Ben:
There are skill athletes and endurance athletes. I tend to think that those that can push their bodies to the absolute farthest extremes are the purest specimens of athletes.
One way to measure the best endurance athletes is to test VO2 max. Here's the basic scale:
Average untrained healthy male athlete - 35-40 ml/kg/min
Elite male runners - 80 ml/kg/min
Miguel Indurain (5 time Tour de France winner) - 88 ml/kg/min
One of the highest recorded VO2 max belongs to a Norwegian cross-country skier named Bjorn Daehlie, who measured at 96 ml/kg/min. The testing on Daehlie was done during the offseason, leading to speculation that he would have exceed 100 ml/kg/min if tested at the peak of his training.
I don't know if he plays golf.
Sven
Sven,
No doubt VO2 max is a tremendous indicator on endurance. And I agree that there are skill and endurance sorts. But what about the sports that have both? Ruggers, footballers, water polo players, hockey players, these are high athletic ideals in my opinion. Cyclists are merely very, very specialized athletes with one movement and one trait.
You want athletes that push extremes and have technical abilities that are also phenomenal? How about this guy? I hope to meet him in Seattle one day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Viesturs
Look up a guy named Hans Saari, a classmate from my days in Montana. Unfortunately he suffered the same fate as Alex Lowe and a slew of others that pushed the boundaries a bit too far. As for Viesturs, I've read a couple of his books and although the stories he tells are very compelling, he doesn't strike me as lacking in ego. I'd recommend Krakauer's book of short essays and a book called Mountains of the Mind if anyone is looking for well-written examinations of the sport.
I'm not sure if there's a way to break down the split between endurance and agility if you're trying to determine the best athletes in the world. Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player I've ever seen in person, but I think there were better athletes in the NHL during his day. Jordan, on the other hand, may have been the best athlete in the NBA in his prime. There's a point where intelligence comes into play, whether its Peyton Manning being able to read defenses or a marathon runner who plays a cat and mouse game for 24 miles before choosing the optimal time to break away for the win.
Wasn't there a show a while back that pitted the best athletes from different sports against each other (and I'm not talking Gabe Kapler on battle of the network stars)?