand the endurance to stand that sort of strain that long.On the other hand, Nadal would have no problem at all to play an entire Basketball or football match or playing receiver.

[Korea 734]

There are always superior men in the respective disciplines but athelticsm is about you all-round package.

You really underrate the physical demands of Tennis. Nadal might not be the best at any of the categories, but he is one of the best all-round athletes. Walcott&Bolt are olympia fast, but at olympia there is only 100m. I know many Tennis players who sprint the 40yards as fast as NFL wide receivers. Nadal is probably more agile than Messi in terms of time he needs to radially alterate the direction of his body. Tennis is one of the sports which requires the highest agility cos you don't have to turn your entire body within millisecs. B I wanna see Messi or Walcott bench as much, beat Nadal in a marathon or leap as high. I wanna see Bolt doing a slalom run or a Marathon faster than Nadal. i wanna see Michael Jordan, Messi or anyone only doing the running of a 6 hours tennis match. Only Tennis players can stand the endurance to stand that sort of strain that long.On the other hand, Nadal would have no problem at all to play an entire Basketball or football match or playing receiver.

In terms of pure and raw athleticism, not really. Raw athleticism isnt running a marathon for 5 hrs or swimming for 5 miles. I dont really understand how endurance/stamina equates to athleticism.

Endurance/stamina are more mental aspects, not pure athletic aspects of a person. Also, you say he would have no problem playin basketball or football, but thats where your wrong, He small, therefore he would have a problem playing both sports, unless he is Nate Robinson (who btw is an athletic freak).

You might as well include nascar drives too since I doubt most athletes can race like that.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

In terms of pure and raw athleticism, not really. Raw athleticism isnt running a marathon for 5 hrs or swimming for 5 miles. I dont really understand how endurance/stamina equates to athleticism.

Endurance/stamina are more mental aspects, not pure athletic aspects of a person. Also, you say he would have no problem playin basketball or football, but thats where your wrong, He small, therefore he would have a problem playing both sports, unless he is Nate Robinson (who btw is an athletic freak).

You might as well include nascar drives too since I doubt most athletes can race like that.

Saying "Endurance is a mental aspect" is quite funny. Mo Farah is probably not a great long distance runner because he has the most powerful heart and lungs but he meditates the best and does the most brain training? so we might have to agree of disciplines of athleticism.

Football and Basketball are sports where skill is more important than size. my brother is professional basketball player and he is 1,80m and skinny. Still he plays in the first German League. You do not need to be too big to be an NFL wide receiver, still those are the best athletes among football players. Also there are professional point- and shooting guards who are smaller than Nadal. he is 1,85, 85kg, virtually no fat btw. so i would not call that small.

Athleticism for me is: Pace+Leap+agility+strength+coordination+endurance, the basic physical attributes of a mammal. An athlete has to be good in all of these. Some sports with long pauses and only short periods of actual physical action like Golf, Darts or American football hence have less all-round athletic demand for some sportsmen hence those tend to be less athletic. Yes American football. Those big linebackers are no great atheltes. They might be strong, but cant even run a 100m without going out of steam. Nor can they leap, turn around in less than 3s. On an American football field, most players need 1 min pause after 3 secs of actual play. Sports like MMA, Rugby, Tennis, Decathlon, Basketball however form amazing athletes cos u have to be show all those abilites at some point.

[EBH 283]

What is meant by athlete? Being very explosive is not very good in many sport... Bolt will be thrashed in 1-2km race by good Ethiopian runner like Bekele. Victoria Pendleton lose to Marianne Vos in a 20 km race.

I think it is cylist that have the better stamina than all other sport.. but for explosive power, I think it is basketballer or maybe Cristiano Ronaldo. Bolt can only run quick in straight line, give him something extra, like a ball to control and he will not be so good. Being the athlete is not only about how big your lung and heart and muscle are.