Top 5 Athletes of the Decade

Sports fans around the world enjoy nothing more than animated (sometimes heated) discussion concerning who among them can lay claim to cheering for the actual "best" athletes in the world. The relative merits of individual athletes and their accomplishments are bandied back and forth like a shuttlecock at a badminton match. Achievements are exaggerated and even fabricated as loyal supporters stray off the path of truth, attempting to defend the honor of their champions. There are five athletes who need no champion to take up their cause, five whose real life accomplishments over the last decade speak more convincingly than the most ardent fan club president could imagine. Here are the top five athletes of the last decade.

5. Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, towers over the competition physically as well as athletically. At 6'5" and 205 pounds, Bolt looks more like a basketball player than a typical sprinter, which is fitting since his skills as a sprinter are anything but typical. Born in 1986, Usain spent much of the last decade growing from a promising teenager into a dominating adult, overcoming the same injuries and setbacks that plague many sprinters. At the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China, 22 year old Usian Bolt shocked the world, becoming the first man in history to set world records while winning both the 100M (9.69) and 200M(19.30). Even more shocking was seeing Bolt pull up and wave to the crowd 20 meters before the finish of the 100. Not content with being the first man to break 9.7 in the hundred, or even with being the first man to ever break world records while winning gold in both the 100 and 200, Bolt broke another world record and earned another gold medal in the 4x100(37.10). Three races, three gold medals, three world records. As if to prove to the world that he was no Bob Beamon (1968 gold medal long jump champion who never again equaled his mark), Bolt broke both of this new records in 2009. The fastest man on earth now holds a record of 9.58 for the 100M and 19.19 for the 200M. Usain Bolt has literally separated himself from the rest of the competition while simultaneously establishing himself as the fastest man on the planet.

4. Tiger Woods, the best golfer of our time, if not of all time, seems at times to have accomplished more in the past decade than all other professional golfers combined. Beginning in 2000, Woods has won 56 PGA tournaments, nine of them in that very first year of the decade. On December 16th, just one day before Woods was named Golf Writer's Association of America's Player of the Year award for the 10th time in his 13 year career, The Associated press named him Athlete of the Decade. Tiger came back from major knee surgery in 2008 to dominate once again in 2009, cementing his place as the best golfer of this decade, who put together better numbers than any golfer in any decade. In spite of landing far into the rough in his personal life, Tiger is obviously one of the top five athletes of the past decade.

3. Michael Phelps, American swimmer extraordinaire, accomplished something that many had begun to doubt would ever be seen. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Phelps won eight gold medals in swimming, surpassing the 1972 record of seven, set by American Mark Spitz. Beijing was not Michael's first taste of Olympic victory this decade: he won six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 games. The fourteen Gold medals are the most ever by an Olympian. On December first, Swimmer's World named Phelps "World Swimmer of the Year" for 2009, marking an unprecedented fourth consecutive annual award, and sixth in the last decade. If Phelps had been born ten years earlier, he would be in contention for greatest swimmer, not only of the decade, but of the previous century. As it is, Michael is easily one of the top five athletes of this first decade of the 21st century.

2. Roger Federer, Swiss born professional tennis player, dominated his sport in the last decade. In 2001, Federer defeated Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, breaking Sampras' 31 match winning streak at Wimbledon. The next year he finished with an ATP ranking of 6th in the world. In 2003 Roger began his success at Grand Slam events by winning his first Wimbledon, which he followed up in 2004 by winning all the grand Slams but the French. By 2004, Federer began a hold on the number one ranking that lasted 237 weeks, surpassing the old record of 160. In the last decade, Federer has won 15 Grand Slams, more than anyone in Tennis history.

1. Lance Armstrong is an American cyclist whose accomplishments establish strong justification for naming him the best athlete of the last decade. The cancer survivor and drug free Tour de France champion overcame almost unbelievable personal and professional obstacles to win the Tour de France a world record seven consecutive years. Winning a race covering over 2,000 miles in 20 days is an accomplishment very few experience even once during a career. Lance faced the sprints and the climbs, the weather and the accidents, the crazed fans and the overzealous drug testers, yet came out on top seven years in a row from 1999-2005. It is an amazing feat that may never be repeated. After three years in retirement Armstrong made a comeback and finished third in 2009. The latest news is that after forming his own team and resuming his training and conditioning, Lance will be among the favorites in 2010.

Sources:
CBS Sports.com wire reports, "Bolt pulls off rare 100-200 double gold in record time." CBS Sports
No author, "Usain Bolt Biography" and "Usain Bolt Accolades", usainbolt.com
Doug Ferguson, "Tiger Woods voted AP's top athlete of the decade" , Recordpub
AP, "Woods named GWAA;s Top Male Player", GOLFWEEK
PGA Tour, "Your on-stop source for Tiger's 71 PGA Tour sins", PGATOUR
No author, "Lane 9 News: Swimming World reveals 2009 Swimmers of the Year", Swimming World Magazine
Bob Considine, "Phelps to use $1 million bonus to start charity", Today, MSNBC
ATPWorldTour, "Players - Roger Federer", ATPWORLD TOUR
Tennis.com "Players - Roger Federer", Tennis.com
Tour de France "Lance Armstrong" , Tour de France.com
"Lance Armstrong, News and Events", LanceArmstrong.com