To become the greatest in sports, you have to be the best, and also beat the best. It’s not that hard to figure out who the best actually is, because they win so much that after awhile, everyone is really watching to see if they fail to win. In this generation, Usain Bolt is clearly the greatest sprinter, not just of his era but definitively of all time. That makes him the greatest of all time (GOAT). He was so much better than anyone in history, and won his races by such a wide margin that it is pretty absurd to compare any other sprinter to him. The only way to find an opponent for Bolt that is worthy of consideration, is to look outside of track and field entirely. LeBron James is still caught up in his own GOAT debate. You’ve heard it before because it’s always LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan. For the record, I’m on team Jordan.

The fact that LeBron is even in that conversation, means he should be good enough to give Bolt a run for his money. So this is a breakdown of Usain Bolt vs. LeBron James to determine who was really the better athlete of this generation. LeBron is still playing, and Bolt is already retired, but that just means we can revisit the topic when LeBron finally hangs up his sneakers for good.

The Rules

I am comparing two great athletes, so I had to find a way to evaluate the greatest achievements you can have in track and in basketball and making the equal to each other. After that, the points will be tallied up for who has more in each category until we declare a winner. 

Category 1 - Championships

The first category is the most obvious. Championships. But things need to be made equal. The hardest thing to do in track and field is to win an individual Olympic gold medal. You only get 1 shot at it normally every 4 years. But Bolt was so good in two events, he earned himself two. But the hardest thing to do in the NBA is to win an NBA championship. It’s even harder than becoming an MVP. That’s why Russell Westbrook, Steve Nash, and even Allen Iverson aren’t considered for the GOAT debate. They have MVP awards, but no NBA titles to go with it. We are going to compare only Bolt’s individual Olympic gold medal count to LeBron’s NBA championship count. I totally understand that basketball is a team sport, so LeBron gets help to win those. But he also has to play an 82 game season and go through 4 playoff rounds. That’s just about as hard as waiting four years to qualify out of Jamaica, into the Olympics and through several rounds of heats to win a gold medal, all by yourself. Usain Bolt went undefeated for three straight Olympics in the 100 meter dash, and 200 meter dashes. That’s 6 gold medals, which is more than any sprinter can ever say. LeBron has won NBA titles, but he only has four of them. It’s safe to say that even if he keeps playing a little longer he probably won’t win 3 titles, so you have to give this category to Usain Bolt.

Usain Bolt 1; LeBron James 0

Category 2 - World Championship Gold vs. NBA MVPs

Usain Bolt will receive a handicap for this category to make it interesting. It’s Usain Bolt’s World Championship gold medal count, compared to LeBron’s MVP awards. We are only counting a point for Bolt if he wins all 3 gold medals in that World Championship between the 100, 200, and 4x100 meter relay. LeBron has 4 NBA MVP awards, which is voted on by members of the media. That’s a lot of MVPs, because only Michael Jordan himself has more than him who played since the year 1980. Bolt won a lot at the World Championships but the truth is he only swept all 3 events 3 times. He did it in 2009, 2013, and 2015. So although it is arguable, LeBron James wins the category because he deserves to win something too. 

Usain Bolt 1; LeBron James 1

Category 3 – Fastest man in the world for the year vs. NBA PER leader 

Category 3 is where things get interesting, because we get to compare Usain Bolt’s records as the fastest man in the world, to LeBron James’s attempts to lead the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating. You could argue that the PER stat in the NBA is controversial, and here is why that is just a cop out. The three players who have led the NBA in PER more than anyone else in history, are Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James. So the stat actually works to determine who is the best player! Bolt is being handicapped a bit on this one, where if he leads the world in the 100 and 200 both he gets a full point, and only 2/3 of a point if he does it in 1 event. LeBron led the NBA in PER 6 times. Jordan actually did it 7 but that’s beside the point. However, Bolt let the world in both his events 4 times, and in only 1 event 3 times. Considering the handicap that adds up to 6 points in total. So this category is a tie. 

Usain Bolt 2; LeBron James 2

Category 4 – 4x100m Olympic Gold medals vs. Basketball Olympic Gold medals

Category 4 is Olympic team gold medal performance but I had to make things as fair as possible. Basketball is 5 on 5 and the 4x100 meter relay is a 4 on 4 event. So it’s LeBron’s Olympic basketball gold medal count, against Bolt’s relay golds. The truth is that LeBron showed up to the Olympics three times in a row. He first got bronze in 2004 so that doesn’t count. In 2008 and 2012 his team won the gold. He wasn’t necessarily the leading score on either team, but that doesn’t matter a win is a win. Bolt won the relay in 2008 but that team was later disqualified. So the only gold medals that stand are his 2012 and 2016 medals. That’s two golds for each of them and we are still tied up across the board!

Usain Bolt 3; LeBron James 3

Category 5 - Usain Bolt’s world records vs. LeBron James’s NBA records

The final category is the most intriguing to me because it’s the one that’s the hardest to evaluate. Usain Bolt is special not just because he won, but he won big. He was so good in fact that he broke world records. So the comparison is Usain Bolt’s world records, to any major individual basketball records LeBron broke. Bolt has 3 standing world records, in the 100, 200, and 4x100 meter relay. The question is how many major records does LeBron have. He is the NBA scoring leader for all time points. That is a record you have to count. But that also means I have to discount any other directly scoring related records as a result. LeBron does however have more NBA all first team selections than anyone else in league history. So depending on how you look at it, if you count Bolt’s relay record he would win this category. But I should probably leave it to the individual stuff to keep it fair. So you can call this category a tie which brings us to the verdict.

Usain Bolt 4; LeBron James 4

Who is the greater athlete?

Usain Bolt and LeBron James are so good at what they do, for the era they competed in, that it is nearly impossible to separate them even when you put them up against each other. Interestingly enough Bolt is slightly younger than James, but that’s only because sprinters retire earlier on average. Their first Olympics was both in 2004, even though nobody even knew Usain was there. They were incredibly hyped as high school aged athletes, Bolt broke the world junior record in the 200 meter dash. And we already know that LeBron was “the chosen one.”We owe both these men the credit that they deserve. Greatness like this only comes around once in a generation. Track and Field is already coping with the loss of Bolt, and it isn’t easy getting used to watching people run 9.8 seconds after Bolt’s lightning strikes. And soon whether we like it or not, LeBron will be gone as well. Basketball is going to miss him more than we know right now. The same way they missed Jordan, until LeBron came along. At least this time he’s likely leaving LeBron James Jr. behind to keep us all company. There is no next Usain in sight, not in name, or in talent. No matter which way you spin it, and that is the only thing that is a real difference between these two athletes.

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