Who are the best athletes in sport?

BigAl Junior Seau, Joe the throwin Samoan Thompson, Troy Polamau were certainly never fringe players. Pacific Islanders are overrepresented in the NFLrelative to their population in the US. My theory on why the Islanders have the warrior physique is due to zoogeography, basically there are no beasts of burden in the Pacific. People in India and China had buffalo, horses, elephants, camels, oxen to provide the muscle. In the Islands, to move loads, till crops, etc, it was done ny manpower.

I agree its hard to categorise or evaluate the NFL compared to other sports because unlike nearly every other sport players of all different shapes, sizes and builds can play a vital part in the game Also the NFL is built on speed, power, explosion and precision. Some of the most gifted athletes out of college don't always do well in the NFL because they are missing one of those factors or they can't get their head around some of the dense and complicated play books. The NFL is so unique and complex...thats why I love it

There was a US show 30 odd yrs ago that compared the fitness levels by having top atheletes from different sports go through a series of obstacle courses that were designed to test strength & endurance. The final was a water skier vs NFL guy. The skier was winning by a long shot until the last stage which was pushing a body on a rail 20m or so. The skier had a good 5-10 second lead but got to the body, stoped then started pushing. The NFL guy hit the body at full sprint & won the race. I wondered what would've happended if the skier had known how to drive through an opponent. My pick - water skier.

It's difficult to consider the NFL as a test (when compared with the NRL) when players leave / enter the field at the turnover of possession, there is generally no loss of possession when you drop the ball nor run over the sideline and players are rewarded for not taking kicks on the full (as opposed to dropping the ball) so they let it bounce. At the first of several NFL games I've attended in the US I was shocked at the amount of time where literally nothing happens. Plus, most of the big NFL hits I've seen involve someone who has either just caught the ball (in the air and is totally exposed) or with their back to the defender. Compare that with NRL where players are on the field for most of the game, required to attack and defend and have nowhere to hide... seems fairly straightforward to me. Also, have a look at the guts on most of the NFL players in the scrmimmage -- not even Arthur Beetson in his prime came close... I'm not even going to dignify the race argument with a comment.

Pip About 120kg

There's an ex-NFL Samoan player nw playing provincial rugby in NZ (I heard Kansas State is trying to get him back). And I head there's a Samoan with Chicago Bear who's gone to rugby. The problem with the NFL is its emphasis on size. When players drop dead of heat stroke in pre-season training, there's a problem there somewhere. It's not natural to gulp down oxygen from a tank after running around for only 15-20 minutes. Rugby allows for a more natural expression of physical talent; you don't need to spend every day in the gym. (In fact, it's a bad thing if you do.)

There are and has been for quite some time quite a few Polynesians in NFL - but they all have been on the fringe.

As a part-Fijian, I'd match the best Polynesian rugby player against the best NFL player any day. I have a copy of a NZ thesis which basically says that Polynesians have an inherent mix of sprint and muscle (aerobic and anerobic) tissue. What this means is that while you won't see Polynesians win the 100m spring or run marathons, you WILL see them excel in contact sports like the rugby codes. Define the Polynesian rugby (RU or RL) player and the answer is the same: they're big, run fast and hit hard (think Lomu or Moi Moi). They're not giants like we see in the NFL but we won't see them sucking down on oxygen tanks after only 10 minutes either.

There is no way any athlete in the world has 2% body fat, that is the minimum amount needed just to stay alive and at that level even the slightest knock to an organ can cause internal bleeding. Bodybuilders have at least 5% and even that's considered to be extreme. Also I think that people place to much emphasis on anaerobic fitness components when talking about athleticism. It is much easier to have extreme speed, agility, power, strength, etc. all in one person than it is to combine these (at a slightly lower level) with very high levels of endurance.

It's not really "hit" and the 100m sprint times guys typically aren't the most contact friendly

True, F1 drivers are the best athletes in the world. Are pornstars the best woman athletes in the world?

By that logic the best sportsmen in the world are golfers and F1 drivers.

my bad NFL are the best sportsman in the world. thats why they get paid the most.

Sorry Bever, you're right. I mis-read your reply... but there is still some fuel for this debate!

Ok... you got one. And no doubt, there are a half a dozen or so more, but... The average income for a premiere league soccer player (before endorsements) is US $1.1 per year and there are over 300 of them and that's just in England. Extrapolate to the world stage and we are talking many, many thousands of multi-millionaires every year. The average income for an NFL player (before endorsements) is US $770,000 and again there is a shit-load of them. That's just football. Usain is a superstar, and soon to be a very rich one, but there is only one! Only one man in the world can be the fastest, but loads of them can run around with a footy.

Brad, "so the guys who can run the 100m faster than the the olympians can not handle being hit on th escrimmage line" Pssst. Look up "Bump and run". Just sayin.

NFL players have specific skill sets, so the guys who can run the 100m faster than the the olympians can not handle being hit on th escrimmage line. An NFL team can use a crazy number of players in a match. in AFL and rugby the guys have to do alot more, ie defend and attack and sometimes kick. Pierre Spies is the best Athelet in the world. He can handle himsefl on the scrimmage line, can leap with the AFL and could probably beat the worlds best at chess.

Track & Field athletes don't earn their money from competing, they earn it from wearing three striped shoes. Their contracts with sportswear companies are extremely lucrative as they all know how much coverage these events get, how many newspapers ran with Bolt breaking the WR for the 100m at the olympics with a icture of him crossing the line in Pumas? 95% in the entire world? Not to mention the amount of times the race was shown on TV. Do you think Bolt is just wearing Puma for fun or is he raking in millions?

Usain Bolt. His appearance fee at events is in the 100's of thousands

Another factor is that people of West African heritage actually have more muscle fibres in the gluteus maximus. Their glut max attaches up to 20% further along the gluteal line on the ilium. The glut max is the main extensor of the hip and is responsible for the power generated during sprinting and jump etc. Having a larger glut max gives atheletes of West African heritage a distinct advantage in power sports such as sprinting.