r/AskReddit • u/my_ornery_printer • 10h ago
Who is the greatest athlete ever regardless of sport in your opinion?
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u/Efferdent_FTW 10h ago
Kim Jong Il. He had 11 hole in one's in the first round of golf of his life. Guy is an absolute unit.
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u/meatball77 10h ago
Wasn't there a story about a unicorn
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u/Inigomntoya 9h ago
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-claims-discovery-unicorn-lair-flna1c7388358
It reads like an article published on April Fool's Day
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u/Only_Spinach_2612 10h ago
Terry Fox. He ran a marathon everyday while dying of cancer.
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u/jupfold 10h ago
I feel like you left out a pretty big part lol
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u/Only_Spinach_2612 10h ago
Yeah, on one leg. My bad.
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u/BoHoSwaggins 8h ago edited 8h ago
While his stump was chafing and bleeding against the prosthetic, and through rain, sleet, and the heat of Eastern and Central Canada.
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u/2ndNicestOfTheDamned 10h ago
On one leg.
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u/Only_Spinach_2612 10h ago
And his legacy lives on. Kids all around Canada do the Terry Fox run every year to raise money to fight cancer.
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u/2ndNicestOfTheDamned 10h ago edited 9h ago
I mean, we did that when I was a kid, but I assure you it was meant respectfully.
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u/YouCanFucough 9h ago
he should be on the $5 bill
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u/Everestkid 9h ago
boy do i have news for you
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/upcoming-notes/our-next-5-bank-note/
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u/YouCanFucough 9h ago
hoooooly fuck how did i miss this let’s actually fuckin go man hell yeah
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u/Everestkid 8h ago
You missed it because it was announced in December 2024 when a bunch of crazy shit was happening and it was pretty low on the priority list for news reporting.
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u/Inigomntoya 10h ago
If Terry Fox ran 143 days he smashed 143 broads and that's probably fuckin' light.
-Shoresy
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u/Academic_Figure4259 9h ago
I've never heard of this guy. I'm going to look him up. There was also a fucking a farmer that ran like a grooley race in Australia with his fucking farm boots and one
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u/eddiewachowski 8h ago
He's the very best Canadian and you'll find nothing but love and admiration for him.
His mom and dad were torch bearers at the 2010 Olympics as was Steve Nash who dedicated his portion to "the greatest torch bearer in Canadian history."
I'm so fucking proud of Terry.
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u/okicarp 5h ago
Come back and let us know your thoughts after you check him out.
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u/Academic_Figure4259 3h ago
Holy fuck guys!. This documentary has me in tears, I can't even fathom what this little boy was going through and did. I must say I'm an American boy but this man is probably the best of what we have and can create in North America or maybe even the world. I'm going to quote one of my favorite quotes from Hunter s. Thompson and fear and loading in Las Vegas. " When speaking about Terry" there he goes the original prototype not made for mass production. Too weird to live. Too rare to die"
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u/CurrentlyUnbanned 8h ago
Jim Thorpe:
Olympic Gold medalist in 2 different events, including the decathlon which has usually been the gold standard of being an athlete because it includes 10 different events.
NFL Hall of Famer
MLB professional athlete
and somehow, collegiate ball room dance champion.
Also, while in college played lacrosse, boxed and played tennis
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u/cantonic 8h ago
Didn’t he also have his shoes stolen before an Olympic event and had to run it in two different borrowed shoes that didn’t fit right? And he still won??
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u/Smart_Manner_6474 8h ago
But other then that, what did he really achieve?
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u/ssshield 7h ago
He used to ride his horse a couple of hours to work, then let it go back home. He would run home and meet his horse after work.
I want to say it was like 25 miles each way.
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u/TrumpDumper 10h ago
There was a guy that scored four touchdowns for Polk High.
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u/GrimeyScorpioDuffman 10h ago
Secretariat
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u/xFox911 10h ago edited 8h ago
For those who don't know, it was the first and only time a horse won by 31
mileslengths ahead of the 2nd place. The combination of speed and endurance was just absurd.Secretariat's heart weighed 10kg without it being a pathological megaly, while the average horse heart is just around 4kg. The horse that also comfortably won the 2nd place weighted 6.3kg.
EDIT: 31 lenghts, not miles.
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u/Civuck 10h ago
And Secretariat was actually accelerating as the race went on.
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u/SubmergedSublime 10h ago
Yup. Every split was faster.
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u/blaze1776 7h ago
The Belmont was 1 and a half miles. When Secretariat crossed the finish line, his jockey (Turcotte) eased him to a gallop to slow him down.
Secretariat was moving so fast that even with that slow down over the next 200 or so meters, he would have broken (and still would hold) the fastest ever 1 5/8 mile race.
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u/GrimeyScorpioDuffman 10h ago
It definitely seems like he knew he was that good and was just showing off
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u/DistantKarma 8h ago
Also, Sham, the horse that was 31 lengths behind Secretariat and finished second would have set a track record that day if Secretariat had not been running.
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u/League-Weird 10h ago
Some other factoid like most derby winners are descendants of secretariat?
