Other The Greatest of All Time Sportspeople

[Hodgepodge]

Who are the GOATs in each sport? Let's make a comprehensive list.

I'll start us off with the obvious one that needs no introduction or explanation. If you know an obscure one, please explain why they are seen as dominant, and what made them superior in their given sport.

Cricket - Don Bradman
99.94 cited as arguably the greatest statistical achievement in major sport.

 

[TassieEagle]

A few from left field

Esther Vergeer - Wheelchair Tennis: 26 Grand Slam singles titles from 26 attempts in addition to 4 singles Paralympic golds in addition to 3 more in the doubles. Went undefeated in the last 10 years of her career.

Heather McKay - Squash: Won 16 British Opens which at the time was the pinnacle of squash. Undefeated from 1962 to 1981, lost only two matches in her entire career which were in the infancy of her career.

and one close to home, Robert Fahey - Real Tennis: Dominated the sport like no other current world champion since 1994, though the sport does use a archaic challenge system

So it seems it is easier to dominate racquet sports

A few others that would come to mind as the best in their sports would be Jordan, Gretzky, Ruth, Pele & Moses.

 

[getthefooty]

Walter Lindrum - Billiards. Completely dominated the sport from the late 1920s to his retirement in 1950. Held the World Championship in Billiards from 1933-50, and amassed 57 world records during his time in the sport.

 

[Wallaby]

Walter Lindrum - Billiards. Completely dominated the sport from the late 1920s to his retirement in 1950. Held the World Championship in Billiards from 1933-50, and amassed 57 world records during his time in the sport.

Lindrum is a tad over-rated here in Australia. He was the best in the world for some of his career, but he played in an era where huge scores became the norm, and so many matches became 'chase a record'. Many of his 57 World Records are things like 'Most Points in 5 minutes', 'Most Points in a two-week match(!)' etc. While he was in England, he usually played exhibitions against other players - sometimes conceding huge handicaps, but these were primarily to give him a chance to knock up another huge record score against a local chump. All the top English pros were doing similar. Lindrum WAS probably the best for much of the period 1928-1934, but not by an overwhelming margin.

The World Championship was held in England. Lindrum played in 1929, 1930 and 1932 and didn't win. He won in 1933 and 34, but the Championship was not contested again until 1951. So, yes, technically he was World Champion from 1933-1950. (Clark McConnarchy won in 1951, the title was not contested again until 1968, so he also held the crown for 17 years). The US is still technically the Olympic Rugby Champion.

After 1934, most of the top players switched to snooker - where the money was, but Lindrum continued mostly playing billiards exhibitions in Australia.

 

[Geelong_Bisons_#36]

Discus - Al Oerter.

Won four Olympic Gold medals in a row. 1956-1968.

Long Jump - Carl Lewis

Also four Olympic golds in a row 1984-1996.

Both men are the only to win 4 gold medals in a row at four consecutive Olympics.
Not a bad effort to be at the top of your game ( and the world) for 12 years.

 

[SJ]

Michael Phelps - swimming. Say no more.

 

[Wallaby]

I'd probably have Carl Lewis up there - Best sprinter in the world for several years, best long jumper EVER - and I'm reasonably comnfortable with hios doping record. Yes, he was found to have taken something, but it was at a microscopic level, and he wouldn't go for that today. He was (still is) a complete twat, so that counts against him.

Otheweise - ther'e really only two candidates. The world's number 1 sport is soccer - the sport that most people in the world want to play is soccer. It has bay far the deepest pool of competitors. If you went to a lot of Olympic athletes and offered them a choice between an Olympic career and an international soccer career, many, many would choose soccer. It's what most of the world dreams of growing up.

So - Pele or Maradona. One of them. Plenty of arguments for either.

 

[chefmeister]

Surfing = Kelly Slater - 11 times world champion as well as 53 other professional victories.

Bodybuilding = Ronnie Coleman - 8 consecutive Mr Olympia wins and 26 additional IFBB titles.

 

[LouisvilleLip]

Chuck another name out there for athletics. Edwin Moses.

Definitely the greatest 400m hurdles athlete ever. Win 2 Olympic golds and 2 World Champs golds, but it was the fact that he clearly and utterly dominated his discipline for just under a decade. Moses won 122 consecutive finals from 1977 to 1987, breaking his own world record 4 times. To this day he still holds 25 of the 100 fastest times in the 400m hurdles.

Maybe not as dominant as Carl Lewis at Olympics, but his sustained success is what made him great.

Also not a complete w***er off the track like Lewis.

