Eddy Merckx has won almost everything there is to win in cycling(and that is a lot)

The second greatest cylist in history has only half the points Eddy Merckx has on a special list that gives points to what you've won in your carreer.

If that's not domination then I don't know :P

But that's just one sport. I am not sure I would give it to someone who is just better at one thing then everyone else.

If that's the metric, then hands down, the best would be Sir Donald Bradman.

His batting average is 99.94, the second highest is R.G. Pollock at 60.97.

There is no other statistic in sports where the best is that much better then the second best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batting_average

For me it is Michael Jordan , that man was just amazing and he was dominating while i was growing up, he has dominate the NBA and really popularized basketball.

You're wrong here. Cycling may be just one sport, but there are a lot of different things and a normal professional cyclist only focuses on one thing. Looking at your post, I must assume that you're from America(Most Americans don't know a thing about professional cycling)

You have sprinters, climbers, grand tour riders, classic riders, time trial specialists, etc

Eddy Mercks DOMINATED in everything.

Take Lance Armstrong for example(that's the one most people will know), he was a good cyclist, but all he has won is the tour de france 7 times... Nothing else because he wasn't a sprinter, classic rider,etc

Just google "the greatest cyclist of all time" and tell me how many times you saw the name Eddy Merckx on the listed sites. Are there any popular sports that are as intense and hard as cycling? What real sport is harder then to ride 220km a day for 3 weeks long on the mountains? Just google Fabio Casartelli or Tom Simpson. They both died while on their bikes during the tour de France. And many more died...

This is just my opinion and not the truth, but I think an intensive sport deserves more respect then a rather easy sport(with easy I mean not as intense)

Bo Jackson. He was a professional in both baseball and football

American football or football?

I thought America sucked in football(The national team has sucked for god knows how long) :P

^american football. He was a great athlete. I don't know many people who can be professional in one sport much less two.

Yeah, but keep in mind that some sports just don't allow something like that.

You can't be a professional cyclist and a professional footballer at the same time for example. These sports consume all your time to be able to compete at the highest level.

I don't know how time consuming American football and baseball are though. Those sports are pretty unknown here.

@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.

Eddy Merckx did his last pro race in 1978, so that isn't too modern. I've looked some of these guys up people mentioned and there victories just pale in comparison to what Eddy Merckx has achieved imo.

You need to train daily if you want to be a professional cyclist. These guys ride 150km 5 times a week. It's just not possible to chose another sport. The problem with Jim Thorpe is, his records aren't amazing compared to today's standards(at least in athletics)
However, it's truly amazing that he can jump over 1.963 meters without training. I can jump over 1.70 meters with just knowing the basic technique, so I know how impressive it is what he has done. But if you take a look at the world records today...