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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [dsmallwood] [ In reply to ]
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that's the guy.

I'd put Heiden there because of dominance at one games and ability to translate to another sport.

I'd put this guy above for long term dominance and what I think is a much more technically difficult sport (I have never done it).

I would lean more to individual stuff for GOAT. Don't now enough about surfing to know where that fits but would look to these type of people
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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That sounds suspiciously like a longevity argument.

Yes, Phelps is on my list too. You can't win that much hardware over that much time and NOT be on the list.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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Tom_hampton wrote:
That sounds suspiciously like a longevity argument.

Yes, Phelps is on my list too. You can't win that much hardware over that much time and NOT be on the list.

I know. I'm inconsistent. I'll give you a full refund.

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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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Tom_hampton wrote:
That sounds suspiciously like a longevity argument.

Yes, Phelps is on my list too. You can't win that much hardware over that much time and NOT be on the list.

But that said, if we just go by "how good were they at their peak" - Bob Beamon.....

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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
Tom_hampton wrote:
That sounds suspiciously like a longevity argument.

Yes, Phelps is on my list too. You can't win that much hardware over that much time and NOT be on the list.

But that said, if we just go by "how good were they at their peak" - Bob Beamon.....

Yeah, I was a long jumper in high school. He set that record the year I was born. And of course, it was still the record when I graduated.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:

I know. I'm inconsistent. I'll give you a full refund.

Ill try not to spend it all in one place.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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ericmulk wrote:
Shambolic wrote:
I think everyone in the first and second world has heard of Slater except maybe you? Surfing is now an Olympic sport so hardly a fringe sport...


Nope, most people outside of surfing areas have never heard of him. Very few surfers outside of the west coast and Hawaii.

Kelly Slater was also in the 3rd and 4th seasons of Baywatch !
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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This is far closer to the ideal, in my opinion.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [sjn] [ In reply to ]
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sjn wrote:
ericmulk wrote:
Shambolic wrote:
I think everyone in the first and second world has heard of Slater except maybe you? Surfing is now an Olympic sport so hardly a fringe sport...


Nope, most people outside of surfing areas have never heard of him. Very few surfers outside of the west coast and Hawaii.


Kelly Slater was also in the 3rd and 4th seasons of Baywatch !

OK, well, that broadens his name recognition. I have seen video clips of Pamela Anderson bouncing along the beach in all her glory, but i never noticed who was playing the male roles. In fact, never even watched a whole program, just the video on youtube. I do not even own a TV since, between work, training, sleep, and of course this forum, i have no free time for TV. :)


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [imsparticus] [ In reply to ]
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Nike is making this claim for the same reason they have CK as their spokes person. It's all about buzz.

If the argument is made that you can't compare LeBron and MJ bc the game is different over 30 years, why would you even try to do it across sports and genders.

Brian

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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [cbritri] [ In reply to ]
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5. Eddy Merckx
4. Roger Federer
3. Emil Zatopek
2. Michael Jordan
1. Pele
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [hiro11] [ In reply to ]
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Ashton Eaton - Decathlon - Double Olympic Gold / Double World Champ / World Record Holder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Eaton

Recommend this photo stream about his world record: https://www.instagram.com/p/BnEZkdkAz63/

https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1
Last edited by: nbrowne1: Sep 7, 18 12:40
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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klehner wrote:
andy12 wrote:
I think she has a respectable argument for greatest female athlete.

Not close. Babe Didrickson by a mile. Two Olympic gold medals (hurdles with a WR and javelin!), one silver medal (high jump). Won the AAU track *team* competition one year by herself. Won 10 majors in golf; made the cut in two men's PGA tournaments (only woman to ever do so). All-American in HS in basketball. Holds the record for the longest baseball throw by a woman: 296 feet.

