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Very rarely have we witnessed one player completely dominate a sport and win all the laurels for himself or his nation over the years. These athletes create several records during their amazing run at the top of their game, records that won’t be broken anytime soon. Many of these legends have become household names as they completely trampled over their competitors at their peak. Here’s a list of the top 10 such dominant athletes in the history of sport:Note: The list contains only those athletes who dominated their sport over a period of four or more years on the trot. So, for instance, Rafael Nadal has not been included as he has been dominant on claycourts for close to a decade, but hasn’t dominated tennis as a whole for more than a couple of years. Similarly, Sachin Tendulkar does not find a place in the list as he has been consistent throughout his career, rather than dominant for a concentrated period of time. Also, while Don Bradman is arguably the greatest cricketer of all time, the sport was played between very few countries at the time for him to be included in this list of ‘world-dominant athletes’.
#10 Usain Bolt
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Usain Bolt is the fastest man on the planet. He is the first man to hold both the 100m and 200m records since automatic timing measurements was made compulsory in 1977. He also has the world record in the 4x100m relay with his teammates.
The Lightning Bolt is the first man to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting. He is also a 10-time World Champion.
The Jamaican’s impressive record is emphasised by the fact that he successfully defended his three gold medals that he won in Beijing (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay) in the 2012 London Olympics.
He set the world record in 100m at the Berlin World Championship in 2009 with a timing of 9.58 seconds. He then went on to the world record in the 200m with a timing of 19.19 seconds.
Bolt was named IAAF World Athlete of the year in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Bolt was also named the Laureus World Sportsman of the year in 2009, 2010 and 2013.
#9 Michael Jordan
The key reason for popularising basketball across the world, Jordan played for two teams during his career – Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards.
He won Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in 1988, 1991,1992, 1996 and 1998. He was adjudged NBA finals MVP in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996,1997 and 1998. Jordon won six NBA titles with the Bulls during this period.
Jordan won two three-peats with Chicago Bulls (1991-93 and 1996-98), and the two years that he missed out, he had retired from the game. He was also part of the American basketball team that won gold in the 1984 and 1992 Olympic games.
Jordan was inducted into the NBA hall of fame class of 2009 (individual) and class of 2010 (member of the “Dream Team”).
#8 Lionel Messi
Messi is regarded as one of the best football players of all time. He led Argentina to the finals of the FIFA World Cup earlier this year; his nation ended up second best to Germany, but he was judged the best player of the tournament and won the ‘Golden Ball’ award.
The FC Barcelona forward won four FIFA Ballon d’Ors from 2009 to 2012, becoming the first player in the history of the game to achieve the feat.
His club record is incredibly impressive. With FC Barcelona, he has won six La Liga titles, two Copa Del Reys, six Spanish Super Cups, three UEFA Champions leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.
#7 Michael Schumacher
The German had quite an illustrious career that spanned close to two decades. Schumacher won seven Formula 1 World Championships which included five consecutive titles between 2000-2004.
Schumacher started his career in a Jordan car in 1991. He joined Benetton after just a single race and drove for the United Kingdom based team for four years. The year 1994 saw Schumacher win his first World Championship title. He then went on to successfully defend his title the next year.
Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996, a team that had last won the drivers’ title in 1979. He helped the Italian based team win the Constructors’ title in 1999, after a gap of 16 years.
The German was the top driver in the world for five seasons on the trot from 2000, and helped Ferrari lift the Constructors’ title on all those five occasions. He won 91 races during his career.
Schumacher retired after the 2006 season, but later returned to Formula One in 2010, this time driving for Mercedes. In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a serious head injury while skiing.
Schumacher is the only motorsport driver to win the Laureus Sportsperson of the year twice – in 2002 and 2004.
#6 Roger Federer
Roger Federer is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time. The Swiss ace has won 17 Grand Slams so far in his career.
He has been ranked inside the top 10 continuously since October 2002, and the top 20 since April 2001.
Federer was ranked No. 1 for 237 consecutive weeks between 2004 and 2008.