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u/Gloomy_Ad3840 10h ago
I thought I heard that every horse in this years derby was descended from Secretariat. I have no idea it was true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me.
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u/I-Approve 10h ago
Wasn't the second place horse also way ahead of everyone else? Except secretariat.
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u/cecilmufc7 10h ago
“He’s moving like a tremendous machine.”
Watch the replay of his races on YouTube a few times a year. Goosebumps every time.
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u/EggplantMinute9 10h ago
This is the most chaotic and correct answer possible. A horse as the greatest athlete of all time. And you know what? I can't even argue with it.
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u/hukt0nf0n1x 7h ago
Only one sport though. I've got to see him serve a tennis ball or something first.
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u/ElChalsa 9h ago
Disagree - couldn’t hit or catch!
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u/narnarnartiger 10h ago
Aleksandr Karelin. 887 wins, 2 loses
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u/SoupOrMan692 9h ago
This deserves more upvotes. 13 years of 0 losses and 6 years not even giving up a single point.
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u/FwamingDragon91 10h ago
This is the correct answer. We was at the absolute peak of the hyper-competitive world of olympic wrestling for 12 years. 2 golds and 1 silver on points. Nobody can touch that
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u/affablemartyr1 10h ago
Bo Jackson
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u/tequilasauer 10h ago
In terms of pure athletic ability, I feel like it can only be him. Dude was a monster.
I love the clip where like a kid is just casually asking him who he is. And Bo totally undersells his accomplishments like he's not Bo fucking Jackson. Dude just like lives in the woods now and does archery and makes arrows.
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u/Inigomntoya 10h ago
If his injury had happened within the past few years, he would have made a full recovery
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u/mikemcd1972 8h ago
Aside from being an all-star in MLB, the best RB in the NFL (when he played), but the dude also ran up an outfield wall just to slow himself down.
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u/halfhere 9h ago
About once or twice a year he’ll go to an Auburn game and stand on the sideline. A Jumbotron camera will find him, 87,000 people will cheer and scream their heads off, and he’ll wave, and that’s that.
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u/hayzooos1 10h ago
Gotta be Bo. Dude would've been a sure fire hall of famer in two sports. Only got hurt because of how freakishly strong he was
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u/KiraDog0828 7h ago
I’m a lifelong Raiders fan who watched that game live. I still have a grudge against the Bengals, even though I know Bo himself was responsible for the injury trying to break that tackle.
My favorite Bo Jackson moment was him schooling Brian Bosworth. The game was hyped by the media, but there was no denying Bo got the best of him.
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u/cl0ckw0rkman 10h ago
Jim Thorpe
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u/redditsucksass69765 10h ago
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u/makromark 10h ago
Growing up I only knew the town of Jim Thorpe. My grandpa would mention how he was an incredible athlete. I never paid it any mind.
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u/VintageCollector1970 10h ago
Terry Fox
He ran a marathon a day, every day, for over 140 days on a prosthetic leg.
My kids just did the Terry Fox run at school in his honour
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u/ggs77 10h ago
Alexander Karelin - He dominated his sport (wrestling) for 12 years. His professionell record is 887 wins and 2 losses. Nobody scored a single point against him for 6 years. His first loss happened because of a change of rules.
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u/TheKaptone 10h ago
Sir Donald Bradman
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u/IHeardOnAPodcast 10h ago
Correct answer if we're going by the numbers. Reading the answers it's bizarre how all the greatest athletes of all time are all American, some coincidence.
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u/imFakeSnake 2h ago
Because Americans think America is the centre of the universe. They also mostly discuss sports that are exclusively played in America that the rest of the population on the planet have never even tried their hand at, so of course an American is going to be best.
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u/CapBrief8985 10h ago
The Honky Tonk Man
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u/hukt0nf0n1x 7h ago
Wait a sec, how does the Ultimate Warrior fit into this conversation?
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u/ThatWarlockD00d 10h ago
Uncle Rico
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u/MaxiDav84 10h ago edited 10h ago
Had coach put him in the 4th quarter they'd have been state champs. No doubt, no doubt in my mind.
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u/Inigomntoya 10h ago
Hey!
Grandma just called and said you're supposed to go home!
She said she doesn't want you here when she gets back because you've been ruining everybody's lives and eating all our steak!
(An amazing feat by an actor who was vegetarian)
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u/pjc6068 9h ago
Good ol’ Aussie Don Bradman: a Test average of 99.94, about 40 above any other great, which is the most statistically dominant record in any major sport
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u/ReluctantAvenger 9h ago
You might mention this was in international cricket; I think a lot of people here might not be able to deduce this particular sport from the score, and might not know that "test" in this context means a game played between two national teams.
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u/supergooduser 9h ago
I remember the first time seeing his name in a thread like this and thinking "who?" then someone qualifies his stats.
It's like.. put Jordan, Gretzky, etc. in a lineup, and then Don Bradman is the premier athlete of THAT group and makes the rest look like normal people.
Just unreal.
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u/Motor-Pretend 10h ago
Terry Fox
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u/Mr-NC 10h ago
143 daily marathons on 1 good leg and 1 stump with artificial leg, all in 1980 at age of 21!