K
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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You should compare contemporaries on that list. By that measure, Federer probably wins since he’s contemporaneous with Nadal (17), Djokovic (13) and even Sampras (tail end of his 14). Serena has who? Her sister with 7 and Hingis with 5. Evert, Navratilova, and Graf together probably support a strong argument for Graf over Williams. Just saying she’s dominating in a reduced women’s field of contemporaneous greats.

She’s a great player and I respect her accomplishment of most majors. That’s greatness in and of itself. But greatest? I slice my onions a bit differently.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [TriBriGuy] [ In reply to ]
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Navratilova was way way better than Serena.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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klehner wrote:
andy12 wrote:
I think she has a respectable argument for greatest female athlete.

Not close. Babe Didrickson by a mile. Two Olympic gold medals (hurdles with a WR and javelin!), one silver medal (high jump). Won the AAU track *team* competition one year by herself. Won 10 majors in golf; made the cut in two men's PGA tournaments (only woman to ever do so). All-American in HS in basketball. Holds the record for the longest baseball throw by a woman: 296 feet.

I brought up Babe Didrikson in post #20 in this thread and was roundly ignored. Seems like no one wants to consider her, despite the obvious athleticism and talent across multiple sports.

___________________________________________________
Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [spot] [ In reply to ]
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I brought up Babe Didrikson in post #20 in this thread and was roundly ignored. Seems like no one wants to consider her, despite the obvious athleticism and talent across multiple sports. //

Thats because the original statement was greatest "athlete" of all time, not greatest "woman" athlete. It has been said before, there needs to be a line drawn between the genders, and each has their own greatest(according to the peanut gallery here of course)


Babe would definitely be in the running for greatest female athlete of all time, for sure...

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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [Tri-Banter] [ In reply to ]
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Tri-Banter wrote:
Even as far as females go, Katie Ledecky is better at her sport than Serena at hers. In fact, Katie might be the greatest ever, mens or womens in any sport.

I tend to put Ledecky and Simone Biles as Legends 1 and 1A among the current generation of female athletes with Serena as a solid and firm third place.

When you talk GOAT, it should be someone who smashed and redefined paradigms, and both those women have. Ledecky redefined what a female distance swimmer can do.

Biles has been so amazing for so long, even if the spotlight falls off her outside of Olympic years. She took a year off after Rio, and when she reappeared earlier this year, it was like 'Hello, the rest of the world is competing for second again this year' by the time she stepped up for her second rotation.

Oddly, I have a hard time putting Michael Phelps over Ian Thorpe. Phelps was the greatest Olympian of all time, but he had a lot of ups and downs throughout the quads, and there were years when he was chasing Ian Crocker or Ryan Lochte at Worlds or Pan Pacs rather than consistently coming in ahead of them. (If only Crocker's career hadn't been moderately derailed by mental health issues...) Thorpe in a 400 or 800, like Ledecky, had this sense of inevitability- the only way someone was going to beat him in his core events at his peak was that time he got DQed for falling off the blocks at Aussie Trials.
Last edited by: FLA Jill: Sep 7, 18 18:24
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [FLA Jill] [ In reply to ]
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Thorpe in a 400 or 800,//

But isn't that what made Phelps so great, he didn't just do a couple events, he went after "8" events, and won them all at different points of his career, and one time winning them all. Of course he would lose some, how would Ledecky do if she was to do the 400IM? What if Thorpe had to swim the 100 and 1500 and a couple more events too? Think they would be invincible then? We already got to see Ledecky in the 400IM, I believe that will be a short lived event for her, as it would ruin her string of mostly winning races. Phelps did not dodge these many events, and swam them on relays too. Ledecky won't even make a few of the relays available, Phelps was penciled in because he was so good and dominant, always rising to the challenge.


What if Phelps only swam the 100/200 fly and 400 or 200IM? He would have been so dominant that we would all be wondering what the hell this super talented guy could do if he only added some more events...(-;
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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ericmulk wrote:
Shambolic wrote:
I think everyone in the first and second world has heard of Slater except maybe you? Surfing is now an Olympic sport so hardly a fringe sport...


