It is common knowledge among our tribe that June 20th is recognized as International Surfing Day so who better to celebrate then Kelly Slater, 11X ASP World Champion. In the spirit of ISD, we’ve created an Infographic comparing Slater to athletes from traditional sports who have made history and measured their achievements to our Champ’s. Have a look and decide for yourself if Slater truly is “The Greatest Athlete of All Time”.
Do you think Kelly Slater is “The Greatest Athlete of All Time”? If yes, share this with your friends and get ready for summer with a pair of Kelly’s Cypher Nomad Boardshorts.
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Tags: 11X World Champion, Featured Posts, Greatest Athlete Of All Time, Infographic, Interntaional Surfing Day, ISD, Kelly Slater, Quiksilver, surf, Surfing
Tags: Kelly slater, Surf blog
Screw SI, Kelly Slater has been the best surfer for the last twenty years but the scary thing is that at 40 years he is completely dominating pro surfing even with the emergence of the highly talented new school, no question the greatest athlete of all time. Thank you Kelly for your talents and class with which you have pursued your profession
Phil Taylor was in 16 World Darts Finals in 17 years. He won 13 of them (runner up in 3 obviously) and during that period won 8 in a row. However he probably wouldn’t qualify as an athlete and he probably is a little less cool than Kelly ; )
Björn Dunkerbeck has won 12 Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) Overall World Championships…which is one more than Kelly did. I guess both trully dominated their sport for a long while…
But obviously Kelly is the best surfer ever.
Surfing has and will always be regarded as an extreme sport – Kelly will be regarded as a big fish in a small pond.
I would like to take the top athletes and let them paddle out at Jaws ( nevermind standing up ) – I can almost guarantee you that Kelly can hit a golf ball ( 2 handicap ) ..bouce a ball or drive a car – this super athlete is ignored by the world sports media ..it’s an absolute disgrace
I think Kelly is the best athlete in the word. He got few more years to improve that.
If only he played a sport that the majority of the world played….then we’d get it. Until then the sheeple just won’t get it.
And yes it is quite clear he is champions of all champions of the modern age. If he played a sport that the controlling interest in this world played then he’d have far more copororate and media support…then again would be really want that?
Hi! Although I love surfing and absolutely respect Kelly Slater as the greatest competiton surfer of all time, I must leave this reply to wonder why you chose to obliterate from your study athletes such as Carl Lewis. You see, Mr. Lewis, in the olimpics alone, was 9 times gold medalist in four different editions of the games (84, 88, 92, 96). Plus, he did so in four different categories (100 mts, 200 mts, 4X100, Long jump). Plus, he was the world recordist of the 100mts from 1987 to 1994. So… Yes, Kelly Slater is among the best. But comparing athletes in different sports is a bit like comparing artists in different crafts. Cheers to Kelly and Quicksilver! Keep pushing it forward!
But of course he is the BEST!
Hi!
Impressive, but I think you left one behind: Emanuel Lasker, world chess champion 1894-1920, 26 consecutive years. Shouldn’t it be there on the top, maybe above Slater?
what about m.j. ?
michael jordan ?
I watched this dark skinned, spitting image of a Baby Elvis face with these piercing eyes, spin 360s on a Boogie Board at our local beach, the Apollo Building/Islander Hut. Me & all my bros, some of the most notable surfers ever to come from this tiny beach town area of Cocoa Beach such as Matt Kechele, Charlie Kuhn, Rich Rudolph, Tim Briers, Bob Rohman, the Klugel brothers, Jeff Crawford & many more all noticed & agreed with what we saw and Rich & Phil Salick said “this kid is gonna be something big in our sport”! Now, looking back it was like watching Michael Jordan growing up. I also recall the Super Heat in Cape Hatteras at the ECSC when he took out the Jr Mens, Mens, Masters & every other divisional winner to take top honors when he was 12 or 13. Oh, by the way, that was his first year as the Boys winner which I believe went on to be the most winning Amateur Career ever also with 6 or 7 East Coast Titles and around the same in US Titles. I keep his book in my Curio Cabinet as a treasured memento, especially since my name is mentioned from being there at his inception of ocean to champion of all time!! My favorite & still Champion, Kelly Slater!!!!! I just wish he never took those years away from the tour when he was “Jimmy Slade” or we would be talking about the 15 or 16 Time Champion!! He took this break after winning 5 World Titles in a row!! More than Mark Richards ever won, in his prime and then came back to further his dominance of which we still marvel at today at 40+ & still tearing up competitors less than half his age. Thanks for the memories as I was there from the beginning & will revel in those memories forever!
