Top Ten Most Accomplished Athletes of All-Time
These are athletes that have set the bar high for present day players and whose records and milestones may never be reached.Most decorated Olympic athlete and became a meme. How many athletes do you know that can say that about themselves?
Most decorated Olympian of all times with 28 medals (23 gold).
He has won more Olympic medals than 161 countries (! ).
So many Olympics
An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016). He also won two 4 × 100 relay gold medals. He gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory. ...read more.
This list is one of the most distinguished in the top tens.
The answer to the question who are the most accomplished athletes and especially who deserves the number 1 is very difficult. After decades of been a sports fan, I think that the answers should be given more than a decade after the end of an athlete's career.
Usain Bolt improved the world records a lot but his main achievement is the 6 individual Olympic medals. He's definitely among the best but I can't say that he deserves the number 1. I have no answer to this question.
He has what is it 6 gold medals
He has so many rings
Heaps of rings
In 1993 Larry Bird said : "Jordan takes the 10. All the others we deserve no more than 8".
I agree with Bird. It's an insult Bill Russell to be higher than M.J. for his rings which are based on team work.
Individually, Russell belongs were Bird claimed.
He accomplished so much he quit for a year
He has accomplished a lot
Wilt Chamberlain set the books by scoring the most points scored in a single game (100), most rebounds in a game (55), and most consecutive field goals (18).
He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. His biggest rival was former Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, but they are also good friends. He won 2 NBA Titles, 1 with the 76ers and one with the Lakers. ...read more.
Michael Jordan is the best player ever, but the records are mostly of Chamberlain.
So many records
The 'King' won 3 World Cups.
Some people say that this happened as he is Brazilian.
But he's the only Brazilian who managed to do so.
He's in the top ten.
Best Germany footballer ever.
Unbelievable career
The greatest weightlifting legend.
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin is a retired Greco-Roman wrestler for the Soviet Union and Russia. Nicknamed the "Russian Bear","Russian King Kong","Alexander the Great" and "The Experiment", he is considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. Karelin won gold medals at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games. He is also 9 times World Champion.
Karelin went undefeated for the first time from 1982 to 1987 and second time from 1987 to 2000. In 1985 he came to international competitions and won a junior world title. He had his first loss at the USSR championships in 1987, to the reigning champion Igor Rostorotsky. He lost for a second time from Rulon Gardner of the United States in the final of the Sydney Olympics.
His wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses, the best in individual sports.
Margaret Court AO MBE, also known as Margaret Smith Court, is a retired Australian tennis player.
In 1970, Court became the first woman during the Open era (and the second woman in history) to win the singles Grand Slam. She won 24 of those titles (11 in the Open era), a record that still stands. She also won 19 women's doubles and 21 mixed doubles titles, giving her a record 64 major titles overall. She is the only woman to win the mixed doubles Grand Slam, which she accomplished twice. Her all surfaces singles career winning percentage of 91.68% (1,180-107) is one of the best of all time according to the Sporteology website. Her open era singles career winning percentage of 91.37% (593-56) is unequalled, as is her Open Era winning percentage of 91.7% (11-1) in Grand Slam finals.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame states, "For sheer strength of performance and accomplishment there has never been a tennis player to match (her)."
Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev was a Soviet weightlifter who won gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and 20 gold medals in World Championships. The 6'1 350 pounds athlete of the super heavyweight category was the first man to clean and jerk 500 pounds (227 kg).He was unbeaten and held the World Championship and European Championship titles for eight years (1970-1977). He was the first man to total over 600 kg in the triple event. He was voted as "The Greatest Sportsman" of the Soviet History.
What makes him accomplished is the number of the world records he set : 80 (! ). He is the greatest recordbreaker of all sports and all times. He received bonus funds every time he set a world record by the Soviet Union.To understand how incredible is this number you have to know that the greatest Olympian Michael Phelps set 39 world records.
Alekseyev was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 14 April 1975, titled "World's Strongest Man".
A freak of nature and he still did his dreams of bringing a title to Cleveland
Florence Griffith - Joyner is regarded the fastest woman of all times.
In 1988 USA Olympic trials she broke the world record of 100 meters by 0.27 seconds and in same years' Olympics the world record of 200m by 0.37 seconds. She won 3 gold and one silver medal in 1988 Olympics. She also won a silver medal in 1984 Olympics.
Her world records still stand.They aren't the longest lived (J. Kratochvilova, 800m since 1983), but if there is a record of track and field that will stand for half a century, it will be her one of 100m (10.49).
She is forgotten. I'm surprised of she's not even in the list with the greatest athletes of all time (a lot of great athletes of the past even isn't there or lost in unbelievably low positions).
May be a jerk, but he is still accomplished.
I agree with the list maker.