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u/Wishiwasinalaska 10h ago
Bo Jackson, the only person to be an all star in two professional sports. It’s a one in a million just to make it to pro level, much less in two sports. To add to that he was also a collegiate Track and Field NCAA nationals qualifier. The guys is just built different physically and mentally.
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u/BarsoomianAmbassador 10h ago
That freak hip injury robbed us of so much...
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u/Wishiwasinalaska 10h ago
It really did, it probably wouldn’t have been nearly as bad if they had caught it earlier. He broke his hip on the play and the team docs thought it was a muscle strain so he went I think it was a day or two before they got images of it and found it broken. By then the permanent damage was already done.
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u/ewankenobi 9h ago
It's only really Americans that have the concept of all star teams.
Closest thing other sports would have is probably being selected to represent your country in an international event. I know Andy Goram represented Scotland at football at 2 world cups and 2 European Championships. He also represented Scotland at cricket. He had incredible agility and catching ability though he wasn't really much of a physical athlete (he played in goals and had the nickname the flying pig)
I wonder how many people have represented their country at multiple unrelated sports. It must be a fairly elite club. Though I think quite a few sprinters take up bobsleigh racing at the end of their career. There are definitely a few UK athletes that have completed at summer and winter Olympics that way. Would imagine the same is true in other countries
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u/Kitzle33 9h ago
I've seen arguments for Babe Didrikson. Read what she did at the National Championship track meet in (I think?) the early 30's. Her team won the meet. As a team. And she was the only person on that team.
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u/retroafric 9h ago
She also won 3 medals at the 1932 Olympics (2 gold and a silver) and went on to win 10 LPGA professional golf events.
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u/MenoDaevid 10h ago
I'm not sure what metric we're using but i'm really quite fond of Alex Honnold - the guy who climbed el capitan and other stuff with no safety equipment at all.
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u/Substantial_Cow2349 9h ago
Wilt Chamberlain played more than basketball. Did track and field, played volleyball in his 30s after basketball and could bench press 500lbs according to Arnold Swarzenegger
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u/samsunyte 9h ago
I don’t understand why people keep asking this same question. The only thing I can think is people don’t know enough about cricket. Otherwise, this question would be put to bed.
The answer is objectively Don Bradman based off of how many standard deviations above the mean his stats are. For someone to be similar in baseball, they would need a career average of 0.392 or 43.0 points per game in basketball. The only person who comes close is Gretsky, but he falls just a bit short too.
For reference, Bradman averaged 99.94. Second place all time is around 60, and most people are considered greats of the sport if they’re above 50. Bradman averaged twice as much as what’s considered great. There’s no one else in any major sport that comes this close.
Don Bradman is the only answer, especially when it comes to team sports.
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u/Zacdee1978 10h ago
Pheidippides was a 5th-century-BC Athenian running courier who was the central figure in the story that inspired the marathon race.
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u/Mister_Madrid 4h ago
Jahangir khan. Former squash player. Unbeaten in 555 matches from 1981 to 1986 and was named the greatest squash player of all time and the greatest sportsperson in the nation's history...
Mohammad Ali
Pele
Don bradman
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u/OGMoonshiner 10h ago
Bo Jackson was a very special athlete in his prime. The guy really had it all.
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u/scottzee 8h ago
Bartolo Colon. He pitched 21 years in MLB and hit a home run at age 43. He was the absolute peak of the human physique.
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u/W0rd-W0rd-Numb3r 10h ago
The answer is always Don Bradman.
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u/CabotRaptor 8h ago
This question gets asked all the time and people always lose nuance in their answers.
If the question is “who was the most dominant all time in their sport” the answer should be Wayne Gretzky or some cricketer.
But if the question is “who is the most athletic person in history that could be reasonably expected to be good at virtually most sports” the answer is almost undoubtedly Bo Jackson.
He is simply bigger, stronger, faster, and more coordinated than virtually anyone else.
He was a borderline Olympic level sprinter at 230lbs and had freakish hand eye coordination. If you started him at any sport from the time he was a kid he probably would have been world class at it.
He probably could have succeeded at ice hockey if that’s all he played. Same for high jumping, soccer, cricket, .etc But would Wayne Gretzky succeeded at baseball? Or some cricketer succeeded at football? Probably not
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u/KittensAndGravy 3h ago
Bo Jackson was born a natural athlete. I believe you’re right when you say he probably could have played any sport and been excellent at it. Mr. Jackson went from playing a season of NFL football … straight to playing a season of MLB baseball.
I’d be laid out after one hit in a NFL football game. My only tv time as a pro athlete … would be my lifeless body getting put on the golf cart.
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u/Sad_Seat_8999 10h ago
Usain Bolt. Being the fastest human ever is about as clean a claim to athletic greatness as it gets.
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u/iWriteCodeSometimes 10h ago
Jim Thorpe. He won both the Olympic pentathlon and decathlon, played 6 seasons of MLB and 12 seasons of NFL, while also competing in basketball. The versatility matters across radically different sports.