ESPN has released their ranking of the top 100 athletes of the 2000s. They've done these rankings before, but the catch this time is it includes international competitors. Only performance from the 2000s is counted, so any stat before that time is not used in their evaluation criteria.

I've only put the top 50 below so that we may properly laugh at these together.

1.Michael Phelps
2.Serena Williams
3.Lionel Messi
4.LeBron James
5.Tom Brady
6.Roger Federer
7.Simone Biles
8.Tiger Woods
9.Usain Bolt
10.Kobe Bryant
11.Novak Djokovic
12.Rafael Nadal
13.Cristiano Ronaldo
14.Stephen Curry
15.Katie Ledecky
16.Tim Duncan
17.Shaquille O’Neal
18.Patrick Mahomes
19.Lewis Hamilton
20.Aaron Donald
21.Diana Taurasi
22.Sidney Crosby
23.Kevin Garnett
24.Albert Pujols
25.Floyd Mayweather
26.Peyton Manning
27.Randy Moss
28.Nikola Jokic
29.Michael Schumacher
30.Mike Trout
31.Clayton Kershaw
32.Marta
33.Miguel Cabrera
34. Tamika Catchings
35.Dwyane Wade
36.Maya Moore
37.Ichiro Suzuki
38.Barry Bonds
39.Kevin Durant
40. Justin Verlander
41.Dirk Nowitzki
42.Giannis Antetokounmpo
43. Alex Rodriguez
44. Mikaela Shiffrin
45. David Ortiz
46. Max Scherzer
47.Jimmie Johnson
48. Thierry Henry
49.Aitana Bonmati
50. Zinedine Zidane

- I can accept Phelps as number one. Much of his accomplishments are because of longevity (most medals), but he is certainly decorated. My big issue with him was always he never won gold in the 100 M Free Style. That's like arguing person X is the fastest person in the world yet didn't compete in the 100 M dash. What Usain Bolt did going three consecutive Olympics winning the 100M and 200M dash is more impressive. For Phelps, I also think back to the historic comeback win in the 4 x 100 M freestyle over France (watched it again last week, it still gives me goosebumps). Part of the reason it was an epic comeback was because he put the team in a hole. I know, I'm being picky. Plus if you add in his "Pan Pacific" and "World Championship" accomplishments he has about 574,940,403 medals.

- LeBron being over Brady might be the biggest joke on here.

- I'm confused that my favorite all-time athlete Roger Federer is ahead of Djokovic and Nadal.

- For some reason, they must have ignored the 2000s rule with Zinedine Zidane. The dude was peak in the mid to late 90s.

- Aaron Donald at 20? Is there another Aaron Donald I'm not aware of?

- No way on earth Kobe should be that high.

Interesting that you have to drop to #24 to find the first baseball player.

4 hours ago, bugatti said:

- I can accept Phelps as number one. Much of his accomplishments are because of longevity (most medals), but he is certainly decorated. My big issue with him was always he never won gold in the 100 M Free Style. That's like arguing person X is the fastest person in the world yet didn't compete in the 100 M dash. What Usain Bolt did going three consecutive Olympics winning the 100M and 200M dash is more impressive. For Phelps, I also think back to the historic comeback win in the 4 x 100 M freestyle over France (watched it again last week, it still gives me goosebumps). Part of the reason it was an epic comeback was because he put the team in a hole. I know, I'm being picky. Plus if you add in his "Pan Pacific" and "World Championship" accomplishments he has about 574,940,403 medals.

- LeBron being over Brady might be the biggest joke on here.

- I'm confused that my favorite all-time athlete Roger Federer is ahead of Djokovic and Nadal.

- For some reason, they must have ignored the 2000s rule with Zinedine Zidane. The dude was peak in the mid to late 90s.

- Aaron Donald at 20? Is there another Aaron Donald I'm not aware of?

- No way on earth Kobe should be that high.

That one surprised me as well.  I didn’t make it beyond the top 25. I think Simone Biles would be top 3 if it weren’t for how her 2020 (2021) Olympics had played out. I think she ends up top 2 after this years summer Olympics as long as things go as expected. I’d also expect Ledecky to move up the list as well after this years Olympics.

 

Part of me wonders if Usain Bolt would be a couple of spots higher if he were American.