Rank the major sport GOATs by how much separation they have

[Drylick]

Nadal had a higher peak than Federer? I don't see it at all. Federer in top form is virtually unbeatable on most surfaces and Nadal never had a season as dominant as Federer's 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Lack of competition.

A 33-35 year old Federer destroying the entire World Tour in 2014-2015, barring a peak Novak Djokovic is great competition? Yeah right.

And what's strong competition? 2008 up to what? 2013, when Nadal dominated, am I correct?

So when Federer wins it's a weak era. When Nadal or Novak dominates suddenly it's a strong era. Then when they lose, it's suddenly a weak era. Makes sense? Losing against a weak era. LOL.

Nadal was lucky that Federer contacted mononucleosis at the end of 2007, continued until 2008. Federer was never the same since. What about a grand daddy Federer being the second best player behind Novak Djokovic from 2014-2015? Still a weak era or great competition?

[Bergmaniac]

Yeah, all the talk about "weak era" when Federer dominated in the mid-2000s makes no sense to me. There were plenty of really good players on tour, including a young Nadal who wasn't far off from his best level. Hewitt was really good and had just demolished Sampras at US Open final in 2001. The only reason he didn't win more Slams is that he got beaten by Federer in slam after slam between 2004 and 2006. Safin was inconsistent but really talented. Nalbandian was probably one of the best shotmakers of the last 20 years. Roddick had a simple but very effective game, Agassi was still a force to be reckoned with.

If anything, the last 4-5 years have been a weak era because the new generation has been so disappointing. The same 3 players dominate and this season Federer (who will be 36 next month) and Nadal (31 who has been playing at the highest level since he was 18) are completely dominating the tour and demolishing younger player left, right and centre.

[antonac]

[Gregoire]

Now Jon Jones had a good case for not only MMA GOAT, but one of the biggest separations from the peers in all the sports. Usain Bolt, if he would win in London, will be in the conservation too.

[Bruh Man]

Now Jon Jones had a good case for not only MMA GOAT, but one of the biggest separations from the peers in all the sports. Usain Bolt, if he would win in London, will be in the conservation too.

I wouldn't say that about Jones. Anderson, Fedor, and GSP are all in the discussion and I also wouldn't say he has the greatest separation from his peers because Mighty Mouse has been about as dominant in his own division and Alex went toe to toe with Jones when they fought with some thinking he should have won the fight.

[antonac]

Nadal had a higher peak than Federer? I don't see it at all. Federer in top form is virtually unbeatable on most surfaces and Nadal never had a season as dominant as Federer's 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Lack of competition.

A 33-35 year old Federer destroying the entire World Tour in 2014-2015, barring a peak Novak Djokovic is great competition? Yeah right.

And what's strong competition? 2008 up to what? 2013, when Nadal dominated, am I correct?

So when Federer wins it's a weak era. When Nadal or Novak dominates suddenly it's a strong era. Then when they lose, it's suddenly a weak era. Makes sense? Losing against a weak era. LOL.

Nadal was lucky that Federer contacted mononucleosis at the end of 2007, continued until 2008. Federer was never the same since. What about a grand daddy Federer being the second best player behind Novak Djokovic from 2014-2015? Still a weak era or great competition?

IMO Federer is the greatest player in tennis history and above Nadal, but there's no doubt there's some truth to what people say when it's claimed he dominated in weak eras. Well, I wouldn't say weak, it makes it sound like he was only able to beat poor players when he beat some of the best ever.

However, without the periods prior to Nadal and Djokovic playing at a high level you would struggle to make a convincing case saying he dominated. Federer is the GOAT, but there's still a chink in his record, Nadal did get the better of him more often than not and it's hard to make an unquestioned case for him when it's very easy to cite a player that could actually beat him regularly.

[euroleague]

Now Jon Jones had a good case for not only MMA GOAT, but one of the biggest separations from the peers in all the sports. Usain Bolt, if he would win in London, will be in the conservation too.

