Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has been ranked 9th by respected sports entity ESPN in its just-released Top 100 Athletes of the 21st Century.

Another Jamaican legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, is ranked 77th with only one other track athlete, Allyson Felix of the United States, at number 63, making the top 100 list. The ranking is topped by American swimmer Michael Phelps.

Bolt is just one of three non-Americans to make the top 10, the others being Argentina’s Lionel Messi for football and the Swiss tennis great, Roger Federer ranked at six.

Of Bolt, ESPN’s Alyssa Roenigk listed his key accomplishments as: Eight-time Olympic gold medalist, 100m world-record holder, only sprinter to win Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics.

Looking back at the 100m semifinal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Roenigk said: “Their legs are a blur. What’s in focus is Bolt’s expressive mug as he surges ahead in the 100-meter semifinal, his fourth and final Games. In the photo, the now 37-year-old Jamaican is looking back, smiling, almost taunting the three men giving chase. The race is not over — and yet it is. The image was a sensation at the time and has endured as one of the most indelible of Bolt’s career, which saw him set his first world record in the 100 at 21. His 2009 world record in the 100 (9.58 seconds) still stands today.”

Roenigk listed Fraser-Pryce’s key accomplishments as: Eight-time Olympic medalist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, record five 100-meter world titles, oldest sprinter (35 in 2022) to win world title.

Said Roenigk: “One day after Usain Bolt’s win in the 100 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman from the Caribbean to win Olympic gold in the event. Four years later, she defended her title in the 100 (as did Bolt), further cementing Jamaica’s reputation as a sprinting powerhouse. Only 5 feet tall and typically sporting rainbow locks, the “Pocket Rocket” has medaled in track and field’s fastest race in the past four Games. In Paris, her fifth and final Olympics, Fraser-Pryce will line up once more with the goal of reclaiming her title as the fastest woman alive.”

ESPN’s Top 10:
1-Michael Phelps – Swimming
2-Serena Williams – Tennis
3-Lionel Messi – Soccer
4-Lebron James – Basketball
5-Tom Brady – American Football
6-Roger Federer – Tennis
7-Simone Biles – Gymnastics
8-Tiger Woods – Golf
9-Usain Bolt – Track and Field
10-Kobe Bryant – Basketball

ESPN acknowledged that ranking the top 100 most accomplished athletes since 2000 “wasn’t quite so easy after all — but it sure was fun” . It reminded that “25 years ago, the ESPN SportsCentury project ranked the top 100 North American athletes of the 20th century. Michael Jordan came in first, followed by Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Wayne Gretzky. We also ranked a horse: Secretariat came in at No. 35”.

ESPN said that “with so many transcendent athletes over the past 25 years, we thought it was time to do another ranking.”

There were no horses this time around but the choices were extended beyond North America.

Additionally, ESPN editions from around the globe contributed to the nominations and voting process, as well as the individual sport list rankings.

Of note is that voters were instructed to consider only an athlete’s performance since 2000. In the end, ESPN said it received more than 70,000 votes from its contributors to create the top 100.

Of the top 100 athletes, 56 are American, five are from Spain, four are Canadians, four are from the Dominican Republic, three each are from France and Japan and two are Jamaicans.

With the United States being a basketball-obsessed nation, it is not surprising that 24 of the top 100 are basketballers. Baseball has 17 entries, soccer 15, American football 12, tennis six, golf four, boxing four, track and field three.