Arena Top 100 Athletes In The World(2014 Edition)

I am posting a subjective list of the top 100 athletes in the world today. I do take the popularity of a sport into account, so Association Football may have more entries than say, water polo. Women and men, and in some cases, even animals are included. I will try and present 5 listings per day. Here is 100-96:

100.
Simona Halep

Tennis, Romania


Halep is a rising star in the tennis world, being only 22 years old and being a finalist in the 2014 French Open and semifinalist at 2014 Wimbledon. She is currently ranked 3rd in the world overall.

99.
Earl Thomas

American Football, United States


Thomas, a member of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, is a three time pro bowler, as well as a consensus All American in college football. At 25 years old, he is part of the young nucleus of Seattle's "Legion of Boom".

98.
Jose Altuve

Baseball, Venezuela


Although the Houston Astros are among the worst teams in Major League Baseball, Jose Altuve is currently leading the league in batting average and has been to the all star game twice, in 2014 and 2012. On June 29th, 2014, he became the first baseball player since Ray Chapman in 1917 to steal two or more bases in two consecutive games.

97.
Magnus Carlsen

Chess, Norway


While some may question the legitimacy of chess as a sport, not only did Carlesen defeat Viswanthan Ananda, who had held the title since 2006, he became the second youngest world chess champion in history behind Garry Kasparov, and his looks have given the sport a sexy new face.

96.
Li Xeurui

Badmitton, China


Xeurui is the 2012 gold medalist in badmitton, as well as the sports top ranked female player. In addition to her olympic gold medal, she has won silver in the world championships and gold in the Asian games twice.

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95. Virat Kohli​

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Cricket, India

Kohli, another young up and coming athlete, is only 25 years old, and but
won the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012. He also hit the fastest
ever Indian century and the 7th fastest in cricket history. He is also a member
of the Indian 2011 Cricket World Cup championship team.

94. Felix Loch

Luge, Germany

Loch is a two time olympic luge gold medalist, having won in 2010 and 2014. He has also won 8 world luge championships, and at 18 years old, was the youngest ever world luge champion in 2008.

93. Rebecca Soni

Swimming, United States

Soni is a two time olympic gold medalist, having won in 2008 and 2012
in the 200 m backstroke. She has won two silver medals as well.

92. Zhou Yang

Short Track Speed Skating, China

Another multiple olympic medalist, Yang won two golds in Sochi
in 2014 in short track speed skating middle distances(1500m and
3000m relay), and also won gold in 2010 in Vancouver(1500m).
In addition, she has 13 world championship medals.

91. Dale Earnhardt, Jr

Stock Car Racing, United States

Despite having difficulties coming out of his late father's shadow,
he is NASCAR's most popular driver, has won 23 career races,
and the Daytona 500 twice, including this year. He is having something
of a career resurgence in 2014, where he is in 4th place in the Sprint Cup
standings after failing to crack the top 5 between 2007 and 2012.

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gr8 thread dude keep it up

 

If you rank any NASCAR or Indycar racer above Fernando Alonso this list is BS.

 

You mean the guy who hasn't won in a year and a half?

 

Yes, the guy who has wrung the neck of the Ferrari F2012, F138 and F14T despite them being largely uncompetitive cars. That guy. Probably the best racing driver in the world.

 

Sorry but when you are in a sport where you are driving a car, you have to take the car into account, in my opinion.

 

What?

Isn't that what I'm saying? Fernando is outdriving the car?

 

So you would rank Fernando ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg then?

 

you should just post the whole list so we can get to telling you why it's wrong (or right). i'm sure you spent a lot of time and thought on your list, but doing a slow countdown of something that is just your personal preference seems a little self-indulgent. in the past when we've done lists like these we've always gotten input from the community at large.

 

You seem outvoted. I'd rather take some time and put a little more analysis and thought into it than just post a whole list.

 

i seem what now?

 

by my post? i'm pretty sure the people that liked it got my sarcasm. and even if they didn't, you should give tom's post a little more than 2 minutes to decide whether or not it's outvoted.

 

Your the first to post a complaint on the format out of five that have posted or liked.

 

lol, Rosberg. He's just in a fast car and has no racecraft to speak of. Like how everyone criticised Vettel for this in 2011 until in 2012 he had to fight and had some amazing, ballsy overtakes (like 2 wheels off to pass Alonso at Monza), Rosberg is just ok at the front of the pack. But when he can't pass a Toro Rosso and has to cry to the stewards via the team for intervention, you know this kid has nothing.

But honestly? I doubt there's a driver out there who thinks Alonso isn't the best driver on Earth. Remember, too, Alonso should have won 2012 and basically it's Grosjean's fault he didn't.

 

If the list is deemed to be self indulgent I just won't finish the thread. Just because something is the easy way doesn't make it the best way.

 

lol

 

that doesn't even make any sense. first of all, my post was a complaint, but i get that you don't get it. i guess you have to know me to recognise the tone. i've explained it to you now, though. second, are you really saying his opinion's irrelevant because he was the third person to comment in your thread instead of the first?

 

I'm not saying his opinion is irrelevant, I'm saying overall I've gotten a positive response to the thread. But if people are offended by it I'm more than willing to stop.

 

you're going to have to quote the overall positive responses to me.

 

I'm positive if Alonso is well ranked.

 

I think your argument is very subjective. If you had a driver that had 10 wins in 10 races on the best car on the planet, versus a guy that has 0 wins on the worst car on the planet, I'm pretty sure most sponsors would prefer the first driver. Ability is great, but on a list such as this there has to be some objective measurements.

 

This is current sportspeople, right? Then you would have to include Vettel, by your measurement, and Alonso as no other drivers have multiple titles. Alonso's ability is widely regarded by pundits and other drivers - Daniel Ricciardo recently said Alonso was the best driver on the grid, so you know, it's out there as an idea.

 

While I'm not going to say who is and isn't on the list, I will say there are only so many slots for racers, and they are not all F1 racers. I will also say that my methodology is more based on measurable results and current achievements, rather than subjective analysis or past successes.

 

Um, Soni is a breaststroker, not a backstroker. FYI.