Talk:List of multi-sport athletes

{{WikiProject Sports|class=list|importance=

Kenny Morrow has achieved top 3 in the world 4x in 4 different sports - and is now goal set on Motocross at 64 as a rookie

Someone add Simen Agdestein (Chess & Football)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simen_Agdestein — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:1811:C0C:3D00:95D9:F2FC:7E2F:189D (talk) 16:50, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

What sport are people to be entered under?
The qualification for getting onto this list is that someone has excelled at two sports, and so it seems counterintuitive that they are listed under one sport. By what criteria do we decide whether Rebecca Romero is a cyclist who used to row, or a rower who later went on to cycle? Kevin McE (talk) 19:39, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I'd say success and recognition - i.e. if they are described in a reliable source as a "rower" or a "cyclist", then we should go with that. I'm open to other suggestions though, as it is a tricky one, especially with Jim Thorpe. GiantSnowman 08:07, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * My thoughts are similar to Kevin McE's. There are many people who played both football and cricket at the top level for instance. Plus there's the cases like Max Woosnam. Oldelpaso (talk) 09:29, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Errrrrm... what was CB Fry's "primary sport"? Probably cricket, but a world record athlete and very prominent footballer and rugby player... --Dweller (talk) 09:41, 24 July 2009 (UTC)


 * How are you suggesting they are listed then? - by nationality? by surname? GiantSnowman 09:44, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Good questions. --Dweller (talk) 09:58, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Might I suggest that an multiple-sport athlete be listable multiple times? Once under each sport where his/her achievements in that sport alone would merit entry. For example, Seiko Hashimoto competed at 3 Olympics in cycling and 4 Olympics in speed skating, so she should be listed under both sports. On the other hand, Michael Schumacher only plays for a fifth-division Swiss football side, so he should only be listed under motor racing. Similarly, Michael Jordan should only be listed under basketball, unless his minor league baseball teammates are notable as well. -Crabbylucy (talk) 05:28, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Idea: The athletes could be listed alphabetically (or ordered by some other criterion) and numbered. The article could feature an 18 x 18 matrix with the categories appering as rows and columns of a crosstable. Each cell of the table could contain the numeric codes for any qualifying qualifying athletes. E.g., the cells wherein basketball crosses baseball would have several numbers which would lead you to Dave DeBusschere, Gene Conley, Steve Hamilton and others. The long diagonal would be empty. There would be redundancy, as each row is also a column, but the areas above and below the main diagonal could be used to separate athletes according to the predominant sport, e.g., DeBusschere would be on the basketball row in the baseball column, whereas people who were primarily baseball players would appear on the baseball row in the basketball column. Obviously, some cells would have many numbers, others few. The really sparse crossover categories could be removed from the table and appear in a list, keeping the size of the crosstable manageable. WHPratt (talk) 16:55, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Minimum level of achievement in second sport
The preamble acknowledges that most sportspeople have had a go at more than one sport, and their ability means that any sportsman could have done pretty well in another sport had they dedicated themselves to it, and probably did do well at schoolboy level. But what level of notability in the "minor" sport is to be considered necessary for inclusion here? Alain Prost finished ahead of a number of ex-pro's in L'Étape du Tour this week, is he a cyclist? Julian Dicks tried his hand at pro golf after retirement with knee-knack, is he a multi-sporter? These seem almost as notable a career in the second sport as is shown for Hakeem Olajuwon ("During his youth, Olajuwon was a soccer goalkeeper and handball player" and that's it, according to his article) or Marion Jones (most of the 2009 NCAA Championship team do not have articles: was the 93-94 title more noteworthy?).

