ofcourse he would crush any of the other athletes listed here, it's his fking job. he may be a great athlete but not the answer to this threat. 

Every athlete is overrated and not a true athlete because they can't kick as hard as this guy? K.

As other people have said, it's probably Messi. I'd also say Beckham at the moment because it was his last game last night and during the Olympics season Bolt becomes a superstar.

Lol, you gotta be american...Lionel Messi is the right answer

this whole sentence is what i was thinking too.

Messi/Ronaldo as the most talked  male sport star..

Maria Sharapova as the most talked female sport star



she plays some sport... but that isn't really important..

How US Centric is this poll? It definitely wouldn't be a US sports star except for Tiger Woods maybe?

I'd go with some South American soccer player but since that's not an option I'll go for 'some European soccer player'.

Beckham at the moment, prior to that Messi.

Of the Americans, there are ways for Tiger to pull that off again.

During summer, probably Bolt.

that's not a easy question because i have absolutely no clue who is very popular in countries like india or china. maybe the most talked about sports star in the world is someone i never heard about.

but if we talk about a person talked about it most countries, it is a football (soccer) player or maybe tennis player (but unlikely).

lebron james? never...i would not even know who he is if i wouldn't read his name from time to time on vgchartz or a poker forum.  except for people who really care about us-sports and the nba, the percentage should be not that high outside of the usa. especially older people have probably never heard this name.

tiger woods is much more realistic, that's someone you can see on tv from time to time and who you can often read about in newspapers.

On that list I have only heard of Tiger Woods and Lebron, but I am not interested in their sports. The golf and the basketball, football, baseball, American football, car racing, etc... These sports I find very very boring. I only like fighting sports. So the ones I would say are the Klitschko brothers, Mayweather, Pacquaio, Schildt, Aerts, and Hari.

after reading that pole change the thread tittle to who is the talked about sport start in USA.

its either messi or ronaldo