Each Countries Greatest Athlete

Maestro84

Registered User
May 3, 2018
2,120
1,634
Toronto
In your opinions, who are the greatest athletes of each sporting nation? Now of course they're 195 countries so we obviously won't get to all of them, but I'll just name a handful that come to my mind!

Canada: Wayne Gretzky
USA: Michael Jordan (could be many ppl tbh)
Argentina: Leo Messi/Diego Maradona
Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo
Spain: Rafa Nadal
Switzerland: Roger Federer
Brazil: Pele
Germany: Franz Beckenbauer/Steffi Graf
China: Yao Ming
Jamaica: Usain Bolt
Philippines: Manny Pacquiao
Ireland: Connor McGregor
Great Britain: Mo Farah
Serbia: Novak Djokovic
France: Zinedine Zidane
 

Jack Straw

Moving much too slow.
Sponsor
Jul 19, 2010
24,221
25,485
New York
USA: Willie Mays (best player in baseball at a time when baseball was by far the most popular sport in the country)
France: Bernard Hinault
Belgium: Eddy Merckx
Italy: Fausto Coppi
Sweden: Bjorn Borg
Austria: Franz Klammer
Australia: Rod Laver
Ireland: Sean Kelly/Roy Keane
UK: Daley Thompson/Jackie Stewart
Netherlands: Johan Cruyff
Czecholslovakia/Czech Republic: Martina Navratilova
Romania: Nadia Comaneci
 
Last edited:

Siamese Dream

Registered User
Feb 5, 2011
75,215
1,238
United Britain of Great Kingdom
Don't have a problem with most of the picks for the countries already mentioned but I think for Ireland it should be Brian O'Driscoll. For Great Britain I'd say it's Sir Steve Redgrave.

Finland: Teemu Selanne
Russia/Soviet Union: Vladislav Tretiak
South Africa: Joost Van Der Westhuizen
Ukraine: Andriy Shevchenko
 

DanishPastry

Registered User
Mar 6, 2013
115
3
Denmark: One of Paul Elvstrøm, Michael Laudrup or Caroline Wozniacki. Either Michael Laudrup due to footballs popularity or Paul Elvstrøm based on 4 Olympic gold medals and being awarded Danish Athlete of the Century.
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
Can't choose for Germany. Beckenbauer, Reiner Klimke, Schumacher, Birgit Fischer, Niemann-Stirnemann, Felix Loch and I could continue. I bet many nations have that problem.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure Beckenbauer fits, he had a contemporary that was considered better than him in Cruyff.
 
Last edited:

Ivan13

Not posting anymore
May 3, 2011
26,141
7,095
Zagreb, Croatia
In your opinions, who are the greatest athletes of each sporting nation? Now of course they're 195 countries so we obviously won't get to all of them, but I'll just name a handful that come to my mind!

Canada: Wayne Gretzky
USA: Michael Jordan (could be many ppl tbh)
Argentina: Leo Messi/Diego Maradona
Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo
Spain: Rafa Nadal
Switzerland: Roger Federer
Brazil: Pele
Germany: Franz Beckenbauer/Steffi Graf
China: Yao Ming
Jamaica: Usain Bolt
Philippines: Manny Pacquiao
Ireland: Connor McGregor
Great Britain: Mo Farah
Serbia: Novak Djokovic
France: Zinedine Zidane

I vehemently disagree with the picks for USA, China, Ireland, GB and France. There have been plenty of US athletes that have been more dominant in their sport than MJ was, namely Babe Ruth, Tiger, Phelps etc. For China, Yao Ming is an absurd pick, the answer is one of their table tennis players, most likely Ma Long. For Ireland, it's BOD and not the sideshow that is McGregor, for GB Mo Farrah might be an even more absurd pick than Yao given Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave. For France, Thierry Omeyer has certainly been a more dominant figure in his sport that Zidane, who is not even the best footballer France ever produced, that is without counting non-team sports stars such as JC Killy and Forcoude.

PS

For Croatia, it's Janica Kostelić comfortably.
 

The Moose

Registered User
Mar 25, 2004
7,855
1,170
Edmonton
Gabi Szabo is another great Romanian that I remember.

Not as big as the previous two. Imo it doesn't even come third. Ivan Patzaichin (canoe) is a strong candidate and if not for the higher recognition of gymnastics and football respectively, he really would be at least second in term of performance. For Romania, Nadia Comaneci has the biggest name recognition outside Romania, and Hagi is second. Probably Nastase is third. It would be intresting.

I met Szabo in 2001 in Edmonton, at the World Athletics Championships, after she lost race. I remember she blamed it on a black cat crossing her way that morning.


Can't choose for Germany. Beckenbauer, Reiner Klimke, Schumacher, Birgit Fischer, Niemann-Stirnemann, Felix Loch and I could continue. I bet many nations have that problem.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure Beckenbauer fits, he had a contemporary that was considered better than him in Cruyff.

Again, name recognition is big, and being in a fringe sport (no offense to luge) doesn't help. Steffi Graf should be on that list, very high. To me it's between her and Schumacher. Michael, not Toni.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth

Proud member of the precariat working class.
Feb 2, 2016
1,401
603
I vehemently disagree with the picks for USA..There have been plenty of US athletes that have been more dominant in their sport than MJ was, namely Babe Ruth..

Ivan, these lists are subjective.. but I agree that Ruth was a more dominant athlete (within his sport) than Jordan. Ruth started as a dominant pitcher & ended as the dominant power hitter. It was an incredible & versatile career. Ruth (literally) hit more home runs (in a season) than entire teams.
An earlier poster mentioned Mays (as America's greatest), but Mays in my opinion is behind several baseball greats (Ruth, Cobb, etc)..
Ruth, Jim Brown, & Jim Thorpe would be on my short list of America's greatest..
 

Jack Straw

Moving much too slow.
Sponsor
Jul 19, 2010
24,221
25,485
New York
Ivan, these lists are subjective.. but I agree that Ruth was a more dominant athlete (within his sport) than Jordan. Ruth started as a dominant pitcher & ended as the dominant power hitter. It was an incredible & versatile career. Ruth (literally) hit more home runs (in a season) than entire teams.
An earlier poster mentioned Mays (as America's greatest), but Mays in my opinion is behind several baseball greats (Ruth, Cobb, etc)..
Ruth, Jim Brown, & Jim Thorpe would be on my short list of America's greatest..

The knock (if you want to call it that) against Ruth, and others of his time (and shortly after) was that they weren't necessarily playing against the best competition. There were great players in the Negro Leagues who might have changed the way we look at some of these older players.
 

Ivan13

Not posting anymore
May 3, 2011
26,141
7,095
Zagreb, Croatia
The knock (if you want to call it that) against Ruth, and others of his time (and shortly after) was that they weren't necessarily playing against the best competition. There were great players in the Negro Leagues who might have changed the way we look at some of these older players.
Which is fair, but even looking past him can you say MJ was a better athlete than Serena?

PS

Not saying that you are.
 

Jack Straw

Moving much too slow.
Sponsor
Jul 19, 2010
24,221
25,485
New York
Which is fair, but even looking past him can you say MJ was a better athlete than Serena?

PS

Not saying that you are.

I guess it may depend on what your criteria are. For me, an important factor is the popularity of the sport. In the US, 13% of kids ages 6-12 participate on a regular basis in basketball (higher pct than either baseball or tackle football). Only 4 % participate in tennis. This is from 2016. So based on the fact that MJ dominated a more popular sport (at least in the US, and I would suspect worldwide figures would also favor basketball over tennis) than Serena, or say, Pete Sampras, I would put Jordan above them.

On the other hand, if by "greatest" you mean most famous, then you could make the case for Muhammad Ali. I think at his peak he was the most well-known person on the planet, except for maybe the Pope.
 

Maverick41

Cold-blooded Jelly Doughnut
Sponsor
Nov 9, 2005
3,868
2,204
Germany
Again, name recognition is big, and being in a fringe sport (no offense to luge) doesn't help. Steffi Graf should be on that list, very high. To me it's between her and Schumacher. Michael, not Toni.

I agree about Graf, not so high on Schumacher. Personally I'd pick Dirk Nowitzki over both Schumacher and Beckenbauer. But overall Graf might still be my number 1 amongst German athletes.
 

Babe Ruth

Proud member of the precariat working class.
Feb 2, 2016
1,401
603
The knock (if you want to call it that) against Ruth, and others of his time (and shortly after) was that they weren't necessarily playing against the best competition. There were great players in the Negro Leagues who might have changed the way we look at some of these older players.

Jack, Do you believe Ruth could only compete at a high level against White athletes.. bcuz that's what you're theory suggests (?)
There have been great White power hitters in an integrated MLB; I'm curious, what leads u to believe Ruth wouldn't be one.
I also find it curious that this standard is always selectively applied to White icons. Nobody questions the greatness of Negro Leaguers for not facing hitters & pitchers like Ruth & Walter Johnson, etc.
I think some of these guys did face each other on barnstorming tours tho..

My last point, bcuz of baseball's prominence in the '20s, I'd submit Ruth was facing the greatest athletes he could.. the White talent pool was less diluted by athletes migrating to football & basketball. Peace
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->