Many sports stars possess extraordinary athletic ability that could have seen them compete at the highest levels in multiple sports; however, it was more advantageous to focus entirely on a single sport. Many athletes have attempted the monumental challenge of becoming successful in two sports, with very few succeeding. Nonetheless, this does not account for the athletic giants who had the potential to excel in two pursuits but instead chose to strive for greatness in just one. In this list, BoyleSports, home of an Irish live casino, will cover sports stars who actually made the change, as well as others who potentially could have.
Michael Jordan
Perhaps one of the most notable names on this list, he is mostly renowned for his excellence in Basketball for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. During his time as a professional basketball star, Jordan was awarded 6 NBA championships, 6 Finals MVP awards, 5 regular season MVP awards, 14 All-Star selections, and others. What these stats don’t show is that he took a year out of basketball during his prime years, fresh off winning the Championship in 1993, to pursue a career in Baseball. He signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox in 1994, but played for the Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham Barons. He later returned to the NBA in 1995, where he led the Bulls to a three-peat of Championships.
Petr Čech
Petr Čech is most renowned for his professional career in football with Chelsea and Arsenal, which has seen him win 19 major trophies and put him in the conversation for the greatest goalkeepers to play in the Premier League. Petr Čech retired from football in 2019 as a 4 time Premier League winner, alongside a UEFA Champions League medal. After he retired from football, Petr Čech signed a contract with the Guildford Phoenix, a team in the fourth tier of British Ice Hockey. Similar to his footballing role, Petr Čech played as a goaltender!
Victoria Pendleton
Victoria Pendleton is regarded as one of the most successful female athletes in British cycling history, winning 9 World Championship titles as well as an Olympic Gold Medal in the 2008 Olympics. Her retirement from cycling came in 2012; however, she could not stay away from racing. After retirement from cycling, Victoria pursued horse racing. Victoria competed in one of the most notable racing festivals, Cheltenham, in 2016, where she rode in the Foxhunter Chase, finishing 5th.
LeBron James
The second basketballer on the list, and the second name that is consistently thrown into the G.O.A.T debates. However, in an alternate world, LeBron James may have never entered the NBA due to his talents in American Football. In LeBron’s NBA career, he won 4 NBA championships, 4 Finals MVP awards, 4 regular season MVP awards, as well as many others. His career has seen him play for various NBA teams, including his home town Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and the Lakers, where he still plays to this day.
In high school, LeBron played American Football as well as Basketball. He was named a first-team all-state wide receiver in his junior year and looked like a potential NFL star in the making, until he entered the NBA draft right out of high school, and the rest is history. Despite his monumental basketball career, it is interesting to think about how things may have played out if he had taken the footballing route.
Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson is an American athlete who is most renowned for being one of the greatest two-sport athletes performing in both Baseball and American Football. He remains the only professional athlete to be named an All-Star in two major North American sports, earning him a reputation as one of the greatest sportsmen in history. Despite excelling in both Baseball and football, many journalists and experts agree that Jackson performed best in the NFL, where he showed incredible speed, which was valuable in his position as a running back.
Many believe that if Bo Jackson had remained injury-free and fully focused on the NFL, he could have been one of the greatest players in the league’s history. Uniquely, Bo Jackson performed both sports simultaneously, often playing one in the other’s off-season. A career-ending hip injury forced Jackson to retire from the NFL in 1990, although he did not retire from Major League Baseball until 1994.
Usain Bolt
Perhaps the fastest man on the planet from 2008 to 2017, Bolt could have been a formidable force against footballing defences in an alternative world. Bolt is most renowned for his Olympic dominance, which saw him set the world records in the 100m with a time of 9.58 seconds and the 200m with a time of 19.19 seconds. In addition to setting world records in both events, he also claimed an impressive 8 Olympic gold medals from 2008 to 2016. He ran his final race in 2017, where he finished third in the 100m at the World Championships, bringing an end to his sprinting career.
After retiring from athletics, the Jamaican athlete sought to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a professional footballer. Reports say that Bolt dreamed of turning professional in football or cricket during his childhood, which is when his coach noticed his impressive speed and encouraged him to try athletics — and the rest is history. Bolt began training with professional football clubs as a forward, including Borussia Dortmund, Strømsgodset, and Central Coast Mariners. His trial at the Mariners saw him play in some pre-season games, where he scored a brace in one fixture. Ultimately, Usain Bolt did not play professional football and retired from sport entirely in 2019.