Nope, most people outside of surfing areas have never heard of him. Very few surfers outside of the west coast and Hawaii.

lol seriously?? Most people in Australia would know who Kelly Slater is.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [monty] [ In reply to ]
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monty wrote:
Thorpe in a 400 or 800,//

What if Thorpe had to swim the 100 and 1500 and a couple more events too?

Bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in the 100 in a hella competitive field that year ain't bad for an off event. Also gold at the 2002 Commies and Pan Pacs and bronze in the 100 free at the 2003 WCs. Also unbeatable in the 200 from 2001-04 including head to head wins over Phelps and many more. He did finish second to Phelps though in the 200 IM at 2003 WCs. (And the Wiki tells me that in the 100 back, which was roughly Thorpe's sixth best event, he still managed a silver in it at the 2002 Commies)

The early 00s were an era of titans in the history of the sport on the men's side.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [FLA Jill] [ In reply to ]
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FLA Jill wrote:
monty wrote:
Thorpe in a 400 or 800,//

What if Thorpe had to swim the 100 and 1500 and a couple more events too?


Bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in the 100 in a hella competitive field that year ain't bad for an off event. Also gold at the 2002 Commies and Pan Pacs and bronze in the 100 free at the 2003 WCs. Also unbeatable in the 200 from 2001-04 including head to head wins over Phelps and many more. He did finish second to Phelps though in the 200 IM at 2003 WCs. (And the Wiki tells me that in the 100 back, which was roughly Thorpe's sixth best event, he still managed a silver in it at the 2002 Commies)
The early 00s were an era of titans in the history of the sport on the men's side.

You seem to be overlooking the fact that MP competed at the very top of swimming for 16 full years from 2000-16, vs Thorpe who only competed at the top for about 6 yrs from 1998-2004. I will have to say though that Thorpe winning the 400 free at the '98 WCs at age 14 was extremely impressive, youngest male ever to win a WC. In my final analysis though, Phelps gets the nod b/c he did so well over so many yrs, during which he was bound to have some ups and downs. Totally agree that the early 00s was an "era of titans" on the men's side. :)




"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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ericmulk wrote:
Shambolic wrote:
I think everyone in the first and second world has heard of Slater except maybe you? Surfing is now an Olympic sport so hardly a fringe sport...


Nope, most people outside of surfing areas have never heard of him. Very few surfers outside of the west coast and Hawaii.
Much like many of the suggestions on here of US based sports and athletes. You're ignorance does not discount him.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [imsparticus] [ In reply to ]
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It's the political correctness of our times. It's propaganda. It's the PC sports media trying to create "fake news" to virtue signal their open mindedness versus those who are racist male chauvinists.
Combine diversity points with athletic achievement and we get the greatest athlete of all time in these political times.


Maybe the case could be made for her dominance in the female side of her sport of choice; yet, just because you are dominant in your event in no way makes you the greatest athlete of all time.

OTOH there are female athletes placing high or outright winning male/female competitions. That seems to impress Slowtwitchers.

Which leads me to wonder, which athlete has changed their sport the most? I'll post that for your ideas.

Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
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Re: What's with all the talk about Serena Williams being the greatest athlete of all time? [IT] [ In reply to ]
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IT wrote:
It's the political correctness of our times. It's propaganda. It's the PC sports media trying to create "fake news" to virtue signal their open mindedness versus those who are racist male chauvinists.
Combine diversity points with athletic achievement and we get the greatest athlete of all time in these political times.


Maybe the case could be made for her dominance in the female side of her sport of choice; yet, just because you are dominant in your event in no way makes you the greatest athlete of all time.

OTOH there are female athletes placing high or outright winning male/female competitions. That seems to impress Slowtwitchers.

Which leads me to wonder, which athlete has changed their sport the most? I'll post that for your ideas.

If only Serena was also LGBTI they would have their perfect poster child..
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