The greatest athlete of all time will most likely never have a definitive answer. However, this does very little to stop people from sharing their personal opinions on the matter, myself included. 

Drumroll, please … the greatest athlete of all time is Usain Bolt. 

Bolt is the fastest human being ever to grace the track, holding the world record for both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. 

I shuffled back and forth between iconic athletes for quite some time before choosing Bolt as my champion. 

It was hard to ignore Bo Jackson, the only athlete ever to be named an All-Star in two separate professional sports, as well as Venus Williams, arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, winning seven Grand Slam tennis titles and 14 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, an all-time record.

I could go on forever about the incredible athletes that just narrowly missed being my number one, but my deciding factor in choosing Bolt is simple; speed is the most valuable asset in all sports.

Speed is transferable through all sports. Being the fastest athlete on the playing field gives that athlete a tremendous advantage in most sports … except bowling, perhaps.

Outfielders in baseball must have a high level of speed to cover 100 feet of ground in mere seconds so they can make a play on a fly ball, and point guards see a lane open up in the paint and must be fast enough to drive the ball to the hoop before the defender returns to their spot. 

The bottom line is there is no greater attribute an athlete can possess than speed in sports.

Circling back to Usain Bolt, if speed is the most important attribute an athlete can possess and Bolt is the fastest human ever to live, he claims the title of the greatest athlete of all time. 

I want to explain how Usain Bolt was at his sprinting career’s prime.

Bolt set the current 100 m world record at the 2009 International Amateur Athletic Federation IAAF World Championships, clocking an astonishing 9.58 seconds to claim the title of fastest human of all time. 

At the record-winning event, Bolt’s average speed was 24 miles per hour, reaching a top speed of 27.7 mph in the 60 to 80-meter stretch of the sprint, fast enough to break the speed limit in many residential neighborhoods.

To add a cherry on top, Bolt also chose the 2009 World Championships to set the 200 m world record, winning the Olympic gold medal after clocking 19.19 seconds, demolishing the previous record of 19.32 seconds. 

By setting both the 100 and 200-meter world records, Bolt became the first sprinter to hold both records simultaneously since 1976.

As I said earlier, this topic will forever be debated, likely with no clear victor ever emerging, but the way I see it, as long as Usain Bolt holds the title of fastest human ever, he is my pick for greatest athlete of all time.