Who is the Greatest Sportsmen of the Modern Era?

By Frank Oliver

Who is the greatest sportsman of the modern era? This book compares seven contenders to that title: Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Lance Armstrong, Valentino Rossi, and Andre Agassi. Each athlete has been selected because they have reached the pinnacle of their sport and earned legions of fans across the world, making them truly global superstars. This book seeks to establish what made each so unique in their discipline and who stands out as the greatest of them all.

This great value book is really seven books in one volume. Each chapter is equivalent to a mini biography of each athlete covering their childhood, how they broke into their sport, how they rose to the top, their greatest achievements, and their flaws. It also compares each athlete to their peers as well as greats from past eras to justify their place in this list. The book seeks to understand the characters, the talent that made them so outstanding, and the intangible special qualities that allowed them to transcend their profession.

Attempting to compare athletes from different sports is an imposing task and one that is guaranteed to provoke debate. How do you compare top athletes from different sports and different eras when the characteristics required to be successful are so different? For example, how can you compare Tiger Wood’s fourteen majors to Mike Tyson’s heavyweight title? The eighth and final chapter solves this problem by pitting the candidates against each other in ubiquitous categories such as Dominance, Popularity, Mental Toughness, Athleticism, Achievement, and Longevity to determine an overall winner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Oliver
• Release date: Apr 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476032757

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Who is the Greatest Sportsman of the Modern Era?

By Frank Oliver

Copyright 2012 Frank Oliver

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition

Introduction

I grew up watching sport in the 1980s just as globalisation was occurring and the amount of sport on television was expanding rapidly along with the number of networks. I have continued following and studying sport avidly to the present day. While I have always been interested in the history of the sports I followed and the great athletes of the past, I have always been more interested in the best from the period I was watching, what I call the modern greats. I was intrigued by the top athletes and have always been drawn to following the world number one. I wanted to know how they got there and how they were able to rise above their contemporaries on big occasions. There are only a handful of special athletes who are recognised as being on a level above the rest; after watching this very select group for more than twenty years I began to wonder… who is the greatest sportsman of the modern era?

In this book I have selected and compared seven contenders to that title. In each chapter there is a mini biography of each athlete, detailing their life, their achievements, their major rivals, and their flaws. The final chapter compares all seven against each other to decide an overall winner.

These athletes have been selected based on their sporting records, level of dominance, their popularity, both within their sport and beyond, and their longevity over time. Even so, some of my choices may be controversial because everybody will have their own opinion. Why have I chosen Mike Tyson instead of Ali? Tiger Woods instead of Ben Hogan? Michael Schumacher instead of Fangio?

I have selected only modern athletes because it is difficult to compare an athlete from today to one who played the same sport half a century ago when the format of the sport, the level of competition, and the pressures of the media were vastly different. Being the number one in a popular sport today is far more difficult than it was a few decades ago when the numbers of people playing were lower and the standard of professionalism, competition, and scrutiny were arguably less intense.

Why have I chosen athletes from the fields of boxing, motorsport, tennis, basketball, golf, and cycling instead of other sports? It’s because the seven characters in this book have dominated more than any other sports stars and because their sports are the most widely played and watched around the globe.

I still feel the need to justify my picks in this introduction, even before you begin reading and discover for yourself. I have chosen Mike Tyson because at his peak there was no fighter more dominant, and no other fighter has ever generated more interest and controversy throughout their career, or led such an interesting life.

With Michael Jordan there can be few challenges to his status as the greatest basketball player of all time, and during the 90’s he was considered to be the most recognisable athlete on the planet, if not the most recognised person (ranking ahead of the Queen of England and the President of the United States).

Tiger Woods is set to break Jordan’s career earnings record and become the first billion dollar sportsman. He has replaced Jordan as the most recognised athlete and made the sport of golf popular and cool.

Michael Schumacher is statistically the most successful racing driver in motorsport’s premier division of Formula One. Michael’s numbers dwarf those of his closest rivals and he has more wins than Senna and Prost combined.

Valentino Rossi is the most dominant Moto GP rider in history; he has won or been second in nearly every championship he has entered over the last twenty years.

Lance Armstrong won a record 7 Tour de France events in a row, the most gruelling test in cycling. That his success came after a battle with cancer makes his achievements even more remarkable.

