Athletes

76 people, in date order

• Milo of Croton Born c. 555 BCE, wrestler
• Leonidas of Rhodes Born 188 BCE, Olympic runner
• Jim Thorpe 1887–1953, multi-sport athlete
• Babe Ruth 1895–1948, baseball player
• Jack Dempsey 1895–1983, boxer
• Paavo Nurmi 1897–1973, runner
• Lou Gehrig 1903–1941, baseball player
• Johnny Weissmuller 1904–1984, swimmer
• Don Bradman 1908–2001, cricketer
• Jesse Owens 1913–1980, sprinter
• Joe DiMaggio 1914–1999, baseball player
• Joe Louis 1914–1981, boxer
• Tenzing Norgay 1914–1986, mountaineer
• Jackie Robinson 1919–1972, baseball player
• Sugar Ray Robinson 1921–1989, boxer
• Emil Zátopek 1922–2000, runner
• Rocky Marciano 1923–1969, boxer
• Alfredo Di Stéfano 1926–2014, footballer
• Ferenc Puskás 1927–2006, footballer
• Arnold Palmer 1929–2016, golfer
• Lev Yashin 1929–1990, goalkeeper
• Abebe Bikila 1932–1973, marathon runner
• Bill Russell 1934–2022, basketball player
• Wilt Chamberlain 1936–1999, basketball player
• Jack Nicklaus 1940–, golfer
• Pelé 1940–2022, footballer
• Muhammad Ali 1942–2016, boxer
• Billie Jean King 1943–, tennis player
• Bobby Fischer 1943–2008, chess player
• Franz Beckenbauer 1945–2024, footballer
• Johan Cruyff 1947–2016, footballer
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1947–, basketball player
• Niki Lauda 1949–2019, racing driver
• Mark Spitz 1950–, swimmer
• Björn Borg 1956–, tennis player
• Larry Bird 1956–, basketball player
• Martina Navratilova 1956–, tennis player
• Magic Johnson 1959–, basketball player
• Ayrton Senna 1960–1994, racing driver
• Diego Maradona 1960–2020, footballer
• Carl Lewis 1961–, sprinter
• Nadia Comăneci 1961–, gymnast
• Wayne Gretzky 1961–, ice hockey player
• Garry Kasparov 1963–, chess player
• Michael Jordan 1963–, basketball player
• Mike Tyson 1966–, boxer
• Naim Süleymanoğlu 1967–2017, weightlifter
• Michael Schumacher 1969–, racing driver
• Steffi Graf 1969–, tennis player
• Hakan Şükür 1971–, footballer
• Shaquille O'Neal 1972–, basketball player
• Zinedine Zidane 1972–, footballer
• Sachin Tendulkar 1973–, cricketer
• David Beckham 1975–, footballer
• Tiger Woods 1975–, golfer
• Ronaldo Nazário 1976–, footballer
• Tom Brady 1977–, American football player
• Kobe Bryant 1978–2020, basketball player
• Valentino Rossi 1979–, motorcycle racer
• Venus Williams 1980–, tennis player
• Yao Ming 1980–, basketball player
• Anna Kournikova 1981–, tennis player
• Roger Federer 1981–, tennis player
• Serena Williams 1981–, tennis player
• Eliud Kipchoge 1984–, marathon runner
• LeBron James 1984–, basketball player
• Cristiano Ronaldo 1985–, footballer
• Lewis Hamilton 1985–, racing driver
• Michael Phelps 1985–, swimmer
• Rafael Nadal 1986–, tennis player
• Usain Bolt 1986–, sprinter
• Lionel Messi 1987–, footballer
• Novak Djokovic 1987–, tennis player
• Magnus Carlsen 1990–, chess player
• Simone Biles 1997–, gymnast
• Kylian Mbappé 1998–, footballer