A new survey ranked the greatest athletes of all time from all sports, alive or dead. People were asked to chose between athletes in a ‘series of head-to-head matchups.’ The greatest were than ranked on how often they won those matchups.
Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan tied overall for the ‘greatest’ title. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Babe Ruth followed in the rankings.
Half of the athletes in the Top 10 were basketball players. It didn’t matter what sport those surveyed were fans of, basketball players won a majority of their matchups.
Here’s the Top 10:
- Muhammad Ali (78%) (1st tied)
- Michael Jordan (78%) (1st tied)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (73% 3rd tied)
- Babe Ruth (73% 3rd tied)
- Jim Thorpe (72% 5th)
- Jackie Robinson (70% 6th tied)
- Jesse Owens (70% 6th tied)
- Kobe Bryant (67% 8th)
- Magic Johnson (66% 9th tied)
- Michael Phelps (66% 9th tied)
See the full list HERE.