Most dominant athlete of all time (in their sport)

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mirandashell

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Who is Jim Thorpe?

ETA: Just looked him up. Yeah, there's a good argument for him being a great athlete.
 
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nighttimer

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Would you put Wilt Chamberlain above Michael Jordan? If we are using 'most well-known everywhere' as the criterion.

Well, if you want to say scoring 100 pts in a game no film exists of, or claim to have scoring with over 20,000 women makes you the 'most-well known everwhere', then sure, I guess you could say that.

The problem with that is while the Big Dipper was a dominant force in his game, he was dominated by his rival Bill Russell. Not in head-to-head numbers, but on the bottom line of championships. Chamberlain won two NBA championships. Russell won 11.

Advantage: Russell. I'll stick with Air Jordan. :Thumbs:
 

mirandashell

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20,000 women? In how many years? Say 40 years, that's 500 a year... that's nearly two a day! Nah!
 

Gilroy Cullen

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Michael Jordan
Usain Bolt
Wayne Gretzky
Jack Nicklaus
Reggie White
Martina Navratilova
Muhammad Ali.

I like this list. It fits what I'd think.

For American Football, since longevity was mentioned, I'd throw Darrell Green into the mix. Dominance, would add Lawrence Taylor.

Golf, I might want to also throw Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen into the mix as names to consider.

Baseball, Cal Ripken Jr. The Ironman
 
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Roxxsmom

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20,000 women? In how many years? Say 40 years, that's 500 a year... that's nearly two a day! Nah!

The folks at SNL wondered the same thing, which is why they had that "Remembrances of Love, By Wilt Chamberlain" Sketch :greenie:

I can't find a link to it via google, but it consists of the actor playing him saying things like, I"ll never forget my time with number 10,233. Number 10,232 was still in the bathroom, freshening up, but..."
 

dolores haze

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That suggests Navratilova or Graf before Serena Williams. So there's lots of ammo for every side; it's far from being "because I say so."

My opinion, not "because I say so." I have to lean towards Graf, though I think Serena will surpass her Grand Slam record. The pinnacle in achievement in tennis has to be the calendar Golden Slam, consisting of the US, Australian, and French Opens, Wimbledon, and Olympic Gold. Only one player in history has ever achieved this: Steffi Graf. I make the case that Graf is the dominant athlete in tennis, both men's and women's.
 

dolores haze

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I'm not sure we can do it with racehorses, can we? There's 3 horses I can name off the top of my head that every British person would know the name of. But they never raced abroad. So 'most dominant' is going to be totally restricted to what country we are in. Which kind of defeats the point.

Always and forever: Red Rum.
 

youngcaptainL

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You guys are forgetting Big Mike Tyson! Went 37-0 before he finally lost professionally!
 

talktidy

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Wot, no rugby?

You guys seem to be concentrating an awful lot on American sports.

Rugby - there's a case for Gareth Edwards, but I think an even better one for the late All Black, Jonah Lomu.
 

Roxxsmom

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Always and forever: Red Rum.

I'm an American, and I've heard of him. He was pretty amazing.

In US racing, clearly we have the eternal debate between Man O' War and Secretariat. It's a bit like apples and oranges, since they're so separated by time. The sport was very different (and fields much smaller overall) when Man O' War was competing during WWI.

For Australian horse racing, I'd say it's Phar Lap.
 

Maze Runner

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Rocky Marciano deserves mention. Never lost a pro fight.
 

ajaye

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...
 
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Beanie5

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For those who might not know both secretariat and Phar Lap were mutations, A gene that has been traced back to Eclipse was responsible for occasionally horses having hearts twice or larger the size of normal. Though I am biased ( my grandfatherr was the barber at parliment house and was fired for refusing to take a picture of Phar Lap down ) I think undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time was secrtetariats win in the Belmont stakes, I beliene he broke the then world records for 10- furlongs- 11-furlongs -12 -furlongs and the track record for 13 furlongs ( a furlong past the wining post when he had been pulled up ) in that single run.
 

ajaye

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Cool snippet about your granddad Beanie5 :) . I used to love going to the Melbourne Museum to visit him when I was a young'n. I knew about Phar Lap's heart, not about Secretariat's though. And those records are amazing.
 

travelgal

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Agreed about Pharlap and Secretariat. What horses they were. I learnt about Secretariat through that movie about the housewife who got Secretariat oat a toss of a coin. I didn't realise Secretariat had a huge heart, too, Beanie!