Steve Redgrave would have to on the list of greatest athletes ever. 5 rowing gold medals in consecutive Olympic Games as well as 17 world championships over 20 years. Admittedly most of these were in teams. Still a record that would be hard to beat.
But Slaters performance as an individual is unsurpassed. In my book he his the greatest athlete ever.
I knew Kelly would be one of the greatest surfers in the universe when he was a 10 year old boy. You could see it in his mannerisms as a child. We only hoped surfing would grow the way it has to this day.
Kelly is the greatest athlete in any sport obviously because of what he has done in surfing, but what separates him from the rest is his age (at 40 and still looks like he has not peaked) and surfing is unlike any other sport because of the great variable in surfing called nature. The playing field is never the same.
I remember eons ago, Joe and Lisa Grottola that run the Eastern surfing association returning from the championships in Cape Hatteras and saying you should have seen this 10? year old kid Kelly Slater from Florida he blew everyone out of the water. He will be great!
Anyway, remember that Kelly called Ramon Navarro “My Hero” Chile is a caldron of hot talent in cold water!
Kelly has my vote for the greatest Athlete. Remembering also that any one who won the best title for 11 years in Boxing, football, or hockey would be a cripple! Brett Farve, Micheal Jordan, Mickey Mantle and Pele would be right there with Kelly. Thing is Kelly could go for more easily!
Sorry. I am a big Kelly Slater Fan but the greatest of all Athletes considering World Titles and World Cup Tour Wins is Windsurfing Legend Björn Dunkerbeck. He won over nearly 40 World Titles. He won nearly 100 World Cups. He won first with 16 a Title and last with over 40 years (last year). So more then 24 years on hunting tile after title… please dont forget him.
It should have been interesting to compare Kelly to Patrice Martin, the waterski legend, worldchamp at 14 years old, 12 world titles, 25 world records, 35 years career…
Patrice MARTIN (15 to 30 years old), 13 time nautic ski male world champion…
Jeanie LONGO (22 to 52 years old), 13 time cycling world female champion and 4 olympic titles !!!!
From the early begining, I’m a Kelly SLATER fan! But he’s not yet the greatest athlète of all time…
Awesome article but you guys forgot Valentino Rossi with 9 world titles….
Sorry guys but the Greatest Athlete Of All Time is Giacomo Agostini 15 time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Hoping that Kelly will win a lot more world titles he is still far from “Ago”
You also forgot to include in your list Valentino Rossi 9 time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer
Slater has never won Haleiwa or Sunset. How does he have 9 victories in Hawaii?
Of course he is. For me, then and now the best surfer ever, the best athelete ever.
From Spain.
Bill Russell.
The separation between Kelly and other pro athletes is even wider than this information suggests. Even though he has 11 world titles, Kelly has been the best surfer in the world, and has dominated the sport (even during years where he did not win the world title), for over 20 years. No other athlete can claim to be the best in their sport for 20 years (and counting). Michael Jordan was not even the best for 10 years.
Not to be a prick, but why include Ali and not Joe Louis, who has the longest heavyweight reign in history (a record 25 defenses over 12 years)?
Angel Nieto is a former spaniard motorcycle competitor that has 12+1 world championshifts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ángel_Nieto
U cannot take serious something that put Zidane as the best soccer player…
In the first list there´s athletes missing like shawn white (snowb.), bjorn dunkerbeck (also 10times+world windsurfing champion) Pelé (soccer legend) tony hawk (dominating vert sk8boarding for 3 decades!) nadal and federer (tennis) and probably some more…
oh! maradona and messi!