I would suggest that to be tenable, the threshold for this list should be reaching the Wiki criteria for notability per WP:ATHLETE in two or more sports (WP:N not really helpful here, just about every English footballer has been photographed in national papers with a golf club or snooker cue in his hand) Kevin McE (talk) 09:49, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I would say that playing two or more sports at a professional level OR being directly described as a "multi-sport athlete" by a reliable source is enough for inclusion. GiantSnowman 09:56, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * So would you be happy with the removal of American sportspeople who played their second sport at college level only? Kevin McE (talk) 10:00, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * As a rule of thumb, yes. However, if it someone who is on there with a reference from thi site - The Ten Greatest Multi-Sport Athletes of All Time - then I would say keep them on as they have been directly described as a multi-sport athlete by the media. GiantSnowman 10:12, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know the bleacherreport site or how highly reputed it is: its current frontpage is scarcely highbrow. But its list of 10 greatest multi-sport athletes of all time fails to mention anyone who did not make their name in US sport, and is happy to include Olajuwon on nothing stronger than that he "was reputed to have been a top goalkeeping prospect in Nigeria": looks more like a journo space filling than a Reliable Source to me.  Kevin McE (talk) 11:03, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That's an astonishingly ill-informed article. Excluding the freakish CB Fry is insane (more likely ignorant). And Maxwell Woosnam. There's hosts of people who've been dual internationals in major sports like rugby and football, or athletics, but perhaps international sport matters less to Americans. In recent times, the achievement of Rebecca Romero is incredible. Incidentally, I assume you're aware of Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports? --Dweller (talk) 11:24, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah... it's not RS. Any member of the site can write an opinion piece there. --Dweller (talk) 11:31, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Just a word from the experienced - as perpetually happens at Polymath, you're going to get this list filling with people with very dubious claims to be here, some because of fans and some because of other POV like, especially, nationalism (not to mention the racists who'll periodically do things like prune the Arab names from the list!). With this in mind, make the criteria solid and then make them absolutely blatant. It still won't do the trick, but it'll help. --Dweller (talk) 10:13, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi - What about Chuck Connors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Connors 98.229.143.76 (talk) 19:56, 31 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry, "The Rifleman" does not qualify him as an Olympic-level marksman. ;) Oh, you mean pro basketball and major league baseball.  I'd say that he qualifies. WHPratt (talk) 21:03, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Would like to suggest that the list for American football players be alphabetized by last name (with the years of accomplishments included in the narrative). There are a lot of players added below Deion Sanders (which up to that point appears to be alphabetical) and later letters, i.e., v, w, etc., which are followed by players whose name is much earlier in the alphabet.03:40, 11 December 2010 (UTC)aljohnson1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aljohnson1 (talk • contribs)

the last time I looked at this page, I thought there was a requirement that the athlete have competed in two or more professional sports. (Or is there a separate wiki page for that?). At any rate, a professional athlete in one sport who played amateur or college fall and another sport, is not that interesting. there is even a listing on here for an NFL player who played "baseball and football in college". Why even mention the football? I would recommend limiting this page to 2 or more professional sports Feran (talk) 22:22, 10 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with this; in fact, I'd go further: I'd like to see a list of people who played more than one sport on a major league level. I hesitate to begin wholesale deletion of most of the list here, since some people are presumably interested in a list with a broader definition, as witness the fact that all of these people were added in the first place, but I think that there should definitely be a list of people who played multiple sports on the highest levels of each, whether it's a separate list that's linked to from this page, or a sublist on this page. JudahH (talk) 16:04, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

CB Fry
Where the heck would we list him? International cricketer, international and FA Cup winning footballer and world record equalling long jumper... I'd propose his primary sport was cricket, but that's my subjective opinion (and what it says, without source, in our article). Consensus? --Dweller (talk) 14:01, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion: List Fry under all three sports - cricket, association football, and track and field athletics.-Crabbylucy (talk) 05:28, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions for people to be included

 * Lucia Rijker is a softball player (Dutch national team), fencer (Dutch junior champion), kickboxer (five world titles), boxer (WIBF welterweight)
 * Several people from the 'See Also' lists e.g. the twelve Englishmen who represented England in both association football and cricket, the thirty Olympians who competed at five Olympics in two sports (while I'm not sure if cross country skiing and biathlon count as two separate sports, the IOC thinks so.)
 * Carolina Klüft - heptathlon, pentathlon, and now long and triple jump... surely she counts as a multi-sport athlete of some kind, even if it's all track and field.-Crabbylucy (talk) 05:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Jake Plummer - NFL quarterback and worldclass handball player.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.81.94.71 (talk) 19:36, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Dennis Ribant - Major League Pitcher in the 1960s, also played some ice hockey at the minor league level (the latter not mentioned in his article). May be unique in combining those sports. WHPratt (talk) 21:12, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Ken Harrelson - Major League baseball playter (later announcer and executive). Has some limited success as a pro golfer, I recall. WHPratt (talk) 21:12, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Carroll Hardy -- MLB (pinch hit for Roger Maris and Ted Williams) and one NFL sesaon.
 * Paul Giel and Jake Gibbs -- both MLB a few years, both college football All-Americans. WHPratt (talk) 17:50, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

PS: If collegiate (but not national) athletes in the USA are notable, then I hope collegiate and junior athletes in other countries are also notable.-Crabbylucy (talk) 05:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
 * WP:BOLD — Michael J  20:27, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Tapio Rautavaara, Olympic medalist in both javelin and archery? 81.197.64.76 (talk) 18:02, 27 September 2011 (UTC) Sorry, I correct myself. He was not Olympic medalist in archery, but won bronze at world championships, team event. Gold medalist in London Olympics javelin throw though, I think he meets the criteria. Unless of course this article is only about U.S. College athletes...81.197.64.76 (talk) 18:06, 27 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Mariano Angoy - Spanish European football goalkeeper. Played for FC Barcelona and for Barcelona Dragons of American football in the NFL Europe.

