The greatest professional athlete in history?

[TheRealMafoo]

@Samus Aran

Football and Baseball are not the same at all, and to be very good at both shows your a pure athlete. Bo Jackson was amazing.

As for Eddy Merckx, how fast can he run? How high can he jump? How far can he throw? How quick can he change directions? How strong is he? How coordinated is he? Can he hit a ball traveling at 100 miles an hour with a cylinder (baseball)?

These are questions you probably can't answer, because cycling does not require these skills, thus there is no good ay to measure his all around athleticism.

I am sure he has amazing riding skill, powerful legs, and crazy endurance. In my opinion, those three things alone do not make the best athlete in the world, let alone all time.

For my pick, Jim Thorp, there was not an athletic skill that in his prime, he was not the best in the world at. He could run farther then anyone, faster then anyone, jump higher then anyone, throw farther than anyone, kick farther than anyone (he had a 95 yard punt in an American football game), and just about anything else you could think of. He was insanely strong as well.

That kind of skill to me, makes you the worlds best.

The problem with picking most modern athletes like Eddy Merckx, is to be the best at something in todays world, you have to sacrifice something else.