charlton66
Full Member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2015
- Messages
- 4,116
- Supports
- Golden State
Where do I start with this? Michael Phelps as number 1? Definitely, the greatest Olympian, but greatest athlete - not for me. I can see why he was chosen, but IMLTHO his greatest achievements come every 4 years whereas all the other top athletes are competing and winning on a much more regular basis. He is definitely a phenomenal athlete but that alone would rule him out for me. Serena Williams at number 2 is another problem. She is certainly the greatest woman tennis player of all time, but the only other woman in the top 100 is her sister Venus, whereas on the men's side we have probably the 3 greatest tennis players of all time, all who have played since 2000; Federer, Nadal and Djokovic so for me, just in terms of competition, they would all be above Serena. Then at 3, the athlete I would consider to be the real number 1 - Lionel Messi. Breaks my heart to say it, because I'm a big Cristiano Ronaldo fan, but Messi is the best there's ever been. Not just 25 years, the best ever (and I've seen Pele, Maradona and most of the rest who would ever be considered as the GOAT). My other gripes include 24 of the top 100 being basketball players. I love me some basketball, but 1/4 of the greatest athletes of the last 25 years being from a sport that while having grown tremendously worldwide since 2000 is still predominantly American is just out and out ridiculous. Last but not least, they actually throw in a token cricketer at number 97 - Virat Kohli. He definitely deserves to be in the top 100 and much higher than 97, but in the last 25 years we have possibly the best test batsman of all time (or at least since Bradman) in Steven Smith and he doesn't even get a mention. Also, where's Ponting, Warne, Murali, Jimmy etc... If you dont know anything about a sport don't mention it at all. Terrible, terrible list.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/40446224/top-100-athletes-21st-century
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/40446224/top-100-athletes-21st-century
Last edited: