Many would argue that a perfect record is analogous to an athlete’s greatness. Why not him: Is more like it, to be honest. and with the Orlando Magic, nimble as a ballerina in (size 22 men's) pointe shoes. His athletic peak: His early squads in Orlando with Penny Hardaway, when Shaq was detonating rims and dribbling coast to coast on fast breaks—the only team to beat peak Jordan in the playoffs. Elite athletes are earning more than ever thanks to soaring salaries driven by ever-richer TV contracts. His superpower: Stickhandling! His superpower: The skyhook—a seven-foot-two guy reaching up 11 feet and dropping the ball in the hoop from anywhere. One of the greatest footballers of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, is definitely the most important athlete right now. His craziest muscles: Those bulging ones under his armpits. Or that he's such an icon that even his logo has its own nickname (it's referred to as the Jumpman). Demetrious Johnson has only matched Silva’s record of 10 consecutive title defenses. In the process, he set another mark that may never be equaled: passing the great Rocky Marciano and the heavyweight’s 49-0 record. Whenever she chooses to return to the sport, she'll be one major title away from Margaret Court's all-time record. He is considered to be one of the greatest Ultimate players of all time, noted for his top-end speed and athleticism. Why him: Simply put, he's the most powerful player ever to step on the court—and the most mentally tough, too. His athletic peak: 1971, when he won the MVP, led the Milwaukee Bucks to their only NBA title, and changed his name (from Lew Alcindor) the very next day. For those who want to experience his peak, watch the 1970 World Cup Final against Italy. Why him: Nicknamed the Russian Bear because he looks like…a Russian bear. That is a looong way to go. You could argue she’s the most dominant athlete—male or female—of any current sport, but that’s a debate for another day. His athletic peak: The 1976 ABA dunk contest, when he did the exact same foul-line dunk that Jordan made iconic 12 years later. All-world maniac in the box. But in our mind's eye, he'll always be Junior—in motion, at full speed, running up walls, launching moonshots with that sweet looping swing. Discuss about. The Sultan of Swat’s career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stands at an astounding 183.7—Cy Young is second with 168.5. 10. Yet the United States only witnessed a Pelé cameo in his twilight, long after the immortal striker had broken through as a scrawny 17-year-old at the 1958 World Cup and became the scorer on a Brazilian team that won the World Cup three times in 12 years. Lost in the panorama of athletic skills that made Mays the best all-around baseball player since at least the breaking of the color line was the engine behind it: Willie Mays always had a plan. By a lot. Because, in other ways, other players are able to surpass Jordan. Edson Arantes do Nascimento started his professional football career at 15, and was named to the Brazilian national team at 16. Still lean and mean when he retired at 42. For this special feature, I examined and made up my own list of the Top 50 Male Athletes of All-Time. He never rushed for more than 1,000 yards. They look like gills. His presence here is a reminder that this list would be very different if we hadn't decided to eliminate all the players who cheated or, worse, behaved intolerably off the field. LeBron James might be a more dangerous all-around player. In between he won nine more. Her superpower: A combination of height, hops, and a gold-plated, heat-seeking head—no woman has ever been a greater aerial threat. The youngest to win a world championship, at 20, and the oldest, at 39. —R.B. All that said, you can arrange the constellation of greats in our runner up list in any order you desire and convince many a fight fan. His athletic peak: His back-to-back NBA titles with the Rockets always get an asterisk because Jordan was briefly retired; Jordan should get the asterisk, though—he got to dodge peak Dream. 18 at age 46—a post-prime high we'll likely never see again. Wilkins, a future Hall of Famer, had already won a dunk contest, in 1985; here he recalls the legendary night when Jordan put him in a distant second place: “He did that free-throw-line dunk twice. Somehow he wins two more majors, his game as beautifully unstressed as it ever was. His move: The Karelin Lift, in which he picked up his opponents—260-pound men, lying facedown on the mat, actively trying not to be picked up—and threw them backward over his shoulder. That wasn't part of Mays's plan. Pelé is tightly marked by his defender, yet he will not be denied, leaping like a salmon from a stream to head the ball past a stunned goalkeeper. His athletic peak: Breaking the 2,000-yard mark in 1997, then playing one more year and disappearing from view entirely. Think about that! When the great Native American multisports star Jim Thorpe blew away his competition in the decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games, Sweden's King Gustaf V — a pretty fine tennis player, by the way — reportedly grabbed the champion's hand, shook it and declared, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world." Pelé—is one such great. He is god of the seas. Wladimir Klitschko. She never won a title but finished in the top 10 on numerous occasions, and most that saw her play thought that if she would have started playing golf at an earlier age she would have been one of the best … Why her: She's the greatest soccer player, man or woman, the U.S. has produced. To make people smile.” — Geoffrey Gagnon. And it takes me a moment when it happens. Major sports conglomerate ESPN recently dubbed Tyson Fury as the world’s best heavyweight boxer. It’s much harder to pick just 50 than it looks. Already, Roger Federer is fading into the gauzy haze of sports immortality—tennis fans have been waiting to tell their kids about watching him play more or less since the day he began playing. (Read our 2008 profile of him here.). Ashton Eaton, the world’s greatest athlete, attends the show and works with Intel as a product development engineer for his life, career (including two Olympic gold medals in decathlon), and the Olympic Technology Group. Others, like us, would say the debate is much more nuanced than that. Hit home runs? Charo. By the way: She scored six more perfect 10s in Montreal. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Spitz’s remarkable 1972 achievement — the first athlete to win seven gold medals at the same Olympics — was driven by disappointment. Named to the 1958 World Cup team, he became the youngest player in World Cup history. His finishing move: The 1986 Masters, when he notched No. To this day, the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was the city's greatest moment to many of the people who lived through it.
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