Greatest in each sport...and its closest challengers

[clout]

In your opinions who is the greatest player of all time in each sport and who are their three closest challengers. Of course the GOAT and challengers can be either active or retired, and you can list any sport you wish.
IMO, my GOAT list for the sports I'm at least somewhat aware of are...

Soccer GOAT: Pele; Challengers: Leo Messi, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff

Tennis GOAT: Roger Federer; Challengers: Rafa Nadal, Rod Laver and Novak Djokovic/Pete Sampras

Hockey GOAT: Wayne Gretzky; Challengers: Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr

Basketball GOAT: Michael Jordan; Challengers: Lebron James, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson

Football GOAT: Jerry Rice; Challengers: Tom Brady, Joe Montana and Jim Brown

Baseball GOAT: Babe Ruth; Challengers: Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds/Willie Mays

Boxing GOAT: Muhammed Ali; Challengers: Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Floyd Mayweather

Golf GOAT: Tiger Woods; Challengers: Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan

​

 

[MatsPhilander]

Cricket GOAT-Don Bradman, Challengers-Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, Viv Richards

Snooker-GOAT-Steve Davis, Challengers-Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Joe Davis

Wrestling-GOAT-Ric Flair, Challengers-Harley Race, Lou Thesz, Kurt Angle

 

[Deleted member 756486]

Football GOAT- Messi, challengers- Cruyff, Maradona, Ronaldo (Brazilian), Thierry Henry (because bias)
Tennis GOAT- Federer, challengers- Nadal, Laver, Sampras, Djokovic
Basketball GOAT- Jordan, challengers- LeBron, Kobe, Chamberlain, Kareem
Boxing GOAT- Mayweather, challengers- Ali, Robinson, Tyson, Chavez
MMA GOAT- Silva, challengers- St Pierre, Jones, Fedor, Johnson

 

[Plamen1234]

I follow only 2 sports so I will share opinion on them

1.Tennis GOAT-Federer,Challengers - Nadal,Laver,Djokovic and Sampras
2.Football GOAT - Messi,Challengers-Pele,Maradona,Ronaldo

 

[jaggy]

Soccer-Maradona

 

[K-H]

Football
GOAT-Messi
Challengers-CR7, Pele, Maradonna

Snooker
GOAT-Ronnie O’Sullivan
Challengers-Hendry, Davies

Boxing
GOAT-Mayweather
Challengers-Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Tyson

Wrestling
GOAT-John Cena
Challengers-The rock, Stone Cold, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg

 

[Sysyphus]

Football
GOAT: Maradona
Challengers: Messi, Pele, Zidane

MMA
GOAT: GSP
Challengers: Fedor, Anderson Silva.

Chess
GOAT: Kasparov
Challengers: Capablanca, Carlsen, Fischer

Tennis
Male GOAT: mury
Challengers: Nadal, Agassi
Female GOAT: Serena

Boxing
GOAT: Tyson Fury
Contenders: Ali, Robinson, Pac Man

Track and field
Sprint (100–400)
Male GOAT: Bolt
Challengers: Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene, in a few years Wade van Niekerk
Female GOAT: Allyson Felix (all about those medals).
Challengers: Gail Devers, Fraser-Pryce, Marita Koch (hehe).

Middle distance (800–1500)
Male goat: Hicham El Guerrouj
Challengers: Rudisha, Seb Coe
Female GOAT: tough one. Maybe actually Semenya (yeah yeah).
Challengers: Mutola, shoutout to Genzebe if she racks up moar medals.

Long distance
Male GOAT: Kenenisa Bekele
Challengers: Haile Gebreselaisse
Female GOAT: Tirunesh Dibaba

Javelin
GOAT: Železný
Challengers: no one. Maybe Roehler or Vetter eventually

 

[Badabing888]

RUGBY UNION: GOAT - Richie McCaw. Challengers: Dan Carter, Martin Johnson, John Eales, Gareth Rdwards.

 

[FedTheMan]

Tennis GOAT: LeeD.
Challengers: Sureshs and Maximagq.

 

[Deleted member 756486]

Football
GOAT-Messi
Challengers-CR7, Pele, Maradonna

Snooker
GOAT-Ronnie O’Sullivan
Challengers-Hendry, Davies

Boxing
GOAT-Mayweather
Challengers-Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Tyson

Wrestling
GOAT-John Cena
Challengers-The rock, Stone Cold, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg

Cena is the GOAT athlete, overcomes all the odds and always kicks out 2.

 

[Badabing888]

F1. GOAT Senna going by his driving skill and pure “drive” to win. Challengers: Schumacher, Fangio, Jim Clark.

 

[stringertom]

Bicycling: Gareth Bale!!!

Challenger: stringytom

 

[Tennisanity]

Basketball, you can't list Magic without Bird. Bird was better. Golf GOAT is Nicklaus for now, no contest. Football GOAT has to be Brady now despite him being a cheater.

 

[Vcore89]

Horse Racing GOAT: Frankel; Challengers: Phar Lap, Man O' War, Seabiscuit and Secretariat

 

[Stretchy Man]

Cricket GOAT-Don Bradman, Challengers-Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, Viv Richards

No way. Maybe you could argue Bradman was the greatest batsman ever but not the greatest player as he could only bat. Sobers and Imran Khan were brilliant batsmen and bowlers so were effectively two players in one. Sobers was a brilliant fieldsman as well.

 

[MatsPhilander]

No way. Maybe you could argue Bradman was the greatest batsman ever but not the greatest player as he could only bat. Sobers and Imran Khan were brilliant batsmen and bowlers so were effectively two players in one. Sobers was a brilliant fieldsman as well.

