Most Dominant Athlete Ever

[ssgtbb 0]

How come nobody has Lance Armstrong. The man won 7 years in a row. Unheard of and most liekly never be accomplished again. If Lance was a hockey player he could have single handedly won the Stanley Cup at least 3 times.

[pantherfan 0]

That makes perfect sense...

[Petey21 1]

Not sure how popular Greco-Roman wrestling is, but I'd say Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin was the most dominant athlete in his sport. Here's a bit about him from Wikipedia:

Alexandr Alexandrovich Karelin, or simply Alexander Karelin, (Russian: Александр Александрович Карелин; born September 19, 1967 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR) was a dominant Greco-Roman wrestler for the Soviet Union and later, after its dissolution, for Russia. He won gold medals at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games. Nicknamed the "Russian Dan Gable", and commonly referred to in the media as "The Experiment", he went undefeated in international competition from 1987 until 2000, when he was upset by American Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Summer Olympics. Karelin went the last six years of his unbeaten streak without giving up a point.

Full article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Karelin

Pretty impressive record IMHO.

[SR27 0]

Can´t say much about baseball and football but I just wonder how you guys talking about soccer forgot Diego Maradona. He was the most dominant midfielder ever.

Another one that came to mind is Sergei Bubka the Soviet/Ukrainian pole vaulter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubka

[trucks 0]

One athlete no one has yet to mention is Roger Federer. If were including Woods on this list as an athlete, Federer is by far a better athlete, maybe not sportsman. But Federer dominates tennis now, just lost his first match in North America out of his last 56. Hes been the #1 player in the world for over 2 years, has already won 8 Grand Slams and 40 career tournaments. Plus hes 6 years younger then Tiger so let him play for a few more years and quite possibly he could turn out as the greatest tennis player alive. And to anyone who says tennis doesnt count as a real athletic test try returning a 130 MPH serve with topspin.

[TBLfan 25]

Federer is sick, he's going to pass Pete Sampras(SP?) as the best tennis player ever.

[markthedeadhead 0]

Bo Jackson.

[Neo5370 132]

If you go by stanley cups Henri Richard has the most, 11 I think.

Gretz has the most Hart Trophies (I think?) and wins as most statistically dominating hockey player.

And Ronaldinho shouldn't be on this list. His career is far from over to judge and someone said "everyone's inconsistent". Not in this discussion. Consistency counts.

[Super Phil 0]

Yeah...Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods are all good ones.

[johnboy16 0]

hockey-orr, gretzky

soccer- pele, beckenbauer

football- b. sanders, brown

baseball-ruth, mantle

basketball-jordan, kobe

and of course, Tiger

[Cheesehead 0]

im no yankees fan but i have to admit that mariono rivera is an amazign closer.

also nolan ryan was very good

[johnboy16 0]

scratch that- beckenbauer in front of pele

and ronaldinho doesn't come close to the list, yea consistency counts

[TBLfan 25]

mariano rivera is probably the best closer in mlb history. He's pretty damn dominate especially when it counts.

[kenneth 5]

Valentino Rossi

[delpiero81 0]

Valentino Rossi

Exact, but if you look at the past in motorbikes, Giacomo Agostini.

15 times (!) world champion.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Valentino Rossi

Exact, but if you look at the past in motorbikes, Giacomo Agostini.

15 times (!) world champion.

What about Joey Dunlop (rip)

[TBLfan 25]

Travis Pastrana in the moto-x division.

Dave Mirra in bmx.

[Cheesehead 0]

Travis Pastrana in the moto-x division.

Dave Mirra in bmx.

tony hawk in skateboarding

johnny knoxville for the jackass deoartment(its harder than it looks)lol

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Kelly Slater. Who knows how many titles he would have won if he had continued to pursue them aggressively. Won his last title something like 13 years after his first, in a young man's sport.

[Thockey17 1]

Kelly Slater.  Who knows how many titles he would have won if he had continued to pursue them aggressively.  Won his last title something like 13 years after his first, in a young man's sport.

Mike Stewart is the greatest waterman, ever.