Federer has won seven Wimbledon titles (a record he shares with Pete Sampras) and four Australian Opens (a record he shares with Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic). He is also one of four men in the Open era to have completed a career Grand Slam (winning all four Grand Slam titles).
Federer was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008).
The Swiss has won six ATP World Tour Finals and has appeared in the finals of all nine Masters 1000 tournaments. He reached a record 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals from 2004 Wimbledon Championships to 2010 Australian Open.
Federer played in a record 60th consecutive Grand Slam tournament at the recently concluded US Open.
#5 Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods has had a remarkable career on the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tour so far. He has won 14 Major Championships which includes four Masters tournaments, three US Opens, three Open Championships, and four PGA Championships.
The American spent 264 weeks from August 1999 to September 2004 as World No. 1. He then had a run of 281 weeks on top of the world rankings between June 2005 and October 2010.
He was adjudged PGA player of the year in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013.
Woods has been one of the highest paid athletes in the world for many years.
#4 Jahangir Khan
Pakistan’s Jahangir Khan had an incredible run in Squash as he won 555 matches in a row. This amazing feat made it to the Guinness Book of World records as the longest winning streak ever in the history of professional sports.
He pocketed the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times.
He won his first World Open trophy when he was just 17 years old. Khan also became the first player to win a World Championship without dropping a game. The other record in the Pakistani legend’s name is featuring in the longest ever match in the history of squash – 2 hours and 46 minutes.His unbeaten run of 555 matches lasted for 5 years. Ross Nouman of New Zealand beat Khan in the final of the World Open in 1986 to end a remarkable winning streak.
Jahangir spoke about his superb consistency.
"It wasn't my plan to create such a record. All I did was put in the effort to win every match I played and it went on for weeks, months and years until my defeat to Ross Norman in Toulouse in 1986."
"The pressure began to mount as I kept winning every time and people were anxious to see if I could be beaten. In that World Open final, Ross got me. It was exactly five years and eight months. I was unbeaten for another nine months after that defeat."
#3 Michael Phelps
The most decorated Olympian of all time, Phelps has won 22 Olympic medals. The American swimmer holds the record for most gold medals won at the Olympics – 18. This record includes most individual Olympic golds – 11.
The Flying Fish is at the top of the list when it comes to most medals won in individual events for a male – 13.
His brilliant run saw him winning six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, four gold and two silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics.
His medal tally consists of 77 medals he won at major international tournaments – the Olympics, the World and Pan Pacific Championships.
He was awarded ‘World Swimmer of the Year’ on seven occasions.
#2 Martina Navratilova
Navratilova is the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived, according to former World No. 1 Billie Jean King.
Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and 31 Grand Slam doubles titles.
She was ranked No. 1 in the world for 332 weeks in singles and a record 237 weeks in doubles, the only player in the history of the game to be ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles for over 200 weeks.
Navratilova holds the record for most singles titles – 167 – and most doubles titles – 177 – in the Open era. She had a winning percentage of 96.8% between 1982 and 1986, with 428 wins out of 442 matches in singles.
She recorded the longest winning streak in the open era (74 consecutive matches). She was ranked in the world's top 10 in singles for a record 20 consecutive years (1975-1994).
In the period of six years from 1982 to 1987, Navratilova won at least two Majors every season, winning three Majors in two of those years. Clearly, that is one dominant athlete!
#1 Lin Dan
Former World No. 1 badminton player Lin Dan has had an incredible career and is still going strong. He won gold in the 2008 Olympic games and successfully defended his title in the 2012 London Olympics, the only man to do so.
He completed the “Super Grand Slam” after winning all the nine major badminton titles – Olympics, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Masters Finals, All England Open, Asian Games and the Asian Championships. He is the only player to achieve this feat.
Super Dan won gold in the World Championships in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. He also won gold in the 2005 and 2006 World Cups.
The Chinese has won a bunch of titles every year since 2003 and perhaps more importantly, enjoys a lopsided head-to-head record against his closest competitor Lee Chong Wei. Lin Dan has pretty much dominated the sport of badminton for close to a decade, and so rightfully occupies the top spot in this list.
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