Who is the greatest sportsman ever?

The black guy that won some race in the Berlin Olympics during world war 2. Can't remember his name lol.

Sigh.
Clearly the athletes identified were elite in their sports, as has already been discussed comparing Don Bradman with Bo Jackson is a futile exercise.
Still, if you think that the achievements of Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson etc in this context are not worthy of discussion then good luck to you.

How is Ayrton Senna not there

Wrestling? I'd say possibly.

Greyhound racing? Errm, no, but I haven't found a TV channel that shows that either.

I recommended that it had to be on a TV show, because things like football, darts, snooker etc are all shown under "BBC Sport" or "ITV Sport" in the programme - and it's that "Sport" that determines whether it is a sport or not.

Ali was a bigger cultural icon than Sugar Ray, yes, the question asked was 'who is the greatest sportsman ever'. Ask people who follow boxing who was the better sportsman. They'll say Sugar Ray was.

Jesse Owens. 1936.

Jesse Owens lol

Was Sugar Ray better than Steve Redgrave?

I don't know... but surely any argument based around sporting contribution is better than answering who is the greatest sportsman ever with Jesse Owens because he did a black power salute.

100% federer for me. Was at wimbledon to watch the final the other day and the way he moves around the court and his array of shots is just unbelievable.

Black power salute? Are you sure you have the correct decade?
Jesse Owens was stood next to a German athlete giving the Nazi salute in Berlin.

That would be the Wimbledon final where Federer, again, lost to one of his main rivals?

Don't get me wrong, Federer is a wonderful ambassador for tennis and a class act, but he isn't the greatest ever tennis player* let alone overall sportsman.

*That would be Rod Laver.

Apologies, got my athletes and salutes mixed up.

Your question, I don't know enough about either sport to make an informed opinion.

Why is he above Federer?

Pele is the most overrated sportsman ever.

He was fortunate enough to have been born into a golden era of Brazilian talent. He didn't stand the ultimate test; European Cup/European Football. I'd rank Ronaldo, Messi, Puskas, Cruyff, Fat Ronaldo, Kaka (peak), Maradona, Zidane, Eusebio and di Stefano above Pele. There are probably more players that are better (that I haven't heard of because the media focus/dick-ride Maradona/Pele).

Out of all of them, di Stefano is the most influential. He ignited the flame that is European football.

Laver was utterly dominant in his time, ranked #1 for seven straight years, and was only limited to a mere 11 Grand Slam titles (including two Grand Slams) by him being banned from GS tournaments for five (yes, 5) years for turning pro when at the height of his powers.

Were it not for the nonsense around amateurism and professionalism in the 1960's he'd be well ahead of Federer.

Well you clearly weren't alive when he played.

I seriously doubt that there was any real competition back then. A couple of decent players and a load of rubbish. Just like golf.


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So Laver and Nicklaus are disqualified for being too dominant? Righto.

It is possible that I have seen a bit more of the old-timers than most on here.

Because I couldn't justify having 2 F1 drivers out of 15 options, and Schumacher was better.