Who do you consider the best pure athlete ever?

[Smkn_TA]

Johnny Tomac was a great mtn biker. He could show up at a race and win all the events.

His son is racing pro motocross this year.

[FasstChevys]

GSP....

amazing athelete...

Other than being an incredible martial artist, what else did GSP excel at?

I'm not dogging your opinion, just wondering.

To me, the title of 'greatest athlete' means you are exceptional at more than one sport.

[ibanez7]

Other than being an incredible martial artist, what else did GSP excel at?

I'm not dogging your opinion, just wondering.

To me, the title of 'greatest athlete' means you are exceptional at more than one sport.

i agree with you, however not many athletes have more then one focus.

Yes deon sanders, bo jackson and michael jordon both played 2 sports, however I dont consider baseball a challenging athletic sport.

GSP, i listed because yes at MMA and body training he does excell. But mostly i listed him because GSP is trained by Olympics trainers, who have stated he is the best athletic specimen they have ever seen and gsp excells at everything he tries... (article i read in mens health or something similiar)

[310stanger]

Ricky Carmichael ...nuff said ...

I wouldnt go as far as to say best pure athlete ever, but as a lover of motocross I LOVE this answer. People have no idea how physically demanding that sport really is. Ricky and Jeremy McGrath dominated when they were riding.

[310stanger]

I wouldn't throw A-Roid into any stellar athlete discussion, he is an admitted performance enhancer user.

Admitted being the keyword there. Regardless of PED's, excellent athlete nonetheless. I think if there was a true list of every athlete in all sports that have used PED's, a lot of hearts would be broken.....

[310stanger]

Yeah true, but thats the only way he was able to get those numbers.

What a truly stupid comment.

[davidz28]

Thier skill in driving is exactly what makes them athletes. How can you call a golfer an athlete? How can you call a basketball player an athlete just because he can jog back and forth bouncing a ball? To be an athlete you need strength, endurance, quick reflexes, and be skilled at whatever activity youre performing. A driver is all of these. Strength...stock cars have only had power steering for a few decades now and occasionaly it still fails. Ever drive a car without power steering? Endurance....Imagine sitting in your car in the sun for 4 or 5 hours without air conditioning. The temps inside the cars reach 110 degrees on a regular basis.Drivers regularly lose up to 10 pounds in fluid especialy during the hot months, in one race.When they talk on tv about the air conditioning in the car all it is is a hose pulling in air from outside. Now imagine driving in that heat in rush hour traffic and the other cars dont have brake lights or turn signals. Which brings me to reflexes. You have to have a sharp eye and quick reflexes to avoid some of the accidents that happen in a split second at over 190 mph. And if you knew anything about the drivers most of them have a regular workout schedule. Thats how Mark Martin is still competitive. And not all but most drivers did play baseball or some other sport in school. Dale Jarrett was a baseball star and Kyle Petty played football. And just because you excell at a sport in school doesnt mean that is your destiny. There is a player on the Cardinals football team who had a baseball scholarship at WVU. All physical attributes are part of being an athlete. But a true athletes most powerful tool is his brain. You may be able to throw a 100mph fastball but youre not an athlete if you cant put it over the plate. Running 100 yards in under 10 seconds does you no good if you cant avoid a tackle. This is growing longer so Im gonna wrap it up. I had to laugh a few months ago when they were calling Tiger Woods one of the worlds greatest athletes. If golf is a sport or an athletic event, then so is a race. Know the difference between football, baseball, basketball and autoracing? Football basketball and baseball only take one ball.

im willing to bet its much easier to become a NASCAR driver than it is to make a PGA Tour cut....

[MysticZ28]

Jim Thorpe ... Modern media hype has pushed him to the background. But if you grew up in the 60s and were asked this question, with out hesitation you would have said Thorpe and this was over 50 years after he had won two Olympic Golds.

In college he was the track team. For all intents and purposes he was the father of the NFL ... He made the Canton Bulldogs, the Bulldogs made professional football. There's a reason the NFL HOF is in Canton.

The only player in the modern era I would compare him to would be Bo Jackson.

[Y2KPewterSS]

Admitted being the keyword there. Regardless of PED's, excellent athlete nonetheless. I think if there was a true list of every athlete in all sports that have used PED's, a lot of hearts would be broken.....

He is not putting up near the numbers that he was during his PED era. In fact, hitters in general are not putting up the ridiculous numbers they were 5 years ago. Pitchers are back to dominating the game.

Also, agreed on the part of hearts being broken if there was a true list.

[wicked1]

im willing to bet its much easier to become a NASCAR driver than it is to make a PGA Tour cut....

Well.....Since there are 3 top series with the top 2 series consisting of over 43 drivers(only 43 make the field every week) and there are dozens of smaller series all around the country Id say unless there are thousands of people on the PGA tour youre probably correct. Id bet its harder to make the PGA tour than it is to become lets just throw out...oh... a pro football player. But Id also be willing to bet that the worst pro football player could probably beat the worlds best golfer 1 on 1 in anything other than maybe golf.

[LS2 KLR]

I don't remember her name but back in the day there was a woman who dominated in several sports. I saw a show on espn about her. I know someone will find her and her stats...

[Tnhillbilly]

Bo Jackson..

[Nastyfoot]

Bo Jackson..

"Bo Knows"

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekL3Nm4VD0M[/ame]

[MysticZ28]

I don't remember her name but back in the day there was a woman who dominated in several sports. I saw a show on espn about her. I know someone will find her and her stats...

Babe Didrikson ... mainly known as a golfer but won 3 Olympic golds in track in '32.

[LS2 KLR]

I knew someone would come through.

"The first to prove a girl could be a stud athlete, Babe Didrikson began as a muscular phenom who mastered many sports and ended as a brilliant golfer. An exuberant tomboy whose life was athletics, she was accomplished in just about every sport - basketball, track, golf, baseball, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, volleyball, handball, bowling, billiards, skating and cycling. When asked if there was anything she didn't play, she said, "Yeah, dolls."
As a teenager she knew her life's ambition. "My goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived," she said.

The Associated Press voted her the Greatest Female Athlete of the first half of the 20th century. The wire service also voted her Female Athlete of the Year six times - once for her track dominance and five times for her golfing prowess.

Babe single-handedly won the 1932 AAU championships, which served as Olympic qualifying, on July 16 in Evanston, Ill. She scored 30 points, eight more than the runner-up team, which had 22 athletes. In a span of three hours, she competed in eight of 10 events, winning five outright and tying for first in the high jump. She set world records in the javelin, 80-meter hurdles, high jump and baseball throw.

She turned pro in golf in the summer of 1947 after winning 17 of 18 tournaments."

[snaggeltooth]

I have to go with Bo Jackson. I saw him at Fenway when he was with the Royals and he made a simple grounder to short a very close play. Incredibly fast.

Jackson excelled in both football and baseball. While Jordan was the BEST basketball player ever, he pretty much sucked at baseball,and was not good enough to earn his pro card on the PGA tour

I'm trying to keep in mind "athlete'', not "best at his/her sport"

Not that I liked the guy at all .. but Dion Sanders did that too ... I would think a guy his size is more natural athlete than Bo ...

[02transamce]

Primetime is the only athlete to play in the super bowl and world series
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[Y2KPewterSS]

Primetime is the only athlete to play in the super bowl and world series
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Primetime was afraid to tackle a Kicker.

[Smkn_TA]

Lights...she runs through my mind every minute of every hour of every day and she never gets tired.

[86 IROC-Z]

Lights...she runs through my mind every minute of every hour of every day and she never gets tired.

Honestly this is the only real challenger to Putin I've seen in this thread.