I'm surprised nobody mentioned either Federer or Nadal for men's tennis. Nadal had just won his La Decima in the French Open-the most taxing of Grand Slam events, and Federer won his 18th Grand Slam at age 35 in his first tournament in six months.
 

Roxxsmom

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For those who might not know both secretariat and Phar Lap were mutations, A gene that has been traced back to Eclipse was responsible for occasionally horses having hearts twice or larger the size of normal. Though I am biased ( my grandfatherr was the barber at parliment house and was fired for refusing to take a picture of Phar Lap down ) I think undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time was secrtetariats win in the Belmont stakes, I beliene he broke the then world records for 10- furlongs- 11-furlongs -12 -furlongs and the track record for 13 furlongs ( a furlong past the wining post when he had been pulled up ) in that single run.

This is an X linked gene too, which explains why so many of the great male racehorses (like Secretariat) were better sires of broodmares than they were sires of other male champions. They couldn't pass the gene on to their male offspring.

Secretariat was something else. I watched the Belmont this weekend, and it was exciting, but I don't think it's possible to top Secretariat's performance.

Man O' War and Phar Lap were amazing in their days too, standing far above their competition.

One filly that is often forgotten is Ruffian, who utterly dominated all her female contemporaries, broke many records, and was likely on her way to beating the Kentucky Derby winner (Foolish Pleasure, who is also reckoned a great horse) in a match race when she broke her leg. Utterly heartbreaking. Walter Farley said she was more like his fictitious black stallion than any colt he ever saw. If she had lived, she likely would be counted among the greatest horses of all time of either sex.
 
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onesecondglance

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If we're putting horse racing and jockeys into the mix, AP McCoy has to be included. Champion jockey for 20 consecutive years, over 4,300 winning rides - no one is ever likely to come close to his dominance of the sport.

The documentary Being AP is an insightful look at the kind of obsession and determination required to perform at that level for so long.
 

Tiggy

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Was just about to suggest AP McCoy myself. Champion for 20 years.

Pill Taylor. Champion 16 times. The next best won only 5 times.

And have you all forgotten cricket on here? The test batting averages in cricket show about 30 players with an average in the 50s. 5 players in the 60s. And Don Bradman at 99.94. That's impressive.
 

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Steve Redgrave - UK rower

Won gold at five consecutive Olympics!

Bacchus minimus was a rower (and, three days ago, has just picked up his blades again; hurrah) - the dedication and training to reach the top is unbelievable.
 

Bacchus

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Wot, no rugby?

You guys seem to be concentrating an awful lot on American sports.

Rugby - there's a case for Gareth Edwards, but I think an even better one for the late All Black, Jonah Lomu.

Jonah Lomu wasn't a man - he was a force. Deepest respect.
 

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I think there are 'greatest of all time' in modern era and classic era, especially when you talk about a sport like NFL or NBA. The physical attributes of the athletes these days do not compare to the past (consider an all-american left tackle now is 6'8" 350lbs compared to one in the 60's or 70's that may have been 6'2" 250lbs). BUT, you cannot discount the grit and hard-nosed players of the classic era, where they weren't paid millions, many even had second jobs during the off season.

That being said, I think Bo Jackson could have been the greatest NFL Running back ever OR the one of the greatest batters & fielders ever if he had focused on one sport. At Auburn University, Bo was a man among boys even at 18 yrs old. A physical specimen and once in a lifetime player. The only comparison I could make (in college at least) is what Cam Newton did at Auburn in one season. No one could touch him and he was the only reason we won the NCAA title that year.

Basketball, I still say Magic could dominate any player on the court today in his prime, but MJ put the NBA in the upper-echelon (and IMO, he was the demise of the sport when he retired).

War Eagle
 

Alan Aspie

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I saw Jomhod Kiatadisaks latest professional match live in the internet. It made me a bit sad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomhod_Kiatadisak

He was fighting in Tampere, Finland. (He has a long history in our country. I suppose he likes us.)


In long distance running Paavo Nurmi might still be the most dominant ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paavo_Nurmi

This is not sport, but...

The most dominant sniper ever is Simo Häyhä. More than 500 kills in few months.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Häyhä

(His war time diary has been found. More than 500 is a real thing. And the dominance... Russian sent several their snipers to kill him. Simo killed those snipers.)
 
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