LeBron James. Runners-up: Tom Brady, Serena Williams
I've been doing a weekly list of the top athletes as long as I can recall; I've got the full documentation from 1990 forward; here's 3 decades of Athletes of the Year:
1990: Joe Montana
1991: Michael Jordan
1992: Mario Lemieux
1993: Michael Jordan
1994: George Foreman 90-94
1995: Hakeem Olajuwon
1996: Michael Jordan
1997: Tiger Woods
1998: Mark McGwire
1999: Tiger Woods 95-99
2000: Tiger Woods
2001: Barry Bonds
2002: Barry Bonds
2003: Lance Armstrong
2004: Peyton Manning 00-04
2005: Reggie Bush
2006: Roger Federer
2007: Tom Brady
2008: Usain Bolt
2009: Manny Pacquiao 05-09
2010: Maya Moore
2011: Aaron Rodgers
2012: LeBron James
2013: LeBron James
2014: Madison Bumgarner 10-14
2015: Serena Williams 2015
2016: Michael Phelps 2016
2017: Tom Brady 2017
2018: Breanna Stewart 2018
2019: Megan Rapinoe 2019
So - the nominees for Athlete of the 2010s:
Maya Moore
Aaron Rodgers
LeBron James
Madison Bumgarner
Serena Williams
Michael Phelps
Tom Brady
Breanna Stewart
Megan Rapinoe
The only two time winner is LeBron; he's likely fairly non controversial as Athlete of the Decade. By my current metrics, he's now the greatest basketball player of all time. Brady secured his spot as greatest QB of all time as he flourished in his 30s and who the greatest female athlete ever is feels above my pay grade but Serena Williams has a pretty good claim. Those three are clearly a cut above the rest of the field.
30 years down and onto the next. There will be a point where I stop publishing this (in truth, the publishing really just serves as my own way to keep the records, I understand how the next thing sounds, but it just doesn't matter to me at this point in my life if you're reading this or not - that wasn't always true, but now this is entirely just a way to keep my lists) but I'm likely to keep doing this on my own until I drift off into the sea.
See you (or not, I don't know your life) in the Roaring (?...will we hand it a nickname? Wilting? Weeping? Whining?...I'm sure something will catch on) 20s.
