PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: sports and recreation
American boxer
Muhammad Ali, American professional boxer and social activist. Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; he successfully defended this title 19 times....
American baseball player
Babe Ruth, American professional baseball player. Largely because of his home-run hitting between 1919 and 1935, Ruth became, and perhaps remains to this day, America’s most celebrated athlete. Part of...
American football player
Tom Brady, American football quarterback who led his teams to a record seven Super Bowl victories (2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021) and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) five...
American golfer
Tiger Woods, American golfer who enjoyed one of the greatest amateur careers in the history of the game and became the dominant player on the professional circuit in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In...
American basketball player
LeBron James, American professional basketball player who is widely considered one of the greatest all-around players of all time and who won National Basketball Association (NBA) championships with the...
Argentine-born football player
Lionel Messi, Argentine-born football (soccer) player who received a record-setting seven Ballon d’Or awards as the world’s top male player (2009–12, 2015, 2019, and 2021). In 2022 he helped Argentina...
American basketball player
Bill Russell, American basketball player who was the first outstanding defensive centre in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and one of the sport’s greatest icons. He won 11 NBA...
Spanish tennis player
Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player who emerged in the early 21st century as one of the game’s leading competitors, especially noted for his performance on clay. He won a record 14 career French Open championships,...
American football coach
Bill Belichick, American professional gridiron football coach who led the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL) to six Super Bowl titles (2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, and 2019), the...
Portuguese football player
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese football (soccer) forward who was one of the greatest players of his generation. Ronaldo’s father, José Dinis Aveiro, was the equipment manager for the local club Andorinha....
president of Chile
Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and politician who served as president of Chile (2010–14) and was elected to a second term in December 2017. When Piñera was a baby, his family moved to the United...
American cyclist
Lance Armstrong, American cyclist, who was the only rider to win seven Tour de France titles (1999–2005) but who was later stripped of all his titles after an investigation revealed that he was the key...
American baseball player
Shoeless Joe Jackson, American professional baseball player, by many accounts one of the greatest, who was ultimately banned from the game because of his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Born...
Swiss tennis player
Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player who dominated the sport in the early 21st century with his exceptional all-around game. He won a record eight Wimbledon titles, and in 2018 he became the first player...
Filipino boxer and politician
Manny Pacquiao, professional boxer, media celebrity, and politician who became world-famous for winning boxing titles in more weight classes than any other boxer in history. His rise from abject poverty...
Serbian tennis player
Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player who was one of the greatest men’s players in the history of the game. His record-tying 22 Grand Slam singles titles included an unprecedented 10 Australian Open championships....
American football player
Peyton Manning, American collegiate and professional gridiron football quarterback who is considered one of the greatest players at his position in National Football League (NFL) history. He won Super...
American football player
Drew Brees, American gridiron football quarterback who was one of the most prolific passers in National Football League (NFL) history and set numerous single-season and career passing records, including...
American boxer
Mike Tyson, American boxer who, at age 20, became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) A member of various street gangs at an early age, Tyson...
Canadian ice hockey player
Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player who in 2007 became the youngest captain of a National Hockey League (NHL) team and who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016,...
president of Liberia
George Weah, Liberian football (soccer) player and politician. He was named African, European, and World Player of the Year in 1995—an unprecedented achievement. His talents on the field were equaled by...
American tennis player
Serena Williams, American tennis player who revolutionized women’s tennis with her powerful style of play and who won more Grand Slam singles titles (23) than any other woman or man during the open era....
Indian chess player
Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess master who won the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE; international chess federation) world championship in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. (Read Garry Kasparov’s...
Canadian basketball player
Steve Nash, South African-born Canadian basketball player who is considered to be one of the greatest point guards in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. For three seasons (2004–05 to 2006–07),...
American swimmer
Michael Phelps, American swimmer, who was the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, which included a record 23 gold. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he became the first athlete to win...
American basketball player and coach
Doc Rivers, American professional basketball player and coach who, as head coach of the Boston Celtics, led the team to a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship in 2008. Rivers first emerged...