He is generally acknowledged as the greatest ever-he was just four runs away from averaging 100 in his final innings. Nobody has come close to his batting average, he effectively hit a ton every time he walked out to bat. In the Wisden Cricketers Of The Century he was voted on by all 100 voters, Sobers was second with 90. You can argue anything-Kallis might be better than Sobers, certainly the figures say he is.

 

[stringertom]

Basketball, you can't list Magic without Bird. Bird was better. Golf GOAT is Nicklaus for now, no contest. Football GOAT has to be Brady now despite him being a cheater.

American football AND lacrosse is the same GOAT...Jim Brown. Brady is a pansy compared to The Man.

 

[Stretchy Man]

He is generally acknowledged as the greatest ever-he was just four runs away from averaging 100 in his final innings. Nobody has come close to his batting average, he effectively hit a ton every time he walked out to bat. In the Wisden Cricketers Of The Century he was voted on by all 100 voters, Sobers was second with 90. You can argue anything-Kallis might be better than Sobers, certainly the figures say he is.

Bradman is only considered the greatest ever in Australia . Even his wiki page says "widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time". No mention of him being the greatest player. Bowlers win matches. A great bowling allrounder such as Imran Khan is far more useful to the team than a great batsman.

That Wisden award was considered by many people a bit of a joke. The majority of voters were English or Australian. Brian Lara and Keith Miller received zero votes. Malcolm Marshall only received 3 votes. Richard Hadlee received the same number of votes as Imran Khan.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Bradman is only considered the greatest ever in Australia . Even his wiki page says "widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time". No mention of him being the greatest player. Bowlers win matches. A great bowling allrounder such as Imran Khan is far more useful to the team than a great batsman.

That Wisden award was considered by many people a bit of a joke. The majority of voters were English or Australian. Brian Lara and Keith Miller received zero votes. Malcolm Marshall only received 3 votes. Richard Hadlee received the same number of votes as Imran Khan.

Well sure-they were the two original test playing nations. Anybody can win matches-if you hit hundreds & double hundreds then your team has a greater chance of winning, if you have nothing to defend like the pathetic current England team then it doesn't matter how good your bowlers are. Lara at that point had not cemented his legacy-he was eighth on the Windies test runs list. Hadlee was knighted for services to Cricket-he is probably the greatest fast bowler ever & unlike Imran who had Sarfraz, Qadir, Akram, Younis etc had to carry an entire bowling attack for a decade or longer &virtually an entire team-the only other world class player that NZ produced during his time was Martin Crowe, while Pakistan was loaded with them during Imran's. Marshall was fantastic, but was part of possibly the best team ever & certainly the best fast bowling attack ever.

 

[Doc Hollidae]

If a current player is considered a GOAT, how can a past player be a challenger? Seen a few posts listing Messi as the GOAT with Pele or Maradona as challengers or Federer GOAT with Laver being a challenger.

 

[r2473]

GOAT: Joey Chesnut

Challenger: no one (maybe sureshs)

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Road cycling: Eddie Merckx. Challenger: Coppi

TT: Fabian Cancellara
Challenger: Toni Martin, Indurain

Classics: Fabian Cancellara
Challenger: Tom Boonen

WRC: Sebastien Loeb

Bike: Valentino Rossi

Table tennis: Ma Long
Challenger: Zhan Jike., Jan-Ove Waldner

MTB Downhill: Nicolas Vouilloz
MTB Cross-country: Julien Absalon/Challenger: Nino Schurter
MTB Marathon: Alban Lakata

Biathlon men: Ole Einar Bjorndalen/Challenger: Martin Fourcade

Biathlon women: Magdalena Neuner

 

[Rafaisdabest]

MotoGP - Valentino Rossi

AFL - Gary Ablett SR and JR

Tennis - Rafael Nadal

Swimming - Michael Phelps

 

[Deleted member 756486]

MotoGP - Valentino Rossi

AFL - Gary Ablett SR and JR

Tennis - Rafael Nadal

Swimming - Michael Phelps

Rossi will always be the GOAT, **** Marquez.

 

[Rafaisdabest]

Rossi will always be the GOAT, **** Marquez.

Totally agree

Marquez is and always will be a cheat!!

 

[Badabing888]

If a current player is considered a GOAT, how can a past player be a challenger? Seen a few posts listing Messi as the GOAT with Pele or Maradona as challengers or Federer GOAT with Laver being a challenger.

Quite right.

Plus I have an issue with the term GOAT. I know it stands for Greatest of All Time. But surely it can’t cover the future GOATs as they haven’t come along to prove their credentials yet. So I go for GSF. Greatest So Far. It’s an ongoing debate to grace discussion boards, pubs and bar rooms all over the world.

 

[hollywood9826]

GOAT: Joey Chesnut

Challenger: no one (maybe sureshs)

Chestnut is the GOAT hot dog eater for sure. He has branched out into other disciplines but I think Kobayashi has more world records.

If this post was to simply make a sureshs joke then not including video evidence is no good.
I'm not sure I will ever get tired of the smashin forehand nonchalant walk back to the baseline. Man I love that video.

 

[hollywood9826]

Quite right.

Plus I have an issue with the term GOAT. I know it stands for Greatest of All Time. But surely it can’t cover the future GOATs as they haven’t come along to prove their credentials yet. So I go for GSF. Greatest So Far. It’s an ongoing debate to grace discussion boards, pubs and bar rooms all over the world.

What about Greatest of All Times... so far? GOAT...sf.

Tennis - Federer - none yet
Basketball Ball - LeBron - Jordan
Baseball Hitter - Barry Bonds - Babe Ruth - Cobb- Musial - Mays
Baseball Pitcher (starter) - Randy Johnson - Cy - Walter Johnson - Bartolo
Baseball Pitcher (relief) - M. Riveria - none yet
Baseball All around - Mays - Trout probably eventually