Bolt doesn't need to win in London for separation in the 100. He crushed the WR by a huge amount in the 100. He improved the record by ridiculous amounts. However, his 200m record is far less impressive. And it's unlikely any record will last as long as Michael Johnson's did. MJ would have to be the GOAT of speed in track and field.


Hicham El Steroid isn't gonna have his record touched for a while, with the improvements in testing. Lots of these African runners training on dope and microdosing into big events, while going untested for 3/4 of the year, are gonna get lasting records.

Bolt hasn't been caught yet, which is the biggest positive in his resume. Obviously all of his teammates have, but he's clear so far.

[Dr Positivity]

Just for fun, pro wresting GOAT? Not the most popular pick but gonna go with John Cena based on longevity over some candidates with high peaks for shorter time like Stone Cold or The Rock and in more difficult era than say Ric Flair.

[Jaivl]

Every elite athlete training on dope and microdosing into big events, while going untested for 3/4 of the year

ftfy

Just for fun, pro wresting GOAT? Not the most popular pick but gonna go with John Cena based on longevity over some candidates with high peaks for shorter time like Stone Cold or The Rock and in more difficult era than say Ric Flair.

Toshiaki Kawada is my fav. As for the WWE, yeah that would be Cena.

[euroleague]

Every elite athlete training on dope and microdosing into big events, while going untested for 3/4 of the year

ftfy

Just for fun, pro wresting GOAT? Not the most popular pick but gonna go with John Cena based on longevity over some candidates with high peaks for shorter time like Stone Cold or The Rock and in more difficult era than say Ric Flair.

Toshiaki Kawada is my fav. As for the WWE, yeah that would be Cena.

american and european athletes often compete 1/2 the year, and are subject to surprise drug tests (in athletics and tour de france biking). we have better doping technology, and lots of people still do it - but less blatantly.

some guys are just hardcore like Bernard Lagat, as far as I can see, but it's also possible he's just hardcore and finished doping.

[Jaivl]

american and european athletes often compete 1/2 the year, and are subject to surprise drug tests (in athletics and tour de france biking). we have better doping technology, and lots of people still do it - but less blatantly.

some guys are just hardcore like Bernard Lagat, as far as I can see, but it's also possible he's just hardcore and finished doping.

We also have the higher quality ****, though. Based on personal experience, results and logic, I have no reason to think we juice less than any other countries.

[millslapper]

The phrase GOAT was definitely made for one person. and this is Ali.

Not only from a boxing standpoint, but his relevance in the society was unbelievable.

You will never see it again, that the majority of people in every damn country gets up deep in the night to watch him do his sport.
he was the best, most popular, most charismatic and most polarizing figure in sports history and even changed the political clima.

All the others are great sportsmen, but not that relevant.
i think the only other arguments can be made for Jordan and maybe Maradona.
the only active with GOAT semi-feeling are Federer (and friend of mine, who was on the way to be a pro, saw him when Federer was 17 and called it!) and Bolt.

[Doctor MJ]

Re: Federer weak era.

I think people need to understand that the most you can say against Federer's early era is that it's relatively weak compared to the next era, which was the GOAT era. The early 2000s were weak, the mid-2000s were solid and getting better.

To me this is more than a semantic argument because people call the time Federer played "weak" looking to dismiss his unparalleled consistency of dominance, and the reality is that compared to all those who came before, Federer just played at a level, and played it consistently, like no one else.

And once you understand that, it becomes pretty absurd to argue that guys in the next era were being hurt by competition levels when they lost to also-rans. You can argue Nadal and Djokovic at their best were better than Federer at his best, but they were less consistent than him for the same reason everyone who came before Federer was less consistent than him:

Federer was a machine.

I'll add that the idea that Federer couldn't fully adapt to the new era has now gone at the window. Federer is a stubborn man who knew he had a relative weakness and yet didn't seriously try to adapt for a long time. Or rather, I'm sure he tried, but he wouldn't take the big risk of trying a more modern racket until he could no longer play the game he liked to play with his old school racket.

