G.O.A.T.s in miscellaneous sports

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I believe it wasn't until 1990 they were eliminated from competition, so even skaters you would think of as fairly modern like Witt had to do them.

Had to look that up, it was indeed 1990.

I remember seeing a bit on one of the Olympic broadcasts. Not the most exciting thing to watch, but seeing someone do three nearly perfect circles something like 8 feet across with the judges measuring wobbles with a pretty fine ruler was impressive.

Witt was one of my favorites.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

Had to look that up, it was indeed 1990.

I remember seeing a bit on one of the Olympic broadcasts. Not the most exciting thing to watch, but seeing someone do three nearly perfect circles something like 8 feet across with the judges measuring wobbles with a pretty fine ruler was impressive.

Witt was one of my favorites.

...

[darwinbulldog]

Glad to find this thread. I've been putting together my own checklist of greatest ever by sport and have a pretty extensive list at this point. I've tried to include all the popular sports, even if they aren't popular in the U.S. I name just one if I think the choice is clear and everyone I consider a plausible candidate in cases where it just depends on what stats you want to emphasize.

Baseball: Ruth
Basketball (men's): Chamberlain/Abdul-Jabbar/Jordan/James
Basketball (women's): Catchings/Taurasi
American Football: Brady
Ice Hockey: Orr/Gretzky/Lemieux
Soccer (men's): Messi
Soccer (women's): Hamm/Marta
Boxing (men's): Robinson/Louis/Marciano/Ali/Tyson/Mayweather
Boxing (women's): Taylor
Tennis (men's): Emerson/Djokovic
Tennis (women's): Court/Navratilova/Graf/Williams
Golf (men's): Nicklaus/Woods
Golf (women's): Didrikson/Sorenstam
Softball: Fernandez/Richardson
Volleyball (men's): Kiraly
Volleyball (women's): Walsh
Cricket: Bradman/Tendulkar
Rugby: McCaw
Cycling: Merckx
Swimming (men's): Phelps
Swimming (women's): Ledecky
Gymnastics (women's): Latynina/Biles
Gymnastics (men's): Andrianov/Uchimura
Sprinting (men's): Bolt
Sprinting (women's): Fraser-Price
Middle distance (men's): Nurmi/Gebrselassie/Bekele/Farah
Middle distance (women's): Dibaba
Marathon (men's): Kipchoge
Marathon (women's): Radcliffe
Athletics, general (men's): Thorpe/Owens/Morris/Lewis/Mayer
Athletics, general (women's): Didrikson/Joyner-Kersee
Figure skating (women's): Henie
Figure skating (men's): Hanyu
Alpine skiing (men's): Stenmark
Alpine skiing (women's): Shiffrin
Nordic skiing (men's): Daehlie
Nordic skiing (women's): Bjorgen
Diving (men's): Louganis
Diving (women's): Minxia
Table tennis (men's): Long
Table tennis (women's): Yue
MMA (men's): Johnson/St. Pierre
MMA (women's): Nunes
Field hockey (men's): Chand
Field hockey (women's): Aymar
Wrestling: Karelin
Badminton (men's): Dan/Wei
Badminton (women's): Ling/Ning
Judo (men's): Nomura/Riner
Judo (women's): Tani
Weightlifting (men's): Süleymanoğlu/Alekseyev
Weightlifting (women's): Lian/Slivenko
Lacrosse (men's): Gait/Rabil/Powell
Lacrosse (women's): Cummings
Squash (men's): Khan
Squash (women's): McKay
Stock car racing: Petty
F1 racing: Hamilton
Skateboarding (men's): Hawk
Skateboarding (women's): Bufoni
Snowboarding (men's): White
Snowboarding (women's): Jacobellis
Surfing (men's): Slater
Surfing (women's): Beachley/Gilmore
Taekwondo (men's): Lopez
Taekwondo (women's): Kyung-Seon
Water polo (men's): Gyarmati
Water polo (women's): Steffens
Speed skating, short track (men's): Hyun-Soo
Speed skating, short track (women's): Fontana/Meng
Speed skating, long track (men's): Kramer
Speed skating, long track (women's): Karlijn Wuust
Sumo: Hakuho
Pool (men's): Reyes
Pool (women's): Balukas/Fisher
Horse racing, jockey: Shoemaker
Horse racing, horse: Man o' War/Secretariat

[Peter_Spaeth]

Wut no bowling?

[Peter_Spaeth]

A few from Glenn's list.

[Peter_Spaeth]

...

[bison0094]

Picked this Larissa Latynina up and looks to pre-date the rookie cards featured in this thread.
1964 Nestle Los Juegos Olimpicos Larissa Latynina La sovietca gana final #160

[darwinbulldog]

Haha, no. One of my grandfather's cousins was a bowling pro, so he'd probably be miffed at the oversight, but I haven't gotten to that one yet. I think I have rookie cards for about half of the people on my list, but I've never taken a picture of the group.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

Haha, no. One of my grandfather's cousins was a bowling pro, so he'd probably be miffed at the oversight, but I haven't gotten to that one yet. I think I have rookie cards for about half of the people on my list, but I've never taken a picture of the group.

I'd love to see pics, as you might have guessed I have similar interests.

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I'd love to see pics, as you might have guessed I have similar interests.

I'd be happy to post some pictures, but it probably won't be before next week.