 

[Slax]

Long Jump - Carl Lewis

Also four Olympic golds in a row 1984-1996.

Both men are the only to win 4 gold medals in a row at four consecutive Olympics.
Not a bad effort to be at the top of your game ( and the world) for 12 years.

Lewis was a drug cheat who tested positive more than once during his career but the USA athletics body and the USA olympic body refused to sanction him, so I refuse to believe he is a GOAT because he was a cheat who was no better than Ben Johnson, who either should be returned his Olympic gold medal or the 1988 mens 100m final should be removed from the record books with no names record for the final.

As for a GOAT
Valerie Adams women's shot put. Has just won her 4th consecutive world title (only person to of won more is Sergi Bubka) has only been beaten in 7 years by someone who returned a postive drugs test, so she is still declared the winner. To sum up her performance in the current world championships, she had 5 legal throws, no-one in the field throw further than any of them.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Ice Hockey - Wayne Gretzky. I know nothing of this sport, except that everyone who does know something seems to say he was head and shoulders above the rest.

Cycling - Toss up between Merckx and Indurain

Overall - hard to say really, you need to balance the size of the sport with the amount of dominance a person had. Cricket is also easier to measure dominance as the individual stats are more meaningful than in many other sports, though still far from infallible. Bradman v Pele, who can say. Nobody - maybe Lindrum - dominated their sport like Bradman, but Pele played in a far bigger sport with far greater competition. On those grounds, probably Pele.

Doping - Lance Armstrong ahead of Ben Johnson, simply through longevity of the regime.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Ice Hockey - Wayne Gretzky. I know nothing of this sport, except that everyone who does know something seems to say he was head and shoulders above the rest.

Mario Lemieux averaged more points than Gretzky, but I think this was largely due to Gretzky's averages dropping due to a lengthy 21 year career wheras Lemieux only played part seasons.

 

[winzor]

Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jnr
Lennox Lewis
Manny Pacquiao
Muhammad Ali
Oscar De La Hoya

To name a few that exceed Tysons Very limited time at the top, although probably one of the best we've seen at his ruthless best... Over a career I don't think so

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Would've sworn there's another thread like this one, already on here?

 

[Geelong Dynasty]

BBQ: Myron Mixon

 

[Geelong Dynasty]

Fishing: Kevin Van Dam

 

[Geelong Dynasty]

Skateboarding: Tony Hawk

 

[Geelong Dynasty]

MMA: Georges St Piere

 

[Mateyman]

I'd probably have Carl Lewis up there - Best sprinter in the world for several years, best long jumper EVER - and I'm reasonably comnfortable with hios doping record. Yes, he was found to have taken something, but it was at a microscopic level, and he wouldn't go for that today. He was (still is) a complete twat, so that counts against him.

Otheweise - ther'e really only two candidates. The world's number 1 sport is soccer - the sport that most people in the world want to play is soccer. It has bay far the deepest pool of competitors. If you went to a lot of Olympic athletes and offered them a choice between an Olympic career and an international soccer career, many, many would choose soccer. It's what most of the world dreams of growing up.

So - Pele or Maradona. One of them. Plenty of arguments for either.

Conversely, everyone had tried some athletics like 100m sprint, and if you're talented you often get spotted at school sports carnivals etc. by teachers and take it more seriously etc. so you could argue that has a similar pool of competitors.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jnr
Lennox Lewis
Manny Pacquiao
Muhammad Ali
Oscar De La Hoya

To name a few that exceed Tysons Very limited time at the top, although probably one of the best we've seen at his ruthless best... Over a career I don't think so

Both Sugar Ray's>>
Tyson isn't even near the best in his division. I wouldn't bother with athletics given how dirty is is. The idea that Bolt is significantly faster than the golden era of proper steroid abusers like Lewis is beyond laughable. Gretsky isn't better than Bobby Orr either.

 

[chefmeister]

Tyson isn't even near the best in his division. /QUOTE]
lol
Nice opinion considering you weren't even old enough to get into a bar and actually see a Tyson fight when he was around.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Cool story, sweet quoting attempt.

 

[chefmeister]

Cool story, sweet quoting attempt.

Transparent deflection by you, young whippersnapper.

Lightweight baby.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

You haven't offered up anything for me to deflect. I watched Tyson and was a fan. Casual fans call Tyson the GOAT. It's laughable.

 

[chefmeister]

You haven't offered up anything for me to deflect. I watched Tyson and was a fan. Casual fans call Tyson the GOAT. It's laughable.

You never saw Tyson in his day at all.
Why make up lies to support some opinion you have unless your opinion is FUBAR..?