There is a guy, windsurfer, 41 times worldchampion, last time 2011
He have 42 years old, also have 3 record Guinn
I think Kelly have to work a bit more to call him self the best athlete ever
It would be interesting to see how windsurfer Bjorn Dunkerbeck might compare with 41 World Champion Titles, 7 world speedsailing records, started at 17 and still winning events now at 43, etc., etc.
This is a great piece of work, and to be honest I was wondering how long it would take QS to come out with a piece like this. I’ve been following KS for years now, but as a business & management academic I look at him differently. My area of research is called Dynamic Capability – its about how organisations remain competitive. I’d love to do a piece on how KS proves Dynamic Capability Theory – if you can get me a 60min interview with him, I’ll write the paper!!!
Valentino Rossi, 9 times!
Personally i think the title of the fittest sports person is determined by the amount of components of fitness required to be a champion at a particular sport. Surfing requires balance, muscular endurance, elements of cardiovascular fitness, strength and power.However a sport such as rowing requires all of these (excluding balance) and many more. The folowing are considered to be the most important components of fitness required for any activity or sport:
Health related
Strength
Muscular endurance
Cardiovascular fitness
Flexibility
Specifc body shape(somatotype)
Skill related fitness
Agility
Balance
Coordination
Power
Reaction time
Speed
To be called the fittest you must be able to perform all of these at a top level.
[...] shoe with Nike and look what they’ve done, Slaters won 11 World Titles and all he got was an infographic…. (maybe it takes twelve titles to get something [...]
[...] shoe with Nike and look what they’ve done, Slaters won 11 World Titles and all he got was an infographic…. (maybe it takes twelve titles to get something [...]
Who is the most statistically superior athlete of all time relative to other players, regardless of sport….
Kelly Slater 11 time world champion surfer.http://blog.quiksilver.com/surf_blog/kelly-slater-greatest-athlete-of-all-time/…
Hi,
I remember ruminating about Kelly last year on this very subject, thinking he must be the USA’s greatest athlete – then it occurred to me; hang on that’s to small, maybe he’s the greatest worldwide period! & so he is, to think that he’s held off 3 maybe 4 generations of competitive surfers is breathtaking! However (I can’t help it!) there’s a further name not mentioned above that’s certainly on the podium with Kelly, a Swedish ski racer from the 70s & 80s named Ingemar Stenmark. Just for pure winning stats it’s pretty impressive; 86 World Cup victories (a world cup event would be the same as a WCT event) and 69 podiums which gave him 19 world titles over 16 years. Why doesn’t this wipe Kelly off top spot, he had 2 skiing disciplines, Slalom & Giant Slalom, so I guess you can say he had twice the chance to win an event, still I think Ingemar blitz’s any of the names mentioned above!
With all due respect to Mr. Slater, he is not only one of the world’s greatest athletes but has turned the world on to surfing. However, there is one other athlete that was perhaps intentionally left off this list and that would be Roger Federer (yet curiously Pete Sampras was included). Federer has won 75 titles in his career, has been ranked #1 longer than any tennis player in the history of the sport and holds 17 Grand Slam Titles. I just thought it would be fair to include who most people will consider the greatest tennis player in history along with all the other great athletes in sports mentioned above.
Regardless, none of the athletes you list (and Federer) will ever be able to charge a wave like Slater.
[...] This year, the marketing geniuses at Quicksilver must have been a little bored. Rather than celebrating the surfing lifestyle in general, they decided to go the other direction and elevate one surfer as the “Greatest Athlete of All Time.” Who would they choose to bestow this honor upon? None other than Team Quicksilver’s own Kelly Slater. Look here on Quiksilvers blog: Kelly Slater best athlete of all time? [...]
[...] model brasileña Gisele Bundchen.Les dejamos el link directo al informe completo de Taylor Cotton ACÁ. Tweet POSTED IN » + Extremo, Extremo, Surf Sobre el autor: Javier González Ver todos [...]
Interesting and informative post. Thank you for your effort. You put a nice twist to it. Great job Taylor.
[...] on Nov 23, 2012 in Sports | 0 comments In the spirit of International Surfing Day, Quicksilver created an Infographic comparing Kelly Slater to athletes from traditional sports who have made [...]
And what about Mike Stewart and Mark Cunningham in their respective sports?