Norwegian chess player
Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player who in 2013 at age 22 became the second youngest world chess champion. (Read Garry Kasparov’s Britannica essay on chess & Deep Blue.) Carlsen’s father first taught...
American boxer
Floyd Mayweather, Jr., American boxer whose combination of speed, power, and technical prowess made him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on...
American skier
Lindsey Vonn, American Alpine skier who won four women’s World Cup overall championships (2008–10 and 2012) and was the first woman to win 82 World Cup races. She also claimed three Olympic Winter Games...
Japanese baseball player
Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball player who amassed the most total hits across all professional baseball leagues in the history of the sport. He was notably also the first non-pitcher to shift from Japanese...
Russian hockey player
Alex Ovechkin, Russian ice hockey player who won the Hart Memorial Trophy three times (2008, 2009, and 2013) as the most valuable player in the National Hockey League (NHL). He led the Washington Capitals...
American athlete
Jackie Robinson, the first Black baseball player to play in the American major leagues during the 20th century. On April 15, 1947, Robinson broke the decades-old “colour line” of Major League Baseball...
American golfer
Phil Mickelson, American professional golfer who became one of the most dominant players on the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) Tour in the 1990s and early 2000s. Mickelson took to golf...
American financier
J.P. Morgan, American financier and industrial organizer, one of the world’s foremost financial figures during the two pre-World War I decades. He reorganized several major railroads and financed industrial...
Brazilian football player
Neymar, Brazilian football (soccer) player who is one of the most prolific scorers in his country’s storied football history. Neymar began playing football as a boy in São Vicente, under the guidance of...
Russian chess player
Vladimir Kramnik, Russian international chess grandmaster who defeated his countryman Garry Kasparov to win the Professional Chess Association world championship. The match was held in London from October...
American chef
Paula Deen, American chef who popularized the cuisine of the American South through restaurants, cookbooks, and television programs. Aside from her culinary creations, her appeal lay largely in her rags-to-riches...
American basketball player
Kobe Bryant, American professional basketball player, who helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to five championships (2000–02 and 2009–10). Bryant’s father, Joe...
American basketball coach
Gregg Popovich, American basketball coach who led the San Antonio Spurs to National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. Popovich, who was of Serb and Croatian...
American football player
Aaron Rodgers, American professional gridiron football quarterback who is considered one of the greatest to ever play the position. He led the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) to...
American swimmer
Ryan Lochte, American swimmer who was one of the sport’s most successful Olympians. His 12 medals, 6 of which were gold, made him the second most-decorated male swimmer in Olympic history, behind teammate...
American baseball player
Albert Pujols, Dominican-born American professional baseball player who was one of the most prolific hitters of the early 21st century. Pujols was introduced to baseball early in life by his father, who...
Ivorian football player
Didier Drogba, Ivorian professional football (soccer) player who was Côte d’Ivoire’s all-time leader in goals scored in international matches and was twice named the African Footballer of the Year (2006,...
American football coach and executive
Bill Parcells, American professional gridiron football coach and executive who coached the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) to Super Bowl victories in 1987 and 1991. Parcells spent...
American basketball player
Dennis Rodman, American professional basketball player who was one of the most skilled rebounders, best defenders, and most outrageous characters in the history of the professional game. He was a key part...
American football player
Tony Romo, American professional gridiron football player who emerged as one of the leading quarterbacks in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 21st century. Romo spent most of his childhood...
American football player
Eli Manning, American professional gridiron football player who quarterbacked the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) to two Super Bowl championships (2008 and 2012), earning the game’s...
American professional wrestler and actor
Dwayne Johnson, American professional wrestler and actor whose charisma and athleticism made him a success in both fields. Johnson was born into a wrestling family. His maternal grandfather, “High Chief”...
American boxer
Evander Holyfield, American boxer, the only professional fighter to win the heavyweight championship four separate times and thereby surpass the record of Muhammad Ali, who won it three times. As an amateur...
Dominican American baseball player
Manny Ramirez, Dominican American professional baseball player who is considered one of the greatest right-handed hitters in the history of the game. Ramirez left the Dominican Republic in 1985 for the...
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