Pick The Best Athletes From Around The World And We'll Reveal Which Country To Visit Next
- by Andrew Brethauer
- – on
- in Sports
There are so many amazing athletes around the world that it's hard to pick favorites sometimes. From all corners of the globe to every kind of sport, there is an athlete that has dominated the sport, led their team to success, or had individual success on their own. And every country in their own right can name that one athlete who is a national hero, someone everyone looks up to or cheers on when the game is on. It's the wonderful thing about sports in that we all can be connected through athletes. And it can also be a great indication of where to travel to, based on where some of the best athletes in the world come from.
Think about where the superstars are born, where they live and where they play. Maybe there is something in the water that gives them the gift to be a talented athlete. Maybe the country they come from offers them plenty of support. Whatever the case me be, it can make for an interesting travel plan to check out some of the nations the most famous athletes come from. Take this quiz and we'll reveal which country should be next on the plan when thinking of traveling.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is the quarterback for the New England Patriots and one of only two NFL players in league history have won five Super Bowl championships. Considered the greatest football player of all time, Brady led the Patriots to the Super Bowl eight times.
Sidney Crosby
Often regarded as one of the best hockey players of all time, Sidney Crosby has led the Pittsburgh Penguins to three Stanley Cups. He became the only player amongst the four major sports to win their leagues scoring title as a teenager when he scored 120 points in his second season.
Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova is one of the best tennis players in the world, having been ranked No. 1 in the world on five different occasions. She is one of 10 women and the only Russian to have won a career Grand Slam, which is winning all the major championships.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is one of the best tennis players in the world and is the current No. 1 ranked player. He has won 17 Grand Slam titles in his career, the second most in history, including 11 French Open titles, which is his signature event. He has also completed the Grand Slam, winning all four major tournaments.
Neymar
Neymar is the third highest goal scorer in Brazil soccer history and is considered one of the best players in the world. His transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in a move worth €222 million, making him the world's most expensive player.
Harry Kane
Harry Kane is an English soccer player who just won the Golden Boot Award at the 2018 FIFA World Cup when he scored six goals in the tournament, becoming the first English player to do so since 1986. He has finished top scorer in the Premier league in back-to-back years from 2015 to 2017.
Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki is one of the best leadoff hitters in a baseball history, and played 27 years of professional baseball between Japan and Major League Baseball. He was most known for his time in Seattle, and while he didn’t win the World Series, he was a 10-time All-Star and one-time AL MVP.
Jason Day
Jason Day is a former World No. 1 ranked golfer, and has won 12 PGA Tour tournaments in his career. He also won the 2015 PGA Championship, scoring 20 under par. He has also come in second at the Masters and twice at the U.S. Open.
Charl Schartzel
Charl Schartzel is a professional golfer from South Africa who won the 2011 Masters major champion. His highest world ranking has been No. 6, and he has won two PGA Tour events and 11 European Tour championships in his career.
Henrik Lundqvist
Henrik Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the National Hockey League, having played for the New York Rangers his entire career. He holds the record for most wins by a European goalie, and in 2006 at the Olympic Games in Turin, he helped lead Sweden to a Gold Medal.
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic is one of the best Canadian tennis players ever, as he has reached a world rank of No. 3. He has reached the Wimbledon final, and has won eight tournaments. While he hasn’t won a major yet, he has reached the quarter-finals of the French Open and the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
LeBron James
LeBron James it the king for a reason of the NBA, as he has played in nine league finals and won three of them. But what is more impressive is that James has played in the last eight NBA Finals in a row, the first four with Miami and the next four with Cleveland.
Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin is often regarded as one of the best pure goal scorers in NHL history, and just recently won his first Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals. He has led the league in scoring seven times, which is tied for the most in league history.
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol is a two-time NBA champion, winning both his championships when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002, and has also been a six-time All-Star. Win Spain, he has won three Olympic medals, including two silvers and one bronze.
Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva has had the longest reigning title reign in in UFC history. He held the UFC Middleweight Championship for 2,457 days, starting in 2006 and ending in 2013, which also included a record 16 title defences in that span. Many have called him the greatest of all time.
