Is Leo Messi the greatest sportsman of all time do you think?

Of course not. You can't compare between sports. You can't compare Messi with Senna for example, or with Jordan or other greats, and say he is better than them.

There's two things that I would consider relevant in making comparisons.

1- How long were they the best in the world in their sport?
(It makes a difference if they were number 1 for 1 or 2 years, vs consistently the best over a long span of time.)

2- How dominant were they relative to the other athletes in their sport.
(i.e. Even if they were the best, if they were only slightly better than the competition and their records have good chances of being broken in the future, then that would be a point against him)

Impossible to say.

But he is definitely the best footballer of all time.

For me its a tie between him and Muhammed Ali.

serghei said:

Of course not. You can't compare between sports. You can't compare Messi with Senna for example, or with Jordan or other greats, and say he is better than them.

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Absolutely. As others have noted, we have immense difficulty in comparing footballers, golfers, tennis players, F1 drivers only separated by a few years (within their respective sports) How on earth can we compare Messi to Jordan to Jack Nicklaus to Karpov to Federer to Gretzky to Senna (or Schumacher) to Bubka to Bolt to Merck etc etc etc?

Hell, even comparing Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, three greats from the exact same sport, and of almost the exact same period is fraught with difficulties and pitfalls.

What I would say with absolute certainty though, is that Messi is far and away the best football player ever, with only Maradona roughly comparable.

BUT!

What you can say in favor of Leo, is that football is far and away the most popular sport on the planet (no other sport measures up to football's fingernail in terms of global presence) not just in the sense that it is followed by the greatest number of people, but in terms of the sheer number of professionals engaged with it. So, there you have it, Lionel Messi is the GOAT of the most universally competitive sport on the planet.

Criket and field hockey are the second/third most played sports in world.

If the number people of playing is relevant then the best at those could be considered better than Jordan, Bolt etc.

Just doesn't work like that.

Poll results are funny.. do ppl actually think that or just vote cuz they support barca?

To answer the question, no.. Messi is not the greatest sportsman of all time, he had a big impact for sure, but the three sportsman that had the greatest impact on their specific sports are:

Michael Jordan
Muhammad Ali
Wayne Gretzky

Not just because of stats or records, but for the impact they had and how they changed the sport and had impact beyond even.

FiReFTW said:

Poll results are funny.. do ppl actually think that or just vote cuz they support barca?

To answer the question, no.. Messi is not the greatest sportsman of all time, he had a big impact for sure, but the three sportsman that had the greatest impact on their specific sports are:

Michael Jordan
Muhammad Ali
Wayne Gretzky

Not just because of stats or records, but for the impact they had and how they changed the sport and had impact beyond even.

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What do you mean, how they changed the sport?

FiReFTW said:

Poll results are funny.. do ppl actually think that or just vote cuz they support barca?

To answer the question, no.. Messi is not the greatest sportsman of all time, he had a big impact for sure, but the three sportsman that had the greatest impact on their specific sports are:

Michael Jordan
Muhammad Ali
Wayne Gretzky

Not just because of stats or records, but for the impact they had and how they changed the sport and had impact beyond even.

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There are a lot more that did what those 3 did.

Senna - Probably the greatest racing driver of all time
Bobby Fischer - Probably the greatest chess player of all time
Nadia Comaneci - Probably the greatest gymnast of all time

Just to name a few. All three changed their sport in a way nobody else did before or after.

Just catching up with this thread, I know we're all going to have differing opinions and it's just a bit of fun right ?

However........ CHESS and DARTS are not sports ! Ever !

What's next ? Tiddlywinks, Conkers ? lol.

Catalan Fan said:

Just catching up with this thread, I know we're all going to have differing opinions and it's just a bit of fun right ?

However........ CHESS and DARTS are not sports ! Ever !

What's next ? Tiddlywinks, Conkers ? lol.

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Really, and why isn't chess a sport may I ask?

serghei said:

Really, and why isn't chess a sport may I ask?

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It is, but you raise a controversial point putting Fischer definitively above Kasparov

serghei said:

Really, and why isn't chess a sport may I ask?

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Most definitions of sport state that it requires physical effort/prowess/exertion. I don't think that reaching out with your hand a few centimeters, qualifies for that.

DonAndres said:

It is, but you raise a controversial point putting Fischer definitively above Kasparov

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Agreed, I think Kasparov was better.

Alik said:

Most definitions of sport state that it requires physical effort/prowess/exertion. I don't think that reaching out with your hand a few centimeters, qualifies for that.

Agreed, I think Kasparov was better.

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It does qualify for that. The phyisical part is minimum, but it exists. The opponents are face to face, and while the body is not as important as the mind, obviously, it's still part of the game and it can't be denied.

And also, it's officially recognized as a sport by the IOC.

Kasparov was better than Fischer in the same way Schumacher was better than Senna. Better longevity and a bigger career, but also less sheer brilliancy and less genius and, overall, less talent IMO. I tend to value these last three things more. I think most chess lovers would say that Fischer influenced chess more than Kasparov. I mean, his game vs Sparsky in the 70s was the biggest event in the sports history. Like the Ali - Foreman match from Kinshasa.

So, I'm going with Bobby Fischer in chess. Every. Single. Time.

serghei said:

It does qualify for that. The phyisical part is minimum, but it exists. The opponents are face to face, and while the body is not as important as the mind, obviously, it's still part of the game and it can't be denied.

And also, it's officially recognized as a sport by the IOC.

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The problem(not really a problem but yeah...) with defining Chess as sport though is that it blurs the line heavily. If Chess is a sport then so be Super Smash Bros, World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering, and any other boardgame, cardgame, videogame.

So the argument that physical qualities come into play doesn't hold for me. It seems to me that the IOC makes their decision on what it is a sport and whatnot based on whether it's popular and whether they are in the mood to call it a sport lol.

If anything, MMO and fighting gaming tournaments are physically much more exerting than a chess game. Sweaty palms and hands and such.