Sorry for my bad English. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.27.52.14 (talk) 20:01, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Carlos Sainz - Spanish Rally World Champion (twice) and Spanish champion of Squash.

Professional wrestling
According to our article on the subject, Professional wrestling is not a sport. --Dweller (talk) 16:40, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

It may not be a 'sport', but I am of the opinion it should be included. You can't be a pro wrestler without being athletic, and most wrestlers that make the list anyway have other sport-related accolade such as other martial arts and contact sports. AdamMayhem (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:26, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

Criteria for inclusion
It seems to me that this listing is getting over-extended. Too many people are being listed for only minor achievement in a second sport, which I do not believe is the purpose of this list. May I suggest a criteria, and urge that the list be trimmed? (I do not want to boldly take such action without proper discussion.) Therefore, I suggest that the subjects of this list meet Wikipedia level of notability for both of their listed sports. (Under this standard, someone such as Michael Jordan would not be included because his minor league baseball career was unimpressive; we only know about it because he was already famous for basketball.) Your opinions, please. → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 11:32, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Edit of Basketball listing (Cesare Rubini)
Removing the sentence on Cesare Rubini that states: " He is the only one athlete inducted in two halls of fame." This is not true, as Jim Brown is in both the NFL and Lacrosse Halls of Fame but died shortly after sucking a big fat dick. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.15.58.176 (talk) 01:49, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Carlton Haselrig
An All Pro offensive lineman for the Steelers, Haselrig was also the NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion three years in a row. He's among the small number of athletes who was truly elite in two sports. Arnold Rothstein1921 (talk) 01:53, 13 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Adding an edit for Haselrig. Arnold Rothstein1921 (talk) 00:58, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Also moved Frank Howard entry to baseball section from History section. Arnold Rothstein1921 (talk) 01:12, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Qualifications for this article
This article is becoming peppered with entries of people who were prominent in one sport, yet had significantly less importance in another. That is not what it is supposed to be. We need to come to a consensus here, but it is my belief that to qualify for this article, a person should qualify for a Wikipedia article even if he/she played only one of those sports, under "Notability (sports)". For example, Michael Jordan is not on here, because his baseball career is not notable enough to qualify him for an article on its own. Similarly, Dan Marino should not be listed but is, even though he was only drafted and never played professional baseball. I do not want to diminish the accomplishments of these athletes, but when I turn to this article, I am looking for people more like Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, or Danny Ainge. I am tempted to be bold and cut many listings out, but this would be too significant an action to take unilaterally. Please voice in with your views on this. Thank you. → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 08:36, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Re-working this aricle
No one else is weighing in on this talk page, so I am being bold and am preparing a major re-work of it. There are far too many names on this list, and those names will be eliminated. For example, professional athletes who played multiple sports in high school. In truth, just about every professional athlete played multiple sports in high school. My criteria will be that to be on this list, an athlete must qualify for notability in both sports indicated, under Notability (sports). (The most basic example I can give is Michael Jordan, who should not be on this list because while he qualifies in basketball, he does not reach notability as a baseball player.)

With that in mind, I need some input on what constitutes a different sport. Some are obviously different (e.g., ice hockey and boxing). But there are some of which I cannot decide if they are truly different sports. Specifically, are American football and Canadian football distinct enough to be called different sports? Personally, I think not, but others may have a different view. How about the various disciplines of motorsports? Should those who compete more than one type of vehicle — Formula One, NASCAR, IndyCar — be included, or should they all just be considered as auto racers and not included on this list? The ones that I am most unsure of are those who compete in both rugby league and rugby union. I don't know enough about either to know if they are considered different sports or not.

I would prefer not to make wholesale changes in this article without some input, so I will wait a bit before doing so. However, if I see no one else is interested, I will go ahead and do what I believe is necessary. Thank you.

→ Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 13:43, 27 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Go for it I say! With regards to rugby, I'd say scrap the dual code players. There's probably more of a difference between rugby union and league than there is to American and Canadian football. --Jimbo[online] 14:20, 27 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I agree. --Kasper2006 (talk) 07:26, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

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