Who was the best multi-sport athlete of all time?
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M$8 Answers
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M$
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/76583-the-10-greatest-multi-sport-athletes-of-all-time
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Despite becoming a medical doctor, he found the time to represent his country at both soccer (he played club football in England for Arsenal FC) and rugby, and also won national championships as a sprinter, and in the long jump.
He was also said to be able to play both tennis and golf to a "decent" level. He represented his home county of Dublin at Gaelic football.
Ireland hasn't the world's biggest population, but O'Flanagan's achievements are put into context by the fact that only one other man has represented both the international soccer and rugby team.
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M$I don't mean to take anything away from Thorpe, but if you gave me a time machine and put Jim Thorpe on the 1988 Raiders/Royals and Bo Jackson on the 1916 Canton Bulldogs/Milwaukee Brewers, I think Bo looks like the better multi-sport athlete every time. By Bo's era the level of competition in each sport was so high, that specialization (picking a single sport from age 16 on) gave the best (in most case, only) chance at success. The extremely talented athletes (Elway, Olajuwan, H. Walker, etc.) could manage two sports in college, but had to settle on one professionally. Bo dominated in two sports professionally in a far more competitive era.
Add to that the fact that Bo Jackson dominated the world of Tecmo Bowl (that counts, right?) and I'll rest my case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sz6xhPkGJ4
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My point was more that when this debate is raised the automatic answer is Jim Thorpe (or Babe Didrikson in your answer). These people deserve credit, but part of their success comes from playing against lower levels of competition. I mean, baseball wasn't even integrated until the 40s. If guys like Bo Jackson were allowed to play in the early 1900s, we might not have heard about Jim Thorpe. It's obviously a hypothetical argument, but my point was that two sports (or three if you count that Jackson was actually a solid track athlete early in college) in the modern era would be comparable to many early last century.
I don't see how you can call just two sports versatile.
For baseball, he was the MLB All-Star game MVP, got the comeback player of the year award adn got the Tony Conigliaro award. In college, he batted a .401, 43 RBI'S, and 17 home runs. Bo is one of two players in All-Star game history to hit a home run and steal a base in the same game. He ties a ML record with four home runs hit in consecutive at-bats. He also was 2-time state champion in high school in the decathlon.
As an Auburn Tiger football player, he ran for 4,303 yards, the fourth best in SEC history. Rushed for 1,213 yards on 158 carries, the second best single season average in SEC history. His #34 jersey is one of only three retired uniforms at Auburn. He was ranked 8 on ESPN'S top 25 college football players in history
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M$
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M$For example:
"Babe single-handedly won the 1932 AAU championships, which served as Olympic qualifying, on July 16 in Evanston, Ill. The sole representative of Employers Casualty, she scored 30 points, eight more than the runner-up team, which had 22 athletes. In a span of three hours, she competed in eight of 10 events, winning five outright and tying for first in the high jump. She set world records in the javelin, 80-meter hurdles, high jump and baseball throw. "
Or:
"she was accomplished in just about every sport - basketball, track, golf, baseball, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, volleyball, handball, bowling, billiards, skating and cycling. When asked if there was anything she didn't play, she said, "Yeah, dolls." "
Her best known sport was golf:
"Babe went on to become America's first female golf celebrity and the leading player of the 1940s and early 1950s. After gaining back her amateur status in 1942, she won the 1946-47 United States Women's Amateur Golf Championships, as well as the 1947 British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship – the first American to do so – and three Western Open victories. Having formally turned professional in 1947, she dominated the Women's Professional Golf Association and later the Ladies Professional Golf Association, of which she was a founding member. "
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