Best Athlete in the world

[zolayes 14,489]

this could have been a great thread but too many can't appreciate outside their favourite sports.

[I_Just_Blue_Myself 29]

this could have been a great thread but too many can't appreciate outside their favourite sports.

i think people appreciate athletes of all sports. but some sports demand a higher level of overall athleticism. and like i said previously since soccer players dont develop and use their upper bodies anywhere near as much as athletes in other sports they really cant be considered when discussing best athlete in the world.

[Barbara 15,149]

Rafael Nadal

[zolayes 14,489]

i think people appreciate athletes of all sports. but some sports demand a higher level of overall athleticism. and like i said previously since soccer players dont develop and use their upper bodies anywhere near as much as athletes in other sports they really cant be considered when discussing best athlete in the world.

I was more referring to those who only seemed to rate basketball and nfl

[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