NBA superstars LeBron James, Steph Curry, US Olympians Phelps, Simone Biles among top 100 athletes since 2000: ESPN

Compressing professional athletes’ more than two decades of achievements around the world, ESPN ranked the top 100 sportspersons of the 21st century so far. The task was obviously not easy, especially since the sports outlet was faced with one of the most arduous and back-breaking dilemmas that entailed narrowing down the greatest among an ensemble of greats. Despite countless sports on the board, with an endless list of athletes as their respective representatives across the globe, the task was, in fact, accomplished. However, it wasn’t particularly celebrated by all online.

A group of journalists put their heads together to churn out the list of the greatest athletes. The result reflected the chart leaning towards certain ends more than others. The list of top 100 players of the 21st century saw a grand roster of basketball greats (24) tussle for the top.

Following the much-loved sport in the US, baseball talents were next in line on the table with 17 entries. Thereafter, the roster welcomes star players from the following sports: 15 soccer, 12 football, 6 tennis, 4 golf, 4 boxing, 3 track & field, 3 auto racing, 3 hockey, 2 swimming, 2 gymnastics, 2 MMA, 1 skiing, 1 snowboarding and 1 cricket.

America heavily dominated the rankings, with 56 athletes tracing a US nationality. A vast gap between the subsequent entries based on nationalities distances American additions from the rest. While players from the US seemed to have the upper hand, it seemed equally questionable, considering the following list included 5 Spanish, 4 Canadian, 4 Dominican-American, 3 French, 3 Brazillian and 3 Japanese athletes.

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The top 100 roster significantly weighed down the relevance of players from elsewhere, with only 2 German, Jamaican, Swedish and Serbian players each. On the other hand, merely a single player from the following countries made it to the rankings: Argentina, Australia, Croatia, England, Greece, India, Northern Ireland, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Seven of the top ten athletes from America are from the United States, including some of the most celebrated sportspersons, like US Olympians Michael Phelps and Simone Biles and NBA stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant (both have two Olympic gold medals). Serena Williams, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods were the three other American athletes in the top 10.

These rankings, when viewed from the lens of continent stats, registered 67 North Americans, 22 Europeans, 5 South Americans, 5 Asians and 1 Australian pro-athletes.

The only Indian player raising the bar for the subcontinent was the ODI and T20 World Cup champion Virat Kohli (cricket) at #97.

ESPN has also considered its options for a possible list of top athletes in 2050. Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz, WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark, Brazil’s soccer star Endrick, auto racer Kimi Antonelli, and 2022 South American Footballer of the Year Linda Caicedo are some next-generation picks of greats.

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Top 50 athletes since 2000, according to ESPN

1. Michael Phelps, swimming (America)
2. Serena Williams, tennis (America)
3. Lionel Messi, soccer (Argentina)
4. LeBron James, basketball (America)
5. Tom Brady, football (America)
6. Roger Federer, tennis (Switzerland)
7. Simone Biles, gymnastics (America)
8. Tiger Woods, golf (America)
9. Usain Bolt, track (Jamaica)
10. Kobe Bryant, basketball (America)
11. Novak Djokovic, tennis (Serbia)
12. Rafael Nadal, tennis (Spain)
13. Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer (Portugal)
14. Stephen Curry, basketball (America)
15. Katie Ledecky, swimming (America)
16. Tim Duncan, basketball (America)
17. Shaquille O'Neal, basketball (America)
18. Patrick Mahomes, football (America)
19. Lewis Hamilton, auto racing (Britain)
20. Aaron Donald, football (America)
21. Diana Taurasi, basketball (America)
22. Sidney Crosby, hockey (Canada)
23. Kevin Garnett, basketball (America)
24. Albert Pujols, baseball (Dominican Republic-America)
25. Floyd Mayweather, boxing (America)
26. Peyton Manning, football (America)
27. Randy Moss, football (America)
28. Nikola Jokic, basketball (Serbia)
29. Michael Schumacher, auto racing (Germany)
30. Mike Trout, baseball (America)
31. Clayton Kershaw, baseball (America)
32. Marta, soccer (Brazil)
33. Miguel Cabrera, baseball (Venezuela)
34. Tamika Catchings, basketball (America)
35. Dwyane Wade, basketball (America)
36. Maya Moore, basketball (America)
37. Ichiro Suzuki, baseball (Japan)
38. Barry Bonds, baseball (America)
39. Kevin Durant, basketball (America)
40. Justin Verlander, baseball (America)
41. Dirk Nowitzki, basketball (Germany)
42. Gianni Antetokounmpo, basketball (Greece-Nigeria)
43. Alex Rodriguez, baseball (America)
44. Mikaela Shiffrin, skiing (America)
45. David Ortiz, baseball (Dominican Republic-America)
46. Max Scherzer, baseball (America)
47. Jimmie Johnson, auto racing (America)
48. Thierry Henry, soccer (France)
49. Aitana Bonmati, soccer (Catalonia-Spain)
50. Zinedine Zidane, soccer (France)

See the full list here.

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