My all-time best list

I have had this idea for quite some time. To tell the truth I have been thinking along this line since World Athletics (they were called IAAF at that time) awarded the athlete of the 20th century title to F. Blankers-Koen 

and C. Lewis. I was beginning to be disappointed by C. Lewis and his attitude (at that time, and the feeling grew over the years). To tell the truth I could not understand why Lewis was selected rather than, say Owens or Zatopek. So I decided to establish my own list of top athletes. It is definitely a subjective one. For instance you will not find King Carl in my top list. He should have figured there on pure technical arguments, but knowing perfectly that I am unfair I preferred to give his place to some other athlete (in this case to none other than the great Tommie Smith).

It is customary to have a top-ten list but in my case I found this too restrictive. So, I opted for a top-twelve. Moreover I decided that I would not include athletes who are still in their prime. So athletes like A. Duplantis, A. Felix, E. Thompson-Herah, S. McLaughlin or A. Wlodarczyk do not figure in the list. I made an exception for E. Kipchoge in the men's list since he is, to my eyes, the greatest Marathon runner ever. He can very well win a few more Marathons but given what he has already done he has won his place among the all-time best.

So without further ado, here is my top-12 list for men

James Thorpe
Jesse Owens
Emil Zatopek 
Parry O’Brien
Al Oerter
Bikila Abebe
Tommie Smith
Edwin Moses
Hicham ElGuerouj
Sergey Bubka
Usain Bolt
Eliud Kipchoge

and for women

Kinue Hitomi
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Iolanda Balas
Wilma Rudolph
Irina Szewinska
Marita Koch
Merlene Ottey
Heike Drechsler
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Yelena Isinbaeva
Tirunesh Dibaba
Valerie Adams

And since I talked about the athlete of the 20th century and made clear that I did not approve the choice of C. Lewis (while I found the choice of F. Blankers-Koen quite justified) I should present my own choice for the athlete of the century: E. Zatopek.

His feat is unique: in the 1952 Olympics he won the 5000 m, 10000 m and the Marathon, despite the fact that it was his first participation in the latter event. (L. Viren tried to match Zatopek's feat in 1976 but could only finish 5th in the Marathon).