I still have to say Jim Thorpe. This man has great skill, at one thing. While it takes great hand eye coordination to do what he did, it's not a great test of overall athleticism.

Jim Thorpe went to the Olympics to impress a girl. When he signed up he didn’t even know what the events were. He won gold medals in half of the events he participated in, and never placed less than 4th.

He is the reason the NFL exists (his statue is in front of the Hall of Fame, and if you watch the NFL commercials where they show all the stars, he is the ugly one in the old uniform :p). He put professional football on the map. He was also a great baseball and basket ball player.

When he was 14, his parents took him off the Indian reservation to go to a white school. They lived 15 miles away. He didn’t want to be there, so once they left, he ran home. He got there before they did. Granted it was during the time of the model T’s, and he probably ran a straight line while they were on winding dirt roads, but to run 15 miles over rough terrain at all, at the age of 14, is amazing.

For overall athleticism, no one beats Jim Thorpe.

 yes the tfc fans are wild. i live in toronto and theysound liek man utd fans.

but tfc still sucks. i guess we should stick to hockey.. 

Frankly, if you have Lampard in the middle, he can provide all the crosses and free kicks that you need, he has set up Ballack twice in the last two games. Beckham's lack of pace means that he cannot beat anyone, I would personally play a 4-3-3, similar to Chelsea, but for that you need someone who is going to win the ball in the air, which Rooney can do most of the time. If you have Lampard and Gerrard bombing through the middle to support him, then there is plenty of threat going forward. Beckham is past his prime, although I do think he should be given his hundredth cap

 the next player to take the rm position is either swp, lennon, or bentley.

my personal fav is bentley that man is amazing not to mention his tunning volleys. i think swp ( shaun wirght pihllips) is overrated. cant even cross. lennon is a good attacking winger but needs to work on his crossing, as joe cole cant cross from the left with his right.

and yes more villa players need to start playing i.e barry, youngg, agbonlahor, carson. 

He's not technically very good unless they practically lay the ball on his foot. He's a terrific kicker but an average player all round and looks kinda silly running with the quick and techical players of the mediterranean region.

its kinda weird people go put him top 3 sportsman ever etcetera, he always has been a good player but never the worlds best, maybe because he lives in usa nowmost of you people only know him from all the soccer players around.

1,2, and 5

 yes the don is a good cricket player. but sum1 is better than him. you know who? sir gary sobers. searchhim on cricinfo.com

 his batting avg was like 50 runs and he could bowl spinners off spinners medium fast pace w/e and he got a lot of wickets.

"list me one player of any sport who is 66 better than the next person in their chosen field" Pele says hi.