Michael Phelps ranked the best athlete of the 21st Century by ESPN

[Rekkapryde]

I'm sure he's great as his sport but yeah I've never watched any swimming races before or after him.

Only cat I watched before Phelps was Greg Louganis


Edit: that was diving

 

[Illuminatos]

Only cat I watched before Phelps was Greg Louganis


Edit: that was diving

 

[FukkaPaidEmail]

WITHOUT GOOGLING....
NAME ME 3 OTHER ALL TIME GREAT
SWIMMERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

YOU AND NO ONE ELSE IN
THIS THREAD CANT
WHICH SPEAKS VOLUMES.

THIS IS LIKE SOME nikka DOMINATING
ARCHERY OR BADMINTON.

TALENT POOL IS SMALL AS fukk.

YOU CAN NAME ME TONS
OF ALL TIME GREAT SPRINTERS, GYMNASTS, GOLFERS,
BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, BOXERS, SOCCER,
BASEBALL PLAYERS ETC. OFF THE DOME



​

Mark Spitz
Ledecky
Manuel
The Thorpedo

If you can name 3 gymnasts ,3 swimmers not a stretch at all

the talent pool isn’t small..infinitely more people around the world can engage in swimming .1 country on the planet cares about football . If any category of players are overrated on this list is those nikkas . Having any football player over tiger,Nadal,Rafa,Mayweather or any other athlete that had to stand on their own is wild .

Because F1 is a niche sport we gonna say Lewis Hamilton is too high ?

 

[CHICAGO]

Mark Spitz
Ledecky
Manuel
The Thorpedo

If you can name 3 gymnasts ,3 swimmers not a stretch at all

the talent pool isn’t small..infinitely more people around the world can engage in swimming .1 country on the planet cares about football . If any category of players are overrated on this list is those nikkas . Having any football player over tiger,Nadal,Rafa,Mayweather or any other athlete that had to stand on their own is wild .

Because F1 is a niche sport we gonna say Lewis Hamilton is too high ?

THIS nikka REALLY HAD
THE GALL TO GOOGLE
AND REPLY

SHAMELESS





​

 

[GilSho]

Phelps deserves it. No athlete dominated their respective sport like he did.

 

[GilSho]

Floyd being the GOAT athlete is laughable by the way. No iconic fights people will talk about for generations like with Ali and his reign has coincidentally led to boxing's death in the mainstream.

 

[CHICAGO]

Floyd being the GOAT athlete is laughable by the way. No iconic fights people will talk about for generations like with Ali and his reign has coincidentally led to boxing's death in the mainstream.

1. ITS NOT THE GOAT ATHLETE.

ITS THE BEST ATHLETE OF
THE LAST 24 YEARS

2. FLOYD HAD NO ICONIC FIGHTS
BECAUSE HE BEAT HIS BEST OPPONENTS
RATHER EASILY WHILE ALI WAS INVOLVED
IN WARS THAT LEAD TO HIS BRAIN DETERIORATING.

3. CLAIMING FLOYDS REIGN
LED TO THE DEATH OF BOXING
IS 100% CAP.

FLOYD CAN PUT ON
THE GLOVES RIGHT NOW
AND DO NUMBERS.

DONT BLAME FLOYD BECAUSE
PPL DONT WANNA SEE THESE OTHER nikkaS



​

 

[I'm Blackman]

I saw they had Suzuki over Bonds, didn't care to read the rest of the list

this.... my Montgomery brother

 

[I'm Blackman]

It said 70,000 ESPN readers were the voters..

So basically a simple popularity contest from non-analysts with no actual criteria?

this too

 

[Babymama Magnet]

WITHOUT GOOGLING....
NAME ME 3 OTHER ALL TIME GREAT
SWIMMERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

YOU AND NO ONE ELSE IN
THIS THREAD CANT
WHICH SPEAKS VOLUMES.

THIS IS LIKE SOME nikka DOMINATING
ARCHERY OR BADMINTON.

TALENT POOL IS SMALL AS fukk.

YOU CAN NAME ME TONS
OF ALL TIME GREAT SPRINTERS, GYMNASTS, GOLFERS,
BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, BOXERS, SOCCER,
BASEBALL PLAYERS ETC. OFF THE DOME



​

I can name Ian Thorpe, Andy Peaty and that white dude who dated K-Michelle and got caught up in trouble at the Rio De Janeiro olympics but yeah you're right but that's also down to the popularity of it.

 

[NoMorePie]

It said 70,000 ESPN readers were the voters..

So basically a simple popularity contest from non-analysts with no actual criteria?

^

 

[obarth]

This doesn't really have anything to do with putting down Phelps, but I wouldn't have him top 5 nor would he be the highest rated Olympian (as far as people who the height of their profession is the Olympics) on this list.

My real issue with this list is it reminds me of a similar one that came out when Brady won his last (or second to last) Super Bowl. It wasn't a list, but people calling Brady the greatest athlete of all time. A lot of people agreed, but there was a lot.of backlash over the use of the word "athlete" and that's my gripe with this list. Are we talking about careers or athleticism? It's obviously careers since Brady's unathletic ass is there, but then it just brings up semantics. "Face of Sports of the 21st century" or "Most Accomplished Athlete of the 21st Century" make this a lot easier

 

[ChatGPT-5]

Simone is so next level that she does shyt that super elite gymnasts won't even attempt. It would be like Phelps swimming a race without even needing to come up for air.

bingo.

they literally changed the rules because of her. Simone Biles is it. Watch her docum-series on netflix, its pretty good.

 

[R=G]

All I’m gonna say is Michael Phelps had nikkas watching swimming like it was game 7 of the finals. He made that sport prime time. Before then nobody gave a damn about the swimming events. Now they do them shyts in football stadiums.

Don’t think he clears Tiger though. He got EVERYBODY in golf paid.

Boxing is the only sport where you only have to compete 2-3 times a year and get to pick and choose who you compete against. And every other athlete being considered has to compete against the best people in the world in their sport regardless of size, whereas in boxing you only have to beat the people in your weight class (and sometimes, you don't even have to really beat them if your judges are in the right mood).

Floyd is my favorite boxer ever, but I understand why boxers, especially any boxer other than a heavyweight, wouldn't get the same respect on this list that other athletes get.

These days..Suga Ray Robinson is a way, way, way better athlete than all these names. Better winner, better conditioning, more dominant...one of a kind.

 

[Formerly known as...]

It's not a bad shout but personally I'd go with Tiger or Usain. Phelps definitely made swimming popular but tiger is the reason black people pay attention to Golf.