We'll never know how much more he could have won had he adapted sooner, and from a GOAT perspective I won't argue that we should talk as if he adapted when he didn't, but so long as he he has far more achievements than anyone else it doesn't really matter. He won the most. He had the best tennis fundamentals. He did prove capable of strengthening his weakness when he put his mind to it, and had that been necessary early in his career, there's little reason to doubt he'd have done so.

[Jaivl]

Gatlin should've won in 2015, not here. But hey.

[Winsome Gerbil]

It's a shame that "sprinting" isn't a sport.

Even narrowed down to just sprinters I don't think there's any huge separation over Owens/Lewis/Johnson.

Considering Lewis was a top tier sprinter while being the GOAT long jumper, he is clearly over Bolt.

There's a lot more impressiveness to being The Fastest Man in History than to being the guy who was good at a lot of different stuff and could perform the steps of the long jump correctly.

Gretzy and Phelps have the biggest margins btw.

Jordan has a strong consensus as well, just people being people always want to rebel just because there is something to rebel against. Federer was widely proclaimed the GOAT fairly early on, although at such an early date I really wasn't entirely sure why.

I think Ruth is still the guy in baseball, certainly the icon. If you're going to name one name it would be his. Tiger should have been the GOAT in golf, and maybe still was. But when he nuked his own career he left it open to debate. With all the strict positions I've never really heard about a football "GOAT", just positional ones. Being a football wide receiver and a football noseguard are essentially entirely different sports.

Ali and Pele are certainly the icons of their sports, but I don't know if they are actually considered the greatest. Depends on how you handle weight classes in boxing -- and maybe we should just ignore them and go on a "who would kick who's behind" scale. pele was the famous icon, but several modern era players have claims to being better.

[Jaivl]

There's a lot more impressiveness to being The Fastest Man in History than to being the guy who was good at a lot of different stuff and could perform the steps of the long jump correctly.

Have to admit, that was a funny one.

the guy who was good at a lot of different stuff and could perform the steps of the long jump correctly.

Lewis would crush the modern field of long jumpers the same dominant way Bolt crushed sprinters in his 08-09 peak.

"Jordan could perform the mechanics of basketball correctly" I mean, get out of here

[Young_Buc]

The level of disrespect Usain Bolt gets from the American media and it's people is amazing. I'm flabbergasted at how he isn't the biggest athlete in the world considering what he does. Michael Phelps and swimming as a whole became galvanized by the media as a rival to bolt. If he were American? Oh my he would be the biggest thing going. What he has accomplished won't be done again in our lifetimes.

[Young_Buc]

Just for fun, pro wresting GOAT? Not the most popular pick but gonna go with John Cena based on longevity over some candidates with high peaks for shorter time like Stone Cold or The Rock and in more difficult era than say Ric Flair.

You gotta go Ric flair here. Cena doesn't even make my top 5.

1. Flair
2. Rock (what he's done outside of the ring is a testament to his mic skills)
3. Hogan (and I hate him)
4. Austin
5. Bret Hart (best in ring wrestler/superstar)

[Goudelock]

Jerry Rice is considered as close to the GOAT as it comes in football, since he blows all other receivers out of the water in terms of longevity and stats. However, Randy Moss has often been mentioned as being more dominant in his prime because of how terrifying he was as a deep threat. If I recall correctly, a pundit said that the modern cover 3 defense was more or less created to deal with Moss' speed. So yeah, football doesn't really have a GOAT, even of an individual position.

[SkyHookFTW]

The level of disrespect Usain Bolt gets from the American media and it's people is amazing. I'm flabbergasted at how he isn't the biggest athlete in the world considering what he does. Michael Phelps and swimming as a whole became galvanized by the media as a rival to bolt. If he were American? Oh my he would be the biggest thing going. What he has accomplished won't be done again in our lifetimes.

It has to do with the sport, not the person. When the world's fastest man was American, track was still not popular in this country.