Andy Murray
Andy Murray is a former World No. 1 ranked tennis player from England who is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won his home tournament Wimbledon twice and the US Open once. He’s also a two-time Olympic Champion, winning gold in 2012 and 2016.
Kazuchika Okada
Kazuchika Okada is considered by some to be the greatest professional wrestler of all time. As a member of the New Japan Pro Wrestling organization, he holds the record for the longest reign as IWGP Heavywieght champion at 720 days, and has held the title four times for a record, 1,516 days.
Greg Norman
Greg Norman is a professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as the World’s No. 1 ranked golfer, winning 91 international tournaments, including 20 PGA tour events and the 1986 and 1993 British Open Championships. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
Kenenisa Bekele
Kenenisa Bekele is an Ethiopian long-distances runner who is the current world record holder in the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter events. He is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, having won the 10,000 meter race twice, both in 2004 and 2008, while he won the 5,000 meter in 2008, and silver in 2004. He is often called the greatest distance runner of all time.
Henrik Stenson
Henrik Stenson was the first male Swedish golfer to have won a major golf championship, having done so when he won the 2016 British Open Championship. At the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, Stenson won the Silver medal for Sweden, two strokes off the leader.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time as she has won the most Grand Slam titles of any person in tennis history. She has won 39 majors across singles, doubles and mixed doubles, including 23 as a singles player.
Andre De Grasse
Andre De Grasse is the new Canadian sprinter who captured a silver medal in the men’s 200 meter sprint at the Rio Olympic Summer Games, as well as a bronze medal in the 100 meter and 4x100 meter relay. He is the first Canadian sprinter to win three medals at an Olympic games.
Evgeni Malkin
Evgeni Malkin is one of the top goal scorers in the NHL and has helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win three Stanley Cups since he was drafted by them. He is a two-time Art Ross Trophy winner, given to the league MVP, and won the league’s playoff MVP in 2009.
Sergio Garcia
Sergio Garcia may have note ver been the world No. 1 ranked golfer, but he is still considered one of the best and has won 31 tournaments as a professional, including 10 on the PGA tour. He also won the 2017 Masters Tournament, his first win at a major in his career.
Manu Ginóbili
Manu Ginóbili is a four-time NBA Champion, having won all four with the San Antonio Spurs, which he was a member of the Big Three with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. He is one of only two players to have won a NBA title, EuroLeague championship and Olympic Gold Medal.
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton is considered to be the best driver of his generation and one of the best all time. He won his first World Championship in Formula One in 2008 and won back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. He won again in 2017. He also holds many records, including most all-time pole positions.
Li Na
Li Na is a retired tennis player who reached the World No. 2 ranked player spot, winning two Grand Slam championships over her career, including the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open. He first slam victory in 2011 marked the first time a player from Asia had won a major championship.
Sally Pearson
Sally Pearson is the 2011 and 2017 World Champion and 2012 Olympic Champion 100 meter hurdler from Australia. She also won a silver medal in hurdles at the 2008 Summer Games, and has won a total of eight gold medals on the world stage in her career.
Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah is an Egyptian soccer player who is a member of Liverpool and received the Premier League’s Golden Boot award in 2017 for scoring the most goals in the league with 32. He also became the first player to win the Player of the Month awards in the same season.
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Zlatan Ibrahimović is a Swedish soccer player who plays for the L.A. Galaxy in the MLS league. He is currently the third most decorated soccer player in the world, having won 32 trophies in his career, which also includes winning the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 with Barcelona.
Junior dos Santos
Junior dos Santos was a one-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, and holds the record for the longest winning streak in UFC Heavyweight history, winning nine bouts in a row. Dos Santos’s victory came against Cain Velasquez on UFC on FOX 1, winning in 64 seconds.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is a former World No. 1 golfer and a four-time Major Championship winner, including two PGA Championships, and one U.S. Open and British Open, becoming one of just four golfers to win three majors before turning 25 years old.
