Greatest Athlete of all time regardless of sport!

[Officer of Engineers]

It is extremely shameful for me as a Canadian to see other Canadians to place Wayne Gretzky above Maurice Richard. Gretzky could not hold a candle to the Rocket.

[Knaur Amarsh]

thats not a sport, thats insanity

Then the most insane athlete would be Kevin "Revvin Kevin" Schwantz, just won one world championship (even that was a big achievement considering his Suzuki wasnt the fastest bike and those were the old 500cc days comprising of guys like Rainey, Doohan, Lawson and Wayne Gardner) but man, that guy with his super-aggressive, broken-bones-can-be-fixed attitude was an absolute delight to watch.

Which racing fan can ever forget him flickin away on his Pepsi Suzuki in the early days, front wheel sligtly in the air, rear wheel in powerdrive .. or the 91 Hockenheim GP last lap .. passing Rainey's superior Yamaha from the inside, 2nd last corner braking turn, rear tyre shimming from side to side..no wonder they retired his no.34 jersey, no one else can be man enough to wear that.
:))

[Shamus]

It is extremely shameful for me as a Canadian to see other Canadians to place Wayne Gretzky above Maurice Richard. Gretzky could not hold a candle to the Rocket.

Ahh...the man I used to love to hate as a young Red Wings fan........incredibly talented hockey player.

[Blue]

Then the most insane athlete would be Kevin "Revvin Kevin" Schwantz, ..............
:))

Have you ever watched the Isle of Man race?

[Knaur Amarsh]

Have you ever watched the Isle of Man race?

Yes, I reckon the ones riding along in the sidecar TT deserve more than an honourable mention as well ;)

[Johnny W]

Ok,ok...I'll admit you folks have come up with some great choices for athletes that are the creme de le creme in their chosen sport(or in some cases two sports),but for overall athletic prowess they all take a back seat to Jim Thorpe:P.

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk) (28 May 1888 – 28 March 1953[1]) was an American athlete. Considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, played American football at the collegiate and professional levels, and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of minor league baseball before competing in the games, thus violating the amateur status rules.

Thorpe was Native American Indian and European American. Raised in the Sac and Fox nation in Oklahoma, he was named Wa-Tho-Huk, roughly translated as "Bright Path". He played on several All-American Indian teams throughout his career, and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of Native Americans.

In 1950 Thorpe was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century by the Associated Press (AP). In 1999 he was ranked third on the AP list of top athletes of the 20th century.

His professional sports career ended in the years of the Great Depression, and Thorpe struggled to earn a living. He worked several odd jobs, struggled with alcoholism, and lived out the last years of his life in failing health and poverty. In 1983, thirty years after his death, the International Olympic Commission (IOC) restored his Olympic medals to his name.

Thorpe was without a doubt, the best American athlete. The man excelled at every sport he competed in.

[osage18]

Greatest athlete of all time???Jim Thorpe,by far:) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

Ditto. Good pick.

[Herodotus]

He probably would not of broken Kareem's record actually. Assume he did, it would of been by an extremely slim margin. Gretzky's grasp on all time scoring leader, playing the percents, larger.

If he had not retired the first time and assuming he kept his same pace on scoring (2,500 points per season on average) then he would have been about 4,600 points shy of Kareem before his second retirement at the age of 34. That's two average seasons for Jordan. Kareem played until he was 41. So if he had not retired and re-retired he would have broken Kareem's record easily.

Gretzky led the league too. somes years by a large margin, some by a smaller one. Same for Jordan too. Jordan still doesn't own the career record either as you stated. If you factor in "other" stats, then Kareem tops Jordan, ans has 6 NBA titles to match his. Gretzky's numbers overall are still way, WAY more out of reach in the NHL than Jordan's are in the NBA. He has a THOUSAND points more than the 2nd best scorer ever - Mark Messier. Has 93 more goals than the 2nd best - Gordie Howe (who played 26 seasons!). Pure numbers isn't the way to win this argument; Jordan loses the worst here. Can't really factor in defense either since hockey has defense specific players. Basketball forces you to play two ways. Lemieux was not really "right there with him" and I'm not sure how this even makes Gretzky looks worse. He is often considered one of the top 3 ever himself (Bobby Orr is #2 imo)

Not really, Gretzky's goals-per-game average was not as good as Leimuex's or Bossy's. Plus Lemiuex won 4 scoring titles during the prime of Gretzky's career. Who led the league in points during Jordan's career other than Jordan when he played and was healthy? No one.

As for defense in hockey not being used by offensive players, that's a bit of a cop-out since there is the Selke Trophy for best defensive forwards; an award Gretzky never won. True Gretzky has a lot of points, but on a per-game basis he isn't overwhelmingly ahead of Lemiuex, who was his contemporary.

From day one in the NBA Jordan led the league in points, the only two seasons he did not he was injured and was retired from. He never relinquished his scoring title, until he un-retired again and came back to play with the Wizards. Granted he has the same scoring average as Chamberlain but Chamberlain did not lead the NBA in scoring as many times as Jordan did (11-7). In fact Jordan probably would have doubled up Chamberlain had he not retired.

