Here’s a list of the greatest male athletes and Olympians by sport, considering both current and all-time legends.

🏀 Basketball

• All-Time: Michael Jordan (USA)
• Current: LeBron James (USA)

⚽ Soccer (Football)

• All-Time: Pelé (Brazil) / Diego Maradona (Argentina)
• Current: Lionel Messi (Argentina)

🏈 American Football

• All-Time: Tom Brady (USA)
• Current: Patrick Mahomes (USA)

⚾ Baseball

• All-Time: Babe Ruth (USA)
• Current: Shohei Ohtani (Japan)

🎾 Tennis

• All-Time: Roger Federer (Switzerland) / Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• Current: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

🏒 Ice Hockey

• All-Time: Wayne Gretzky (Canada)
• Current: Connor McDavid (Canada)

🏎️ Formula 1 Racing

• All-Time: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
• Current: Lewis Hamilton (UK) / Max Verstappen (Netherlands)

🚴 Cycling

• All-Time: Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• Current: Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)

🏊 Swimming

• All-Time: Michael Phelps (USA)
• Current: Caeleb Dressel (USA)

🥊 Boxing

• All-Time: Muhammad Ali (USA)
• Current: Tyson Fury (UK)

🏌️ Golf

• All-Time: Tiger Woods (USA)
• Current: Scottie Scheffler (USA)

🏋️‍♂️ Weightlifting

• All-Time: Pyrros Dimas (Greece)
• Current: Lasha Talakhadze (Georgia)

🥋 Judo

• All-Time: Tadahiro Nomura (Japan)
• Current: Teddy Riner (France)

🤼 Wrestling

• All-Time: Aleksandr Karelin (Russia)
• Current: Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Russia)

🏃 Track & Field (Sprints)

• All-Time: Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
• Current: Noah Lyles (USA)

🏃 Track & Field (Distance)

• All-Time: Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) / Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)
• Current: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway)

🛹 Skateboarding

• All-Time: Tony Hawk (USA)
• Current: Nyjah Huston (USA)

🏄 Surfing

• All-Time: Kelly Slater (USA)
• Current: Gabriel Medina (Brazil)

🏓 Table Tennis

• All-Time: Ma Long (China)
• Current: Fan Zhendong (China)

🏸 Badminton

• All-Time: Lin Dan (China)
• Current: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)

🏹 Archery

• All-Time: Kim Soo-Nyung (South Korea - Honorable Mention)
• Current: Kim Woo-jin (South Korea)

🤾 Handball

• All-Time: Nikola Karabatić (France)
• Current: Mikkel Hansen (Denmark)

🥌 Curling

• All-Time: Kevin Martin (Canada)
• Current: Niklas Edin (Sweden)

⛷️ Alpine Skiing

• All-Time: Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden)
• Current: Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)

Shop the Names in This Article

Michael Jordan

LeBron James

Pelé

Diego Maradona

Lionel Messi

Tom Brady

Patrick Mahomes

Babe Ruth

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