Kei Nishikori
Kei Nishikori is the only male Japanese tennis player to have ever ranked inside the top five on the men’s WTP Tour. He has won 11 singles titles, and was the runner-up at the 2014 U.S. Open, making him the first and only player from Asia to reach a Grand Slam final.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is credited with making golf popular again as week after week, everyone focused on how Tiger was doing on the course. He is considered by some to be the greatest golfer of all time and has won 14 major tournaments, trailing the record by four majors.
George St. Pierre
George St. Pierre is often called one of the best mixed martial arts fighters of all time, as he is a three-time UFC Welterweight Champion and has been named the Canadian Athlete of the Year three times. He retired as champion, which he held for the second longest time at 2,204 days.
Evgenia Medvedeva
Evgenia Medvedeva was the 2018 Olympic Silver medalist in figure skating, and she is the first woman to have won senior worlds after winning junior worlds the year before. She is a two-time World Champion, two-time Grand Prix champion and was the first to win back-to-back World’s in 16 years.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is often regarded as one of the best soccer players in the world, if not the best, winning five Ballon d'Or awards as the FIFA player of the year. He’s also won 26 championships including five UEFA Champions League and he currently holds the record for most official goals in Europe’s top-five leagues.
Adam Scott
Adam Scott was a former World No. 1 ranked golfer and has won 29 professional tournaments, including 13 on the PGA Tour. He won the 2013 Masters, and was runner-up at the 2012 British Open. He also finished in the top-five at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is an Gabonese soccer player who current plays for Arsenal in the Premier League and has established himself as one of the best forwards in the world. He has scored 141 goals in 213 games, including 31 in 2016-17 where he won the league’s top scoring award.
Sarah Sjöström
Sarah Sjöström is one of the most elite female swimmers in the world, and currently holds five different World Records at the 50 meter, 100 meter and 200 meter distance. She won Olympic Gold in 2016 in the 100 butterfly, becoming the first Swedish swimmer to win a gold medal.
Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry is one of the best basketball players in the world and has led his Golden State Warriors to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances where he has won three of them. He’s also been a two-time NBA MVP and holds many records including most three-pointers made in a season with 402.
Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid is regarded as the next greatest hockey player in the world, as he is already a two-time scoring champion in the NHL, yet has only played in the league for three seasons. The first overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers is the only player to score 100 points over each of the last two seasons.
Evgeni Plushenko
Evgeni Plushenko is a former Russian figure skater who was once considered the best in the world. He is a four-time Olympic medalist, earning gold in 2006, team gold in 2014 and silver in 2002 and 2010. He’s also a three-time World Champion.
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi is often considered the greatest soccer player of all time, having won a record five Ballon d’Or awards as the FIFA Player of the Year, four of them consecutively. He has won nine La Liga trophies with Barcelona, four EUFA Champions League titles and has scored over 600 goals in his career.
Maurício Rua
Maurício Rua is a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion and is currently ranked No. 7 in the world in his weight class. In 35 total fights he has won 25 of them, and has been named the Fighter of the Year and held and is part of the Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Conor McGregor
The Notorious Conor McGregor is one of the most colorful mixed martial arts fighters in the world, and is a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, becoming the first fighter in UFC history to have won and hold two titles in different weight divisions at the same time.
Kosuke Kitajima
Kosuke Kitajima was one of the top male swimmers before he retired, winning gold medals in the men’s 100 meter and 200 me breaststroke at both the 2004 Athens Summer Games and the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, and was at one point the World Record holder in the 100 meters.
Libby Trickett
Libby Trickett was a three-time gold medalist at the Summer Games in swimming and also held the record in the 100 meter short course freestyle swim. Her first gold came in 2008, winning the 4x100 meter relay, and finished in 2012, winning gold in London.
Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassie is considered one of the best marathon runners in the world. The Ethiopian runner won the Berlin Marathon four times, and three wins in Dubai. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres, winning in 1996 in Atlanta and in 2000 in Sydney.
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history, having won 90 professional events, the most of any female golfer in history. 72 of those came on the LPGA Tour, including 10 Major Championships. In 2003, she played on the PGA Tour, becoming the first woman since 1945 to do so.
