With Tom Brady winning his 7th Super Bowl over the weekend the number of people calling him the Greatest (American Football Player) Of All Time continues to grow. Some are even saying he’s the greatest sportsperson of all time, full stop. It’s impossible to compare across sports but I thought it would be interesting to see who people feel is the GOAT for a number of different sports and whether there was any sort of consensus over which one of them may, in fact, stand out above the rest.
These are the sports and my own view as the greatest in each one:
American Football
Association Football
Athletics
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Cricket
Cycling
Darts
Golf
Gymnastics
Ice Hockey
Rugby League
Rugby Union
Snooker
Squash
Swimming
Tennis
My nominations would be:
American Football - Jerry Rice
Association Football - Maradona
Athletics - Jesse Owens
Baseball - Babe Ruth
Basketball - Michael Jordan
Boxing - Muhammad Ali
Cricket - Don Bradman
Cycling - Eddie Merckx
Darts - Phil Taylor
Golf - Jack Nicklaus
Gymnastics - Simone Biles
Ice Hockey - Wayne Gretzky
Rugby League - Mal Meninga
Rugby Union - Richie McCaw
Snooker - Ronnie O’Sullivan
Squash - Jahangir Khan
Swimming - Michael Phelps
Tennis - Roger Federer
I find it a little uncomfortable that only one woman makes my list (Simone Biles). The likes of Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf would certainly have really strong claims in tennis but for me Federer is just another level with his all round game and longevity.
Almost impossible to pick one over all greatest athlete though. If you forced me though I’d probably go with…nope…still can’t choose.