The Top 7 Sportsmen of All Time
By
Richard Janvrin
Contributor Updated: 07 October 2024
Richard Janvrin Contributor
Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today.
Top 7 Sportsmen
As we bet on the Olympic games, we’re seeing the best athletes in the world across the world compete. In all, there are 206 countries included and represented by their National Olympic Committees.
Seeing these athletes perform made me wonder: Who’s the greatest sportsman of all time? Could it be someone from a professional American sports franchise? Is it an Olympian?
What makes someone become the greatest athlete ever?
It’s a loaded question with an endless amount of nuance, but I’ll do my best to sort through it below in what I can only assume will be a hotly contested list.
Let’s dive in.
- 7. Wayne Gretzky
- 6. Usain Bolt
- 5. Michael Phelps
- 4. Pele
- 3. Michael Jordan
- 2. Muhammad Ali
- 1. Tom Brady
7. Wayne Gretzky
Coming in at No. 7 on my list of the best sportsmen of all time is “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky.
He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for five teams. During that time, he set 61 records in the sport, and to this day, he still holds 57 of those.
Some of his most notable records include the most goals, the most single-season goals, the most assists, the most points, the longest streak with a point, and the most seasons with 100 points or more.
His record for the most goals is at 894, but just behind him is Alexander Ovechkin. He needs 41 to break the record and is still playing today.
As for the records that’ll simply never be touched, those include the assists. The next closest player to him is Ron Francis, with 1,249. Gretzky had 1,963. The gap is between those players in most Hall of Fame-worthy players’ careers.
In addition to the records, Gretzky won four Stanley Cups, nine MVP awards, including eight straight, two Conn Smythe’s, went to 18 All-Star games, and was enshrined in the NHL Hall of Fame immediately after his career was over. The league waived his waiting period, something we’ve never really seen for even the best athletes.
He’s simply the greatest hockey player to ever live and ranks among the greatest sportsmen of all time.
6. Usain Bolt
Representing Jamaica, Bolt is considered the world’s greatest sprinter and among the greatest sportsmen of all time. He won 23 gold medals at the World Championships, Olympics, and other championship tournaments.
Of those 23, 11 came in the World Championships, with eight coming in the Olympics. He earned two at the 2008 games in the 100m and 200m races. He then earned gold in those same categories in the next two games, but he also added a gold medal in the 4x100m relay in 2012 and 2016. He also won that at the 2008 games, but he was disqualified due to a banned substance.
He’s won numerous awards, including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year and Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
He retired from sprinting in 2017 after the World Championships, where he finished third in the 100m race, opted out of the 200m race, and was injured during the 4x100m relay.
Bolt holds the world records in the 100m (9.58 seconds), the 200m (19.19 seconds), and the 4x100m relay and is one of the best athletes to ever compete.
5. Michael Phelps
Phelps is arguably the most decorated Olympian ever and the best swimmer the world has ever seen. He earned 34 medals in his career, including 27 gold, six silver, and one bronze at the World Championships.
He was a five-time Olympian who earned 28 Olympic medals, including 23 gold, three silver, and two bronze. This number of medals makes him the most decorated Olympic athlete ever.
In 2016, he became the first-ever American male swimmer to qualify for five United States national teams, further emphasizing him as a great sportsman.
He made his Olympic debut in 2000 at just 15 years old, making him the youngest Olympian since 1932. Although he didn’t win any medals, he did make the finals and finished fifth place in the 200-meter butterfly.
Of his 23 gold medals at the Olympics, eight were earned at the 2008 Olympics, which was also a record. That same year, he set seven world records.
In his final Olympics, the 2016 games, Phelps won five more gold medals at the age of 31, which is well past most Olympic athlete swimmer’s prime years.
When it was all said and done, Phelps set 39 world records.
4. Pele
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pele, is considered to be the greatest football player ever. He owns the Guinness World Record for 1,279 goals in 1,363 games (including friendlies) and scored 757 goals in 812 official matches.
He played for just two teams in addition to the Brazil national team: Santos (1956 to 1974) and the New York Cosmos (1975 to 1977).
Pele played for the Brazil national team from 1957 to 1971 and won three FIFA World Cups. He was the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner in 1970 and the Golden Boot winner in 1958 and 1970. He is Santos FC’s all-time leading scorer and is enshrined in the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame.
His three World Cup wins is something no other player in soccer history has been able to replicate.
While other players may have better statistics than Pele, he was simply ahead of his time. He revolutionized the sport beyond what anyone else has ever been capable of and is considered the first legend in the sport.
3. Michael Jordan
The debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James rages on, but I’ll still side with Jordan for now. He played in the NBA from 1984 to 1993 before retiring to play baseball. He came back in 1995 and played through 2003. Most of his career was spent with the Chicago Bulls, while his last three seasons were with the Washington Wizards.
The number of accolades he has accumulated is simply never-ending. The most noteworthy include the following:
- Six NBA titles
- Six Finals MVPs
- Five league MVP awards
- 14 All-Star games
- 10 All-NBA First Team nods
- 10-time scoring champion
- Three-time AP Athlete of the Year
- Two Olympic gold medals
Numerous teams have retired his No. 23, including North Carolina, where he played college basketball and won a national title.
Jordan’s two Olympic gold medals came at the 1984 and 1992 games.
He finished his career with 32,292 points, 6,672 rebounds, and 5,633 assists.
2. Muhammad Ali
There’s perhaps not a more recognizable figure in all of sports history, and I wouldn’t argue if you said he was the best sportsmen of all time. Ali was an icon that the entire world knew.
A boxer, Ali had 61 fights and went 56-5, including 37 wins by knockout. He represented the United States at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and won a gold medal. He won six additional gold medals at the Intercity Golden Gloves, Chicago Golden Gloves, and US National Championship tournaments.
Of his five losses, three came in the final four bouts of his career when he was 36 or older. The other two losses were against Ken Norton and Joe Frazier.
Ali held the Ring magazine heavyweight title from 1964 to 1970 and was the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named him the Sportsman of the Century.
His first title win came in 1964 against Sonny Liston. He was a massive underdog and just 22 years old.
Beyond his accomplishments in the ring, Ali’s charisma catapulted him to the top of the world in terms of popularity, and he is fondly remembered for his humanitarian and philanthropic work.
1. Tom Brady
Today, the NFL is arguably the most popular sport in the world, and it is certainly in the United States.
The face of that sport is Tom Brady, who I consider to be one of the greatest sportsmen the world has ever seen.
Brady won seven Super Bowl championships, six with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an NFL record. He was named MVP in five of those games.
He was named league MVP three times, won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2009 after tearing his ACL the year before, was a two-time Offensive Player of the Year, a three-time first-team All-Pro, a three-time second-team All-Pro, went to 15 Pro Bowls, and more.
Brady holds several NFL records, including quarterback wins (251), completions (7,753), passing touchdowns (649), passing yards (89,214), and more.
While the NFL doesn’t have the international challenge, I’d wager that no other human being outside the United States could’ve accomplished what Brady did. We’ll see if Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes can surpass him, but for now, Brady is the greatest football player and best sportsman of all time.
