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Originally Posted by rogueteens
sorry but this Kelly person (whoever he is?) cannot be the greatest athelete in the world. simply because hardly anyone surfs compared to other sports, if it was a massive sport and the cometition was great AND he still stood head and shoulders over eveyone else then he would have a claim, until then ....
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How can you even judge a person if you have no idea who he is or what he's done or the sport that he participates in. It would be like giving a review of a movie that you have neither seen or heard of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by campimp
best surfer ever? definitely.... best athlete ever? no
not that he is not an amazing athlete, but there is no "best athlete ever"... just impossible to compare athletes from different sports
jordan, rice, slater, bonds, woods.... add whoever you want to to that list, they are all among the top 1% of the top 1%, but you can never compare their skills, or athletic abilities.
but yeah... he definitely amazes me in the water.
and yes, if you give me 100 swings i could hit a 90 mph fastball
if you gave me 1,000 attempts at being towed into one of those waves i would probably be dead after the 1st attempt
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This was about who is the greatest athlete NOT who is the greatest competitor. There's a huge difference and many here are not making that distinction.
I think people are tying the sport too much into the athlete and that's not the best way to compare. To find the greatest athlete you would have to objectively separate him from his respective sport and see what other skills he has that makes him an all around athlete. That's why I made the comparison between Phelps and a triathlon competitor. Phelps is the best at swimming but probably sucks at running and other disciplines so there is no way he could be considered the greatest athlete.
A more efficient way would be to have a selection of athletes like Jordon, Rice, Bonds and Slater and put them through a series of athletic challenges much like a decathlon to determine their overall abilities. Of course many of those athletes are past their prime so you would have to consider what they did while at their best.
Once you've determined who is the most athletic in that way then you could add what they have accomplished in their professional career and by mixing the two a conclusion could be ascertained as to who is the greatest athlete.
Actually it might make for a very entertaining reality show with that format
