Who's the Greatest?

[77dave]

why Armstrong over Indurrian

The hype that Armstrong got made him a bigger name  but i dont think you will find he is the greatest cyclist of alltime let alone overall

[kinboshi]

ignorance is no defence     tell alan baxter who lost his medal for taking a vicks

a cheat is a cheat  all should be removed or all allowed in  cant say only cheated a bit but was still really good

Its a fair point but whatever the rights/wrongs of it Christie was banned, Lewis never was

I would have some sympathy for saying that any sport where there are thought to widespread use of drugs should be excluded from a discussion of "greatests"

another example Eddy Merckx? Lance Armstrong? how do you choose? What about the allegations towards Armstrong?


at least, to my knowledge no motor racing driver has ever used drugs to improve his performance!

Agreed the 100m is not in good standing to be discussed as the greatest  4 of the first 5 finishers in the 1988 mens olympic final all tested positive at some point. Lewis tested postive before hand and should never of been there in the first place

There are plenty of other athletics events, and great athletes from those events that shine far brighter for me than any of the 100m 'greats'.  It's the same as boxing - the heavyweight division is the one that gets the limelight, but doesn't necessarily contain the best fighters.

[Geo the Sarge]

Anyone considered Jahangir Kan? an amazing athlete........ The fitness required to even play at this level is immense and to keep it up for so long is amazing

professional squash player from Pakistan, who is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively. This was not only the longest winning streak in squash history, but also one of longest unbeaten runs by any athlete in top-level professional sport. He retired as a player in 1993, and has served as President of the World Squash Federation since 2002.

geo

[Delboy]

In terms of diminance in a team sport, I would say Michael Jordan:

from wikipedia:

Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing small forward. Jordan was known throughout his career for being a clutch performer. He decided numerous games with last-second plays (e.g., The Shot) and performed well under adverse circumstances (e.g., Flu Game). His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talk[83][84] and solid work ethic.[85][86]

Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively slashing to the basket and drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time.[87] Jordan could also post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jumpshot, using his leaping ability to "fade away" from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable.[88] Jordan's 5.2 assists per game[7] indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates. In later years, he extended his shooting range to become a three-point threat, rising from a low 9 / 52 rate (.173) in his rookie year into a stellar 111 / 260 (.427) shooter in the 1995–96 season.[7] For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder (6.2 per game)[7].

On defense, Jordan's contributions were equally impressive. In 1988, he was honored with the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career. In addition he set records for blocked shots by a guard,[89] and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player. His 2,514 steals are the second highest total of all-time behind John Stockton, while his steals per game average is third all-time.[90] Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan's defensive contributions than his offensive ones.[91]

His list of achievments can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Michael_Jordan

In term of individual sports I would say Mark Allen (triathlete)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Allen_(triathlete)

[TheChipPrince]

Lance Armstrong.

superhuman achievements. Fantastic athlete (wonderful life story book if anyone hasn't read it)

but an awful lot of drug accusations

given the disregard most now have for the "straight"ness of professional cycling, can any cyclist be listed as "the greatest?"

THE most drug-tested sportsperson ever, and NEVER failed a test. The greatest...

[bobby1]

Andrew T mentioned this earlier in the thread but I think in terms of judging greatness we should just think about this fact.

The gap in World ranking points between Tiger Woods at world number 1 and Phil Mickleson at world number 2 is bigger than the gap between Phill Mickleson at World number 2 and the guy ranked 1000th. That is truly remarkable.

[GlasgowBandit]

I side with Dwain Chambers in that I believe that anyone at the top of their sport uses some form of performance enhancing drugs.

I remember a number of years back I was competing in a competition and a fellow weightlifter Peter May freely admitted to using steroids claiming that for years he hadn't but found it dificult to understand how two other English lifters Steven Ward and Leon Griffin had made such vast improvements considering they where doing the same training.  Peter was telling folk how he got his "gere" off Colin Jackson who in turn was being supplied by Linford Christie!!

I think we should have the "free range" championships and let those who wish to compete by cheating themselves, competitors and the sport the chance.

[celtic]

Peter Van Vossen

[Hairydude]

Michael Jordan for me with Tiger woods a close 2nd

[celtic]

Michael Jordan for me with Tiger woods a close 2nd

dont get the michael jordan thing. He was a tall netball player, if the hoop was 3ft shorter i could have been just as good. Not really the basis to make him a sporting great IMO.

[Longy]

This is such a difficult question comparing eras and sports.

Tiger Woods probably is a close as we are going to get at a good answer to this imo. He is head and shoulders the best in his sport and has been for years. In a sport until he arrived on the scene was very competitive and favourites for majors would be around 10/1 in the betting. He is the greatest golfer of all time no question, Nicklaus et al played in less competitive eras, where only a handful of players could win a major.

As for other candidates of the modern era Roger Federer in Tennis, will no doubt be an all time great and arguably the greatest Tennis player of all time.

Shane Warne no doubt the best spinner ever, no-one will get near to Bradman as a batsman the fact his average 40 runs more than any other test player ever is just remarkable.

Cycling is a strange one, firstly its shrouded in drug allegations and the likes of Indurain and Armstrong while great cyclists were somewhat one dimensional and won back to back Tour de France as they were best time trialists with the best teams.

I think the only current geniune candidate for greatness in boxing is Floyd Mayweather but best ever not for me, though he would make my top 10 pound for pound ever.

[marcro]

Michael Jordan for me with Tiger woods a close 2nd

dont get the michael jordan thing. He was a tall netball player, if the hoop was 3ft shorter i could have been just as good. Not really the basis to make him a sporting great IMO.

Sounds to me that you never saw Jordan play and win games basically on his own?

[celtic]

games of what tho ffs!!!!!!

jordan better than ali, maradona, pele, senna, schumacher, johnson?, i could go on and on.

[Pelham Boy]

This is such a difficult question comparing eras and sports.

Tiger Woods probably is a close as we are going to get at a good answer to this imo. He is head and shoulders the best in his sport and has been for years. In a sport until he arrived on the scene was very competitive and favourites for majors would be around 10/1 in the betting. He is the greatest golfer of all time no question, Nicklaus et al played in less competitive eras, where only a handful of players could win a major.

As for other candidates of the modern era Roger Federer in Tennis, will no doubt be an all time great and arguably the greatest Tennis player of all time.

Shane Warne no doubt the best spinner ever, no-one will get near to Bradman as a batsman the fact his average 40 runs more than any other test player ever is just remarkable.

Cycling is a strange one, firstly its shrouded in drug allegations and the likes of Indurain and Armstrong while great cyclists were somewhat one dimensional and won back to back Tour de France as they were best time trialists with the best teams.

I think the only current geniune candidate for greatness in boxing is Floyd Mayweather but best ever not for me, though he would make my top 10 pound for pound ever.

Highly debateable that Warne is the best spinner ever.

Muralitharan has taken more wickets,has a better average and a better strike rate.

[Horneris]

Federer IMO.

But i dont know about most of these old ppl.