Noone even comes close.

[kenneth 5]

Valentino Rossi

Exact, but if you look at the past in motorbikes, Giacomo Agostini.

15 times (!) world champion.

true but i have never seen him race. I have seen Rossi not only win but he demoralizes his opponents like last season where he'll tail a guy and then near the end just past and check out and will also put down the fastest lap of the race on worn tires.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Kelly Slater.  Who knows how many titles he would have won if he had continued to pursue them aggressively.  Won his last title something like 13 years after his first, in a young man's sport.

Mike Stewart is the greatest waterman, ever.

Noone even comes close.

No doubt Mike Stewart is awesome and his big wave cred is even more amazing. But in most minds, Slater was the greatest competitive surfer ever, all the while redefining the sport while bringing the "New School" to surfing. The guy took something like 8 years off from competitive surfing and then still wins a world championship. Stewart had more world titles, but that's only because Slater quit competitive surfing for a long time. If he had continued to compete he probably would have won most of the ones in the interim.

If you want to take "waterman" as most people mean it, Stewart is right up there but there are a bunch of big wave riders who should be in the argument. Was he a better "waterman" then Greg Noll, Eddie Aikau or Laird Hamilton, just to name a few ? Tough call.

[Thockey17 1]

If you want to take "waterman" as most people mean it, Stewart is right up there but there are a bunch of big wave riders who should be in the argument.    Was he a better "waterman" then Greg Noll, Eddie Aikau or Laird Hamilton, just to name a few  ? Tough call.

Its a tough call, no doubt. Obviously those are some pretty incredible names to compare up against.

Did you see the new 23 page article on Stewart in the new Surfers Journal? Definately a classic and worth the 13 bucks

Take all the Pipeline titles won by Slater, Lopez, Russell, Tom Carroll, Derek Ho, and Andy Irons. Then add up Stewart’s titles. 22 for Stewart—11 on a bodyboard, 11 more as a bodysurfer—and 20 for the others. That is just flat out incredible, even if you're not a fan of MS. Those arent just some "average-joe" professional surfers either.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Take all the Pipeline titles won by Slater, Lopez, Russell, Tom Carroll, Derek Ho, and Andy Irons. Then add up Stewart’s titles. 22 for Stewart—11 on a bodyboard, 11 more as a bodysurfer—and 20 for the others. That is just flat out incredible, even if you're not a fan of MS. Those arent just some "average-joe" professional surfers either.

True, but Slater et al. compete against each other and I would argue the level of competition in surfing was never higher than in the 90's when Slater was at his peak, and he was still untouchable over a season. Whereas bodyboarding and bodysurfing are two separate sports where there was a huge dropoff in talent at the top. While a bodyboarder or bodysurfer can take get much later and gnarlier drops than a stand-up surfer, and can get tubed so much deeper, IMO stand-up surfing offers just so many more possibilities in terms of tricks and style, and when it came to tricks and style Slater had it all.

No I haven't seen the TSJ article but I will look for it. Thanks for the pointer, it is a great magazine.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Take all the Pipeline titles won by Slater, Lopez, Russell, Tom Carroll, Derek Ho, and Andy Irons. Then add up Stewart’s titles. 22 for Stewart—11 on a bodyboard, 11 more as a bodysurfer—and 20 for the others. That is just flat out incredible, even if you're not a fan of MS. Those arent just some "average-joe" professional surfers either.

True, but Slater et al. compete against each other and I would argue the level of competition in surfing was never higher than in the 90's when Slater was at his peak, and he was still untouchable over a season. Whereas bodyboarding and bodysurfing are two separate sports where there was a huge dropoff in talent at the top. While a bodyboarder or bodysurfer can take get much later and gnarlier drops than a stand-up surfer, and can get tubed so much deeper, IMO stand-up surfing offers just so many more possibilities in terms of tricks and style, and when it came to tricks and style Slater had it all.

No I haven't seen the TSJ article but I will look for it. Thanks for the pointer, it is a great magazine.

I surfed for years at home before moving here.

This is a picture of my local break in Bundoran

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