World's Greatest Athlete is the title generally given to the Olympic decathlon champion.
The tradition of "World's Greatest Athlete" began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete", after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The current holder of the title is American Ashton Eaton, the gold medal winner of the event at the 2012 London Olympics, who took the title from Beijing Olympics champion Bryan Clay.
Read more about World's Greatest Athlete: List of Olympic Decathlon Winners, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words world, greatest and/or athlete:
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,
That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds.
And give to dust that is a little gilt
More laud than gilt o’er dusted;
The present eye praises the present object.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Mediocre people have an answer for everything and are astonished at nothing. They always want to have the air of knowing better than you what you are going to tell them; when, in their turn, they begin to speak, they repeat to you with the greatest confidence, as if dealing with their own property, the things that they have heard you say yourself at some other place.... A capable and superior look is the natural accompaniment of this type of character.”
—Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
“Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)