Originally Posted by RRxtar (Post 7488035)

Roger Federer has to be up there on the list of most dominant in their sport.


However, if we are talking about the greatest athlete, I would assume that means an athlete who is not one dimensional in their sport, but would be reasonably competent in other sports. A tennis player isnt going to be good at football, a sprinter isnt going to be good at triathlons, etc


My personal opinion would be an MMA fighter would be the most well rounded physically and mentally. Someone like GSP (no Im not saying GSP is the greatest athlete of all time), is clearly good at combat sports. Has the explosiveness of a sprinter and the endurance of a distance runner. He can probably play a physical game (football), a quick game (basketball) and maybe a finesse game.

Originally Posted by Fuhrër-Z (Post 7491583)

Clara Hughes is very much worth mentioning

Originally Posted by RayBot (Post 7468272)

But in hockey, if you take Gretzky vs. Ovechkin at the top of their careers....can't help to think that Gretzky had it easy way back when. Like, would Gretzky, if he started in 2005 would just have been utterly crushed while if Ovechkin started his career in '78 would have done much better than Gretzky.

Originally Posted by RayBot (Post 7469250)

In ways i think Gretzky had it easier. I want to refer back to a few rule changes my friend told me about, but i was too young to even remember the facts. But apparently there were some rule changes that pretty much slowed Gretzky down as a dominant player. The later players after Gretzky's time like Crosby and Ovechkin would be assumed didn't have the same 'freedoms' Gretzky had in his prime. Just like Jordan shaped the game of basketball, Gretzky did the same for hockey.

But as of right now, i cant back up what I just said, so its time for me to do a lil research.

On top of that, i don't think Gretzky was hockeys greatest player...just using him as example. Sure Gretzky had the career statistics, but imo, Bobby Orr was able to accomplish something that Gretzky could never touch...being the league's best defenseman AND be the league's top scorer.
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**Edited addition.

Here we go, here is one that I found:
Another rule that targeted a specific team, this time the Edmonton Oilers and Wayne Gretzky. From SI:

In the mid-'80s, the NHL stepped in and made it nearly impossible to see 3-on-3 situations by negating the additional loss of manpower when a second set of minor penalties is whistled.

Regarded as the "Edmonton Rule," the freewheeling Oiler teams of the 1980s used the tactic to great advantage. As soon as players went to the penalty box, the ensuing play invariably would involve an Oiler player jostling an opponent in hopes of goading him into a coincidental minor situation. The thought behind the theory was that with the Oilers' superior skating skill supplied by Paul Coffey, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Glen Anderson, et al, the more open space the better. They correctly calculated that extended stretches of 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 increased the likelihood of offensive annihilation.

So the NHL made a rule-change that made teams play 5-on-5 during offsetting/coincidental penalties -- known informally as "The Gretzky Rule." The rule was reversed in the early 1990s ... just in time for players like Mario and Jagr to exploit it.