Gretzky led his league in scoring 11 times as well, but in 20 seasons (versus Jordan's 15) and Lemiuex won 6 scoring titles while Gretzky played. That would be the equivalent of Karl Malone or Clyde Drexler winning 6 scoring titles; neither won even one because Jordan was so dominate.

In addition as stated before Gretzky only led the NHL in goal scoring five times, and only four years in a row. That is less dominate than Phil Esposito who led the NHL in goal-scoring six seasons in a row.

Which means the Oilers had other great players. It is also well known that the more players involved in the game, the easier it is to replace a single person.

Or it means they make the players around them better, or pad their stats. Gretzky was very good but he could not win a Stanley Cup without Messier or a scoring title without Kuri. Jordan took two separate Bulls teams to championships, the only other consistent player on all 6 champions was Pippen. Pippen though proved he could not lead the Blazers to a championship or the Bulls in Jordan's absence. Messier proved he could lead both the Oilers to a championship without Gretzky and the NY Rangers sans Gretzky or Kuri. Messier, Kuri, Coffey, and Fuhr are Hall-of-Famers. How many HOFs did Jordan play with?

Ok fair enough. Here

http://www.sports-central.org/commun...hp/t-2879.html

This topic gets debated a LOT on the net.

Thanks I'll check it out.

[Mobbme]

It is extremely shameful for me as a Canadian to see other Canadians to place Wayne Gretzky above Maurice Richard. Gretzky could not hold a candle to the Rocket.

Sir, Richard was a god in Montreal. He's considered a great player. But he's not in Gretzky's league. Gretzky is the greatest hockey player to ever grace the ice. I don't see how that could be anywhere near shameful.

[Officer of Engineers]

I've seen the two played. Gretzky was never able to carry a team by himself. Richard was the Montreal Canadienes. You're right, not in the same league. Not even close.

[Mobbme]

Herodotus

Hockey is a 20 player game (two goalies included) vs NBA 6 players (including 6th man). Well, now there pretty much is a full bench which is used as a 2nd line unit.

Jordan played with unbelievable talent, I don't know about the HOF story though. They had the best re bounder and shooters in the game on the bulls lol. Throw oldskool Jordan (in his prime) on the Oklahoma City Thunder and I'll bet my life that they'll still remain out of the playoffs. Throw Gretzky on a team of nobodies and he'll take you to the 93' finals :)

They were both dominate in their respective careers. Its hard to compare them. I'd use the excuse of Jordan playing for the Wizards, but we all know he was past his prime, so no point.

[Mobbme]

I've seen the two played. Gretzky was never able to carry a team by himself. Richard was the Montreal Canadienes. You're right, not in the same league. Not even close.

Sir, Steve Yzerman was the Red Wings aswell. They still won without him, like the Canadians did won repeatedly after Richard. I don't see how Richard and Gretzky could be even breathed in the same sentence. It was a different time different style. Could Richard do anything near what Gretzky did in Gretzky's time? I highly doubt it. Could Gretzky do what Richard did in those times? Heck yeah, and probably even better.

[Officer of Engineers]

Gretzky came into an era where there was massive rule changes aimed at soley one thing, to destroy the old style of play that the Philadelphia Flyers had done to perfection resulting in 29 unbeaten games. The new rules allowed Gretzky to flourish and broke the old style of hockey once and for all.

Compare the two? Easy. Gretzky wiped tears from his eyes. Richard, blood.

As for the Canadiene Dynasties. That was also the result of Richard. Talented young players flocked to the Habs' farm team that allowed Montreal to get the best players. That system, too, is no longer around.

There is no doubt in my mind that Gretzky would get the 1st goal and then, he would be shut down.

Had the Oilers Dysnasty went up against the Flyer Dynasty, there is no doubt in my mind who would win. After all, the pioneers of Gretzky's style of play, the Russians refused to come out for the 2nd period.

[Albany Rifles]

Colonel

Okay, I grant you the Rocket....hard to pull for the Habs as Bruins fan (and yes, I acknowledge the mid 1970s Habs as the greatest hockey team of all time) but how do you see Orr? I see him as a seminal player who changed the game.

[Gun Grape]

Then the most insane athlete would be Kevin "Revvin Kevin" Schwantz, just won one world championship (even that was a big achievement considering his Suzuki wasnt the fastest bike and those were the old 500cc days comprising of guys like Rainey, Doohan, Lawson and Wayne Gardner) but man, that guy with his super-aggressive, broken-bones-can-be-fixed attitude was an absolute delight to watch.

Which racing fan can ever forget him flickin away on his Pepsi Suzuki in the early days, front wheel sligtly in the air, rear wheel in powerdrive .. or the 91 Hockenheim GP last lap .. passing Rainey's superior Yamaha from the inside, 2nd last corner braking turn, rear tyre shimming from side to side..no wonder they retired his no.34 jersey, no one else can be man enough to wear that.
:))

In the world of Motorcycle racing, there is only one name.

"Fast" Freddie Spencer