9 legends of different sports that aren't football!
When we mention sports we usually imagine football as the most known sport on the planet, but there are more sports and sportsmen that were legendary and created history in their fields and succeeded to an extent that they got globally known as the symbols of their sports. Get to know Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant in Basketball, and Rafael Nadal in tennis. Meet Mohamed Ali Clay in the ring and Kasparov the grandmaster of chess and know their story of success.
Muhammad Ali Clay
Saturday Jan 17, 1942 to Friday Jun 3, 2016
born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr(January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. He is nicknamed "The Greatest" and is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Michael Jordan
Saturday Feb 16, 1963 to Present
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials, MJ, is an American former professional basketball player who is the principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." He was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
Garry Kasparov
Saturday Apr 13, 1963 to Present
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former world chess champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).
Shaquille O'Neal
Monday Mar 6, 1972 to Present
Shaquille Rashaun "Shaq" O'Neal (born March 6, 1972) is a retired professional American basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA on TNT. He is considered one of the greatest players in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. At 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and 325 pounds (147 kg), he was one of the tallest and heaviest players ever. O'Neal played for six teams over his 19-year career.
Kobe Bryant
Wednesday Aug 23, 1978 to Sunday Jan 26, 2020
Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, Bryant played his entire 20-season career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, and the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, ranks fourth on the league's all-time regular season scoring, and ranks fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list. Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons. According to Forbes, Bryant's net worth was estimated at $350 million in 2016.
LeBron James
Saturday Dec 29, 1984 to Present
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is often considered the best basketball player in the world and regarded by some as the greatest player of all time. His accomplishments include three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, and two Olympic gold medals. James has appeared in fifteen NBA All-Star Games and been named NBA All-Star MVP three times. He won the 2008 NBA scoring title, is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader, and is fourth in all-time career points scored. He has been voted onto the All-NBA First Team twelve times and the All-Defensive First Team five times.
Michael Phelps
Saturday Jun 29, 1985 to Present
Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American retired competitive swimmer and the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events(16). When he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps had already tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Rafael Nadal
Monday Jun 2, 1986 to Present
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).[3] Nadal has the most clay court titles in the Open Era (58), and holds an all-time record of 11 French Open, 11 Monte-Carlo Masters and 11 Barcelona titles. He also has the longest single surface win streak in matches (clay courts, 81) and in sets (clay courts, 50) in the history of the Open Era.
Virat Kohli
Saturday Nov 5, 1988 to Present
Virat Kohli (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and has been the team's captain since 2013.