Top 10 Greatest Multi-sport Athletes

Written By Mark Payne

With Primoz Roglic dominating the Tour De France it’s easy to forget that he’s competing in his second sport. Ok, it’s not that easy to forget, it’s mentioned seemingly every time he’s on camera that he was once a professional ski jumper. But he’s far from the first elite athlete to excel in more than one sport.

This week’s honourable mentions go to Chris Hoy (Cycling legend and Le Mans Driver), Ash Barty (French Open Tennis Champ and big bash cricketer), Jonty Rhodes (South African Cricketer and international hockey player), Lolo Jones (Olympic hurdles and bobsleigh) and Emma Pooley (cyclist and long distance runner).

With that in mind here are the top 10 multi-sport athletes:

10. Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan is a five time NBA champion, a two time NBA MVP and a fifteen time NBA All-star. A remarkable career, but as a child Duncan was destined for a different athletic future. A teenage swimming sensation, Tim was an excellent freestyle swimmer with his goals set on representing the USA at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. His sister Tricia had swum for the US Virgin Islands at Seoul in 1988, but a double tragedy prevented him from following in the family business. Firstly Hurricane Hugo swept through the Caribbean and destroyed the only pool on the island; it’s been suggested that Duncan wasn’t keen to share the water with the local sharks. The second part of Duncan’s decision to change his path was the death of his mum Ione. She’d been one of the biggest reasons he’d taken up swimming in the first place, with her passing the sport lost it’s joy. Instead at the relatively old age of 14, with the help of his brother in law Rick Lowery turned Tim onto his new sport, basketball. 

9. Ian Botham

Ian Botham, depending on your age reminds you of one of three things Headingley in 1981, Sky Sports cricket coverage or weetabix adverts. What you might not know about Beefy is that he also combined being England’s talisman with being a professional footballer; making 28 appearances for Yeovil and Scunthorpe playing centre back. His achivements may be surprising - but I can’t place him any higher than 13th because there’s another man who combined these two sports with more success that also made the list. Keep your eyes pealed on this grainy footage and you might spot Botham trying to plug some holes in Scunthorpe’s leaky defence.

8. Bo Jackson

One of two men on this list who combined a professional baseball with a career in the NFL. Bo played 694 games in his career scoring 141 home runs for the Royals, White Sox and Angels but was also a first round draft pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986. Preferring not to play Running Back for the historically bad Buccaneers Bo turned his back on football until the LA Raiders eccentric owner Al Davis convinced Bo that playing baseball and football was a possibility. He set a Raiders rushing record against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football picking up 221 yards less than a month after making his NFL debut. A natural athlete who also excelled in track and field Bo became the face of a legendary Nike campaign which highlighted his ability to do, well just about anything. He returned full-time to the baseball field when his foray into NFL ended in injury in 1990. His dual sport career might only have lasted four years; but during that time he might have been the most watchable athlete on the planet.

7. Dennis Compton

Dennis Compton is one of a handful of players to have scored one hundred first class centuries, he’s an inductee in the Cricket hall of fame and he batted at an average of 50 for England’s test side. Compton also starred as a footballer, making 54 official appearances, and handful of unofficial ones for Arsenal. His career straddled World War 2 and thus the prime of his footballing career also coincided with a global conflict that made full internationals impossible - he made 12 appearances for England but didn’t earn an official cap. Compton made his final appearance for Arsenal back in 1950 adding an FA Cup win to the league title he’d won with them back in 1948.


6. Alex Zanardi

In September 2001, former F1 driver and Cart World Champion Alex Zanardi was leading a race in the CART series at Germany’s Lausitzring when he lost control leaving the pits and his spinning car was struck at over 200 mph by the unsighted Alex Tagliani. Alex was lucky to survive, losing both his legs above the knees and 75% of his blood in the incident. His condition was so grave that he spent months in a coma, his wife was told not to inform him of his injuries straight away. Instead she told him the true extent of his injuries to which he replied “I love you very much, don’t worry… now let me go back to sleep I’m tired”. Alex’s trademark humour hadn’t eluded him, neither had his competitive edge he returned to the track and won four races in World Tour Cars before taking up handcycling. His crowning moment happened almost exactly 11 years to the day after his horrific crash when he secured his first Paralympic gold at the London Olympics. He’d earn another gold and a silver, securing two more golds and a silver in Rio at the age of 49.

In June, Alex was competing in the Italian National Road Race when he lost control of his handcycle and was struck by an oncoming truck. Suffering serious head injuries Alex is facing another mammoth return and recovery and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed he can make another incredible comeback.

5. Katie Taylor

In terms of women’s boxing, there is no bigger name than Katie Taylor. As an amateur, she secured five straight World Championship golds and an Olympic title; as a pro, she’s the undisputed World Champion without a blemish on her record. She’s considered the best pound for pound boxer in the sport in part thanks to her famously fast feet - which may have been honed in her other sport. Football. Katie played in the Irish Cup final for Peamount County and represented the Republic of Ireland 11 times, scoring twice… including this absolute worldy against Hungary in a European qualifier

4. John Surtees

Motorcycling was in John Surtees’ blood, his dad had been a grasstrack champion who even raced him in his sidecar on occasion as a child. This left a lasting impact on him, he began his own professional career at 21 back in 1955, by 1956 he’d won his first title in the 500cc class. After a down year in 1957 he then won every race in 1958 and 1959 in both the 350cc and 500cc class and retained his titles in 1960. In the process he became the first man to win Isle of Man’s most prestigious TT race, the Senior TT, three times in a row. He then retired from motorcycle racing and took up Formula One, finishing second in his home Grand Prix - his second race in the class. In his third he earned pole. Within three years he’d also picked up the F1 World Title and secured a podium at Le Mans both with Ferrari.


3. Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders is undoubtedly one of the best players to ever step on the gridiron. A member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, he set the NFL record for return touchdowns and even became the first man to start on offence and defence for over thirty years. But Primetime is on this high up the list for because he also starred in another sport, baseball. Deion played 641 baseball games alongside his NFL career, mainly in the MLB, which often overlapped and set a number of unique records including scoring a touchdown and a home run in the same week back in 1989 and becoming the only man to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series.

2. Jim Thorpe

Back to back NFL stars at the top of the list, and with good reason. Jim Thorpe won two Olympic golds in 1912 in two different multi-sport events, bringing home gold in the Pentathlon and Decathlon. That in itself may have earned him a position on this list on its own merit. But he also earned spots in the college and Pro Football Halls of Fame; and played professional baseball for six years and professional basketball for the “World Famous Indians”. His incredible story led to him being immortalised on the silver screen by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film ‘Jim Thorpe - All American.


1. Rebecca Romero

Top of the pile is Rebecca Romero. Who began her career as one of the world’s best rowers on the planet. A silver medallist at the Athens Olympics in the quadruple skulls she’d earned gold in the same event at the 2005 World Championships. Sadly for her a persistent back injury forced her to retire from the sport in 2006. But Rebecca wasn’t keen to give up on professional sport completely and swapped the rowing lakes for the boards of the velodrome. Instantly it was clear she had the talent to star in track cycling - finishing second at a world cup event in the individual pursuit on her debut, just months after taking the sport up. By 2008 Rebecca had mastered the event winning two World Championship golds before securing the Olympic title in the individual pursuit. In doing so she became only the second woman to win summer Olympic medals in two different sports. 

Mark Payne
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