PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: sports and recreation
Indian cricketer
Virat Kohli is an Indian international cricketer considered by many as one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. Kohli plays for (and previously captained) the Royal Challengers Bengaluru...
American basketball player
LeBron James is an 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...
American artist, musicologist, and collector
Harry Smith was an American filmmaker, painter, musicologist, ethnographer, collector, and mystic. Smith is best known as the compiler of the Anthology of American Folk Music (1952), which served as a...
Indian cricketer
Rahul Dravid is a former Indian international cricketer considered by many to have been one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. During his career he was also a wicketkeeper and an occasional...
American cyclist
Major Taylor was the 1899 world champion in cycling, a winner of many national and international honors, and the first American-born Black athlete of wide renown to reach his sportâs international pinnacle....
American boxer
Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and social activist. Considered one of the greatest boxers in history, Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate...
NFL football player and convicted murderer
Aaron Hernandez was drafted into the NFL in 2010, at the age of 20. At 27, he was found dead from suicide in a prison cell. In the few years between, he became a professional football star with the New...
American baseball player
Babe Ruth was chosen as one of the first five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, a year after he finished his career. He transformed baseball through his home-run hitting, which produced an...
American football player
Patrick Mahomes is an American football quarterback who is one of the premier players in the National Football League (NFL). In his second season as a professional (2018), he was named the NFLâs most valuable...
American golfer
Tiger Woods is an American golfer who dominated professional golf in the late 1990s and early 2000s, becoming the first player to win the four major tournaments consecutively. In 1997, Woods, one of the...
Dominican baseball player
JosĂ© RamĂrez is a Dominican professional baseball player who is among the most underappreciated superstars in Major League Baseball (MLB). RamĂrez, the face of the Cleveland Guardians franchise, has played...
Portuguese football player
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese football (soccer) forward who is one of the greatest players of his generation. Ronaldo is the winner of five Ballon dâOr awards (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017), and...
American figure skater
Figure skating is sometimes seen as a delicate, ethereal sport, noted for its beautiful costumes, balletic elements, and elegant programs set to classical music. Donât tell American figure skater Alysa...
Indian cricketer
Shubman Gill is an Indian cricketer who bats right-handed and as of February 2026 is the fastest male batter to score 2,000 runs in the One Day International (ODI; 50 overs a side) format. Considered a...
Argentine-born football player
Lionel Messi is an Argentine-born football (soccer) player who received a record-setting eight Ballon dâOr awards as the worldâs top male player (2009â12, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023). In 2022 he helped...
American football player
Tom Brady is a former 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 gameâs Most Valuable Player (MVP) five...
Australian cricketer
Don Bradman was an Australian cricketer widely regarded as the greatest player of the 20th century. One of the greatest run scorers in the history of the game, he had a Test batting average of 99.94, which...
American football player
In the massive world of the NFL trenches, the domain of the largest of all professional athletes, Aaron Donald is an undersized anomaly. Standing a mere 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 meters) with a listed weight...
Chinese American freestyle skier
Eileen Gu is a Chinese American freestyle skier who won a trio of medals, including two golds, at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Only 18 years old at the time, she became the youngest Olympic champion...
Figure skatingâs Quadg0d is changing his sport in historic ways
What is undeniable about American figure skater Ilia Malinin is that he has achieved athletic feats in his sport that many thought impossible. He was the first and, as of 2026, the only athlete to land...
One of the greatest baseball pitchers of his generation
They donât call him âMad Maxâ for nothing. Widely regarded as one of the most dominant right-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball in the first part of the 21st century, Max Scherzerâs competitive drive...
American football player
Paul Hornung was a glamorous star of the Green Bay Packersâ championship teams of the 1960s whose versatile on-field performance and off-field reputation as a fun-loving, hard-drinking carouser and playboy...
American basketball player
Kawhi Leonard is an American professional basketball player noted for his prowess on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball whose status as one of the NBAâs best wing players has been hampered by...
Serbian tennis player
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian tennis player who is one of the greatest menâs players in the history of the game. His 24 Grand Slam singles titlesâwhich includes an unprecedented 10 Australian Open championshipsâis...
Indian cricketer
Jasprit Bumrah is an Indian international cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he is considered to be one of the best fast bowlers in the world and has more than 400 international wickets. He captained...
Italian football manager and player
Carlo Ancelotti is a professional menâs football (soccer) manager and former player. He is often considered one of the greatest football managers of all time, having won more than 30 titles with clubs...
Indian cricketer
Rohit Sharma is an Indian international cricketer and a former captain of the Indian cricket team in the One-Day International (ODI), Twenty20 International (T20I), and Test cricket formats. Sharma announced...
Belarusian tennis player
Aryna Sabalenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player who emerged as one of the best young athletes on the Womenâs Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in the early 2020s. Known for her aggressive, risk-taking...
English football player
Harry Kane is a football (soccer) player who is a forward on Englandâs national team and the German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. A prolific striker, Kane is the all-time leading goal scorer for both...
Australian tennis player
Nick Kyrgios is an Australian tennis player who earned widespread acclaim as a talented and entertaining player. He achieved notable victories over several of the sportâs top competitors but has met with...
Spanish football (soccer) player
Aitana BonmatĂ is a professional womenâs football (soccer) player from Catalonia who plays as an attