My list:
- Jordan. Made basketball a global phenomenon. Transcended the sport and became a cultural icon and the first sports star to be a truly global brand. LeBron might be up there for quality and maybe none of them sniffs Wilt Chamberlain for dominance. But Jordan just had "it" in a way I have not seen in any other sports star.
- C.Ronaldo/Leo Messi. Have sustained unparalleled levels of excellence for more than a decade in the most popular, competitive and global sport. There are few geographical or socioeconomic barriers to football, and for two guys to go neck and neck breaking records without no-one really close for this long, with this amount of competition.... is insane.
- Usain Bolt. Fastest man in history. How can it be more basic than that? Maintained unreal dominance over three Olympic periods. And did so with style and class.
- Michael Phelps. Unparalleled. Long term dominance in an extremely competitive sport globally across numerous disciplines.
- Federer/Nadal. Like Leo and CR7. Go together like a horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other.
- Mario. I know that one should say Gretzky, but I think Mario's story is more compelling because of all the adversity, and because for a long time he was the show, whereas Wayne to a much bigger extent had help when setting his unbeatable records. Anyway, we're Penguin fans, right?
- Lin Dan. From out of left field here, but Lin Dan is the best badminton player in history and a double Olympic singles champion. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world (in terms of number of players) with China and Asia dominating almost completely except for the rare player from my native Denmark, so to stay on top for a decade in a sport where speed and agility is essential like he did is unique. Anyway, Lin Dan is a rock star out here, and is/was electric to watch if you know anything about the game at all.
- Mike Tyson. I know there are better boxers of course and before my time the Ali thing and all with more compelling story lines. But Tyson's prime was when I was growing up and got out of bed at 3AM with my father to watch the Most Evil Man in the World deliver something one always feared would be death. He owned. He was just freakish during his prime and you HAD to watch. The whole world had to watch.