Who would you say is the single most famous and well known sports athlete for your country? An athlete which has become so iconic that even people who don't follow the sport know who they are?


For my country I'd say it has to be Babe Ruth.

Roger Bannister maybe? First 4 minute mile.

USA I'd say it's Tiger Woods.

No disrespect to Mr Bannister, but I can't imagine it's him. Not so long ago Gareth Bale was the most famous British sportsman if we include the isles and not only England.

For the English I'll say David Beckham or maybe Lewis Hamilton.

Yeah, I was going to add some more sportsmen/women of more note. As far as I'm aware that's all he did so probably not the most famous in that respect.

I'll have to kindly disagree with you on this one. It's my firm belief that very few Americans will remember who Tiger Woods was 50 years from now while Babe Ruth will still be remembered.

I think the question also has a timeliness factor to it. In the 70s Bannister was a household name, but I'm judging it based on today.

OK, but the question was who is most famous, not who will be remembered in 50 years. Different questions I think.

Will Tiger Woods be remembered for his golf or his other 'shenanigans'?

Any names I add will be from the era when I was interested in sport so you are right DBond. Names like Seb Coe, Steve Davis and Frank Bruno are more likely to appear. Apart from Snooker, I have zero interest in modern sport.

I would strongly argue the latter especially since his peak of success in golf was well over 10 years ago.

Norway I`d say Grete Waitz.

I just read her Wiki page. She had so many amazing accomplishments indeed!

by country ? for every country its Pele. the only person who didnt hear about him was here at SimHQ.

For the US, I would say Muhammad Ali. He was famous worldwide.
Canada it would probably be Wayne Gretzky.
England, maybe David Beckham ? I could be way off base here.

I wonder if "most famous" could have different meanings, and by that I mean inside the country vs globally. For example, maybe people in one country know a certain athlete, maybe historical to their nation, but people outside that country know of another. I think Babe Ruth might be a good example - most people in the US know the name, but I'm not sure if he's as well known outside the US, whereas Muhammad Ali, as WangoTango points out, was famous worldwide.

but was ali famous worldwide inside the ring or for his fight outside it ? i think its the later honestly. most people never even saw a match of him. and boxe is not a popular sport, never been.

Both Pele and Ali no doubt had worldwide fame but the point of my post was to see which athletes were considered to be the most iconic/famous for individual countries so hence my thread title. This is why I found the post from Wigean to be quite interesting because based on what I read on her WIKI page I could clearly see why she is an icon in Norway.

It might be the later, for those that never saw him fight. Ali is more famous for his skill, than dodging Vietnam. True many did not see him fight, but it was a different time. TV broadcasts were not at our fingertips, in an instant like now.
To this day, people consider him the greatest heavyweight of all time.

Mike Tyson is easily the best heavyweight boxer of all time. In his prime he would of destroyed Ali in round one or two at best. He couldn't defend the initial onslaught of Tyson.

Argentina = Messi

Brazil = Ronaldo

Germany = Schumacher

UK = Ronnie O'Sullivan, wild card there but the best snooker player ever.

who the hell is ronaldo ? do you want to be dragged in the streets ? AFTER the king just died? also just so you know there are two ronaldos (gaucho aka ronaldinho, and nazaro aka fenomeno) so wich one do you mean.
also does sport media abroad also use nicknames or is this a brazilian thing ?

Unfortunately, being good at sport is not enough, and some other angle is needed for true fame.

This guy should be the most famous British sportsman with this 'Ripping Yarns' biography.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Woosnam