"Man" as in short for "human" that is, pick a woman if you want.
Obviously always going to be subjective but lets think a little...
I suppose it needs to be, first and foremost, someone who is considered the best in their sport - preferably close to undisputed. This rules out a lot of sports, such as football.
Among team sports I struggle to think of someone more dominant than Wayne Gretzky. His points tally is just head and shoulders above everyone else.
But to be the best of all time, don't you need a bag of titles?
Arguably... yes. Gretzky won four Stanley Cup. That is fine of course but doesn't really measure up.
In individual sports, there's obviously a shiteload of candidates as there's a shiteload of sports.
Pole vaulter Sergei Bubka broke the world record like 40 times, won a big bunch of trophies and would arguably be a candidate. But recently Armand Duplantis half a dozen times, and then it becomes difficult to wave around with your big bad Bubka.
Swimmer Michael Pelphs may be another candidate as the one with the most Olympic trophees of all time. With his 28 medals he has 10 more than anyone else, which is obviously very impressive. He might just have nailed it... but bam, out of the blue:
Hakuho. The Mongolian sumo wrester holds a number of records. In a sport where records has been tracked all the way since 1749, he still somehow broke pretty much every record, winning 45 top division (I dont know what the top division is called but I'm sure its pretty ****ing good) championships and retaining his yokozuna title between 2007 and his retirement in 2021, competing in a record 84 tournaments while holding the yokozuna-title. His win rate of 84% is also the all-time record, and he also holds the record number of career wins: 1187, more than a hundred more than Chiyonofuji and Kaio.
Widely known for his yorikiri while in his migi-yotsu stance, he also practiced the go-no-sen approach to the tachi-ai, just like previous yokozunas. Picking the best stuff from former masters, and then improving them, is the sign of an all-time best sportsman. I may not have seen him, but Hakuho is my choice.
Over to you. Can you beat Hakuho?
Obviously always going to be subjective but lets think a little...
I suppose it needs to be, first and foremost, someone who is considered the best in their sport - preferably close to undisputed. This rules out a lot of sports, such as football.
Among team sports I struggle to think of someone more dominant than Wayne Gretzky. His points tally is just head and shoulders above everyone else.
But to be the best of all time, don't you need a bag of titles?
Arguably... yes. Gretzky won four Stanley Cup. That is fine of course but doesn't really measure up.
In individual sports, there's obviously a shiteload of candidates as there's a shiteload of sports.
Pole vaulter Sergei Bubka broke the world record like 40 times, won a big bunch of trophies and would arguably be a candidate. But recently Armand Duplantis half a dozen times, and then it becomes difficult to wave around with your big bad Bubka.
Swimmer Michael Pelphs may be another candidate as the one with the most Olympic trophees of all time. With his 28 medals he has 10 more than anyone else, which is obviously very impressive. He might just have nailed it... but bam, out of the blue:
Hakuho. The Mongolian sumo wrester holds a number of records. In a sport where records has been tracked all the way since 1749, he still somehow broke pretty much every record, winning 45 top division (I dont know what the top division is called but I'm sure its pretty ****ing good) championships and retaining his yokozuna title between 2007 and his retirement in 2021, competing in a record 84 tournaments while holding the yokozuna-title. His win rate of 84% is also the all-time record, and he also holds the record number of career wins: 1187, more than a hundred more than Chiyonofuji and Kaio.
Widely known for his yorikiri while in his migi-yotsu stance, he also practiced the go-no-sen approach to the tachi-ai, just like previous yokozunas. Picking the best stuff from former masters, and then improving them, is the sign of an all-time best sportsman. I may not have seen him, but Hakuho is my choice.
Over to you. Can you beat Hakuho?
