The 30 Greatest Sports Athletes Of The 21st Century Have Been Named And Ranked

LeBron James has beaten football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be named the best sports athlete of the 21st century.

The 35-year-old LA Lakers superstar is widely considered as one of the finest players to have ever played basketball.

And James has won three NBA championships and four MVP awards over his 17-year-long pro playing career.

Sports fans over at the TheTopTens voted James to the top spot of the best athletes of this century.

Juventus superstar Ronaldo finished second in the rankings, while fierce rival Messi took home third place.

Joining Ronaldo and Messi in the top 10 from the football world are African legend Samuel Eto'o and Brazilian icon Ronaldinho.

The legendary Roger Federer also made the top ten, with fellow tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic finishing in the top 20.

Other sporting legends featured in the rankings include Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods and Sachin Tendulkar.

Posted below are the top 30 sports athletes of this century, according to fans.

30. Ronaldo (football)

29. Vince Carter (basketball)

28. Ma Long (table tennis)

27. Lewis Hamilton (F1)

26. Michael Schumacher (F1)

25. Valentino Rossi (MotoGP)

24. Lauren Jackson (basketball)

23. Lasha Talakhadze (weightlifter)

22. Drew Brees (American football)

21. Sidney Crosby (ice hockey)

20. Dirk Nowitzki (basketball)

19. Novak Djokovic (tennis)

18. Sachin Tendulkar (cricket)

17. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (cricket)

16. Usain Bolt (sprinting)

15. Tom Brady (American football)

14. Ray Allen (basketball)

13. Rafael Nadal (tennis)

12. Michael Phelps (swimming)

11. Steve Nash (basketball)

10. Kobe Bryant (basketball)

9. Samuel Eto'o (football)

8. Ronaldinho (football)

7. Roger Federer (tennis)

6. Manuel 'Manny' Ramirez (American football)

5. Tiger Woods (golf)

4. Dwyane Wade (basketball)

3. Lionel Messi (football)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (football)

1. LeBron James (basketball)

You can view the sports athletes that finished outside of the top 30 over at TheTopTens.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Golf, American Football, Football News, American football news, Basketball, Ronaldinho, Football, Tennis, Cricket, Basketball News, Tennis news, roger federer, Lionel Messi, F1, Samuel Eto'o, lebron james, Cristiano Ronaldo

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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