Finally and perhaps most controversially I have selected Andre Agassi as the best all round tennis player and the most popular. Yes Federer and Sampras won more majors but only Agassi won every tournament on every surface, and completed the so called Golden Slam (all four majors, Tour Championship & Olympic gold).

In the final chapter I have tried to pick a number one; an athlete who stands out above the others within this book. I have compared all seven against each other in six categories to produce a category winner and then an overall winner. The categories are:

Dominance - How big was the chasm between them and their closest rivals?

Longevity - Did they stay on top for the duration, or were they just a flash in the pan?

Mental Toughness - Did they deliver on the big occasion or let the pressure get to them?

Athleticism - How naturally talented or gifted were they as an athlete?

Popularity - How much were they loved by the fans and how much of an impact did they make on their sport?

Achievements - What titles did they win to legitimise their talent?

By the end of this book you will have my opinion of who I think is the best. Enjoy reading about each athlete and form your own view of who you think is the greatest sportsman of the modern era.

Chapter 1

Michael Jordan

Basketball

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York on 17 February, 1963 as the fourth of five children. He grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and enjoyed a happy childhood in which he was encouraged to take up a range of sports by his father James. James Jordan’s favourite sport was baseball and it was his influence that led Jordan to fall in love with that sport, long before he ever considered a future in basketball. Jordan was close to both of his parents and remained so throughout his adult life. In particular his father had an enormous influence on his life and he confided in him throughout his professional career. His parents were his role models and they taught him the value of hard work and determination. Despite this guidance Jordan was a lazy child, the only thing that seemed to bring out any kind of drive was the competition provided by sport. His father once said that if his son had to work for a living, he would starve. In competition however, Jordan possessed a work ethic and level of determination that set him apart from his peers even as a child.

As he grew older his interest in other sports began to wane until only one could ignite the passion inside him. It was in his parent’s backyard that he began to learn his craft during fierce one on one battles with his older brother Larry. Competing against his taller and stronger brother, Jordan tasted defeat time and time again as he struggled to cope with his brother’s aggressive defence. Jordan credited his brother with giving him the determination to improve his game to the point where he could not only match him; but eventually beat him convincingly.

There were more setbacks however when Jordan tried out for his high school basketball team. As a six feet one player he was dropped from the Sophomore team in favour of a taller player. Distraught at failing, he returned home to his parents in tears and ready to quit. As ever they taught him that hard work and determination was the answer, he couldn’t quit until he knew he had given one hundred percent. Instead he had to go back and work harder until he proved to his coaches that they had made a mistake. Jordan took his parent’s advice and set about outworking his team mates and devoting himself to improving his game. His work ethic was so great, that he attended his own team practice, and then the senior team practice, before running line drills called suicides by himself. By his junior year his skills had developed and he had grown another three inches, enough for him to make the senior team.

Jordan grew to become an impressive athlete with an incredible leaping ability; even in high school he wowed the crowds with break away slam dunks and aerial moves. He eventually reached a height of six feet six, a freak of nature that his father took as a sign that Jordan was destined for a career in basketball, because no other member of the Jordan family had ever been over six feet. In high school Jordan averaged over twenty points per game in each season, but by the time he reached his senior year he still had not attracted much attention from the university scouts. He attended the Five Star Basketball Camp which built his profile, but even then he wasn’t rated that highly. He later impressed spectators at the McDonald All Star game with a 30 point performance, but even then opinion was mixed. Patrick Ewing who went on to become one of Jordan’s main rivals in the NBA was considered the best prospect in the country; amazingly Jordan didn’t even make the top three hundred.

One coach did have some foresight and recognition of Jordan’s potential; Dean Smith from the University of North Carolina had seen Jordan at the basketball camp and was impressed by his athleticism and work ethic. He wasted no time in recruiting Jordan and took the risk of giving the young freshman a starting role on the team. It proved to be a safe bet as Jordan quickly paid back his coach’s confidence by finishing third on the team’s scoring list, behind two of his older and more experienced team mates. In the 1982 NCAA championship game against Georgetown Jordan stepped out of the shadow of his team mates to cement himself as the premier player. In a moment that Jordan credited as being the starting point of his career, with the championship on the line, his team behind by one point, and barely ten seconds left to play, Jordan drained the game winning basket. The shot catapulted him to stardom and sparked a run that culminated in Jordan being named the player of the year for the 1983-84 season.

In 1984 Jordan was selected for the US Olympic basketball team at a time when professionals from the NBA were not eligible to play. The US team, captained by Jordan, destroyed every opponent and cruised to the gold medal. Jordan finished the tournament as top scorer which prompted the Olympic coach to describe him as the best athlete he had ever coached.

Now highly rated Jordan decided to forgo his senior year and enter himself in the 1984 NBA draft. He was picked third overall by the Chicago Bulls behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie. Houston and Portland who had the number one and two picks both needed centres, while Jordan played as a much smaller guard. Olajuwon had a respectable career but Bowie drifted into obscurity meaning Portland made a huge blunder by passing over Jordan. The Bulls signed Jordan on a six million dollar, seven year contract which turned out to be the biggest bargain in NBA history.

Jordan’s debut professional season was electric; his offensive ability as a rookie was astonishing and he soon attracted huge crowds with his gravity defying dunks. He impressed coaches, fans, and his fellow players with his competitive instincts; even his opponents had to admire him. Not everyone was a fan though, some of the veteran players felt that Jordan hadn’t served enough time to warrant his status and his confidence showed a lack of respect to the seniors. At the time the game’s dominant players were Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Isaiah Thomas, players who had won championships and earned their reputation by performing time and again on the big occasion. When Jordan was selected for the 1985 All Star Game the other players made a point of freezing him out and limited his scoring to just seven points. With his jumping ability and creativity it was only natural for Jordan to enter the Slam Dunk contest on the same weekend. He reached the final where he squared off against another of the game’s greats in Dominique Wilkins, who was also blessed with an abnormal jumping ability. Wearing a gold chain Jordan was marginally outscored by Wilkins and had to settle for second; but a rivalry was born.

He finished the season with an average of 28.2 points per game which was third in the NBA overall and only narrowly behind Hall of Famer Larry Bird, at the time the league’s premier player. Jordan led the Bulls to the playoffs for the first time in years and although they made an early exit he promised that they would make it past the regular season every year he was playing. He sealed the end of a dazzling first season with the Rookie of the Year Award.

In just the third game of his second professional season disaster struck when Jordan hobbled to the bench with a broken bone in his foot. He missed 64 games, (almost the entire regular season) while he underwent physiotherapy. When he returned a frustrated Jordan was forced to play reduced minutes by Bull’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf who feared his star player might suffer a career ending injury.

In the playoffs time restraints were lifted, but facing the Bulls were the most successful team of all time; the Larry Bird led Boston Celtics. During the three game series Jordan averaged an unprecedented 43.7 points per game, but his efforts were not enough to stop the Bulls being eliminated by the dominant Celtics. In game two Jordan scored 63 points in an effort that is considered the greatest playoff performance in league history; Larry Bird described him as God, disguised as Michael Jordan.

Back to full health Jordan was dominant in the 1986-87 season; he scored 50 points in his first game and broke the 50 and 60 mark on more than one occasion. He won the first of ten NBA scoring titles in a year which included a streak of nine consecutive games scoring 40 or more points. At the All Star weekend Jordan again entered the Slam Dunk Contest having been absent the previous year while he recovered from his broken foot. Wilkins was absent but Jordan took the title with a flawless performance which culminated in his now iconic dunk from the free throw line. Despite his performances he did not receive the most valuable player award because of the Bull’s average record; instead the award went to Magic Johnson. Despite Jordan’s individual success the team continued to underperform because they lacked depth in talent which separated top teams like the Celtics. Jordan could not outscore teams by himself, as he showed with his brave efforts against the Celtics the year before. In the playoffs the Bulls were again defeated in three games by Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.

The 1988 Slam Dunk contest was the most eagerly anticipated in years. Jordan and Dominique Wilkins were both healthy and scheduled to renew the rivalry that began three years before. Both were previous winners; Jordan was the defending champion, but Wilkins had defeated him in 1985 and the two had not faced each other since. Jordan had missed the 1986 contest through injury and Dominique was absent when Jordan took the title in 1987. The final was spectacular and set the bar for all slam dunk contests. Round by round the two traded spectacular dunks to the point where the other competitors may as well not have been there. For his final dunk Jordan again took off from the foul line but this time he did a double clutch in the air before he slammed it home. A photograph of the dunk was made into a poster that appeared on the bedroom of every child in America through the 1980s; the