Amazing Athletes of the 21st Century

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Content warning: wherein I talk about sports. If that’s not your thing, feel free to skip this one.

I’m not a rabid sports fan. I don’t have a team, though I do have teams I hate (or rather, like to hate on). But I do enjoy following sports.

I’ve witnessed some pretty spectacular sporting events and athletic performances in my life, so when ESPN published “Ranking the top 100 professional athletes since 2000”, I read it with joyful nostalgia for all the amazing things I’ve witnessed.

To make it even more fun, I wrote down my own personal recollections for the people on this list.

No. 1: Michael Phelps

23 gold medals? 8 in a single Olympics? Dude was absolutely unreal. I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed someone absolutely dominate a sport like he did.

Well, except for maybe…

No. 2: Serena Williams

"The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus Grand Slams," Williams wrote in Vogue in a 2022 essay announcing her impending retirement. "I didn't get there ... But I showed up 23 times, and that's fine. Actually it’s extraordinary."

Extraordinary indeed — both her and her sister.

No. 3: Lionel Messi

I’m not the biggest soccer fan (you can tell, I called it soccer). But that 2022 World Cup match where Messi finally won might’ve been the best sporting event I’ve ever watched.

Messi winning the World Cup in Argentina in 2022 was perhaps the biggest Hollywood ending that soccer has ever seen. After losing the 2014 final, it looked like it would never happen for Messi...[but] He scored twice in the final as Argentina beat France on penalties, sparking an outpouring of emotion and celebrations around the globe. "This guy transcends rivalries -- even between Brazil and Argentina," Brazil legend Ronaldo said. "I saw Brazilians and people all over the world rooting for Messi. It's a fitting finale for a genius who has marked an era." -- Sam Marsden

No. 4: Lebron James

No one has ever been this good for this long

His longevity is astounding. Breaking Kareem’s all-time scoring record? I never thought I’d see it.

No. 5: Tom Brady

I hate the Patriots.

But the sheer quantity of Brady’s rings is phenomenal. And he was a nobody!

Brady entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick "with little to no fanfare" and left "as the most successful player in league history."

When the Patriots told him he was done, he went to another team and won the Super Bowl the very next year. Absolute menace.

No. 7: Simon Biles

She’s does stuff nobody else in her sport has even attempted — and she does it in competition!

Biles has gone undefeated in all-around competition in every meet she has competed in, a staggering achievement in a sport that used to age-out athletes in their teens.

And she ain’t even done yet!

No: 8: Tiger Woods

ranked the No. 1 golfer in the world for 281 consecutive weeks and 683 overall

His career stats are otherworldly.

Like Serena, he has his own accomplishment named after him: The Tiger Slam.

And like Serena and Phelps, I’d be hard pressed to find someone who so completely dominated their sport like Tiger did.

He was perhaps the most clutch athlete I’ve ever seen. He always delivered when he had to.

No: 9: Usain Bolt

He was so much fun to watch. That photo of him winning is so, so good.

No: 10: Kobe Bryant

Who doesn’t say “Kooooooobbbeeeee” when they throw a piece of paper into the trash?

"He's like our generation's Jordan," Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas told ESPN

I hated him (and the Lakers) at first. But he was so surreal to watch, so unbelievably clutch, I grew to love him.

Still hate the lakers though.

Others

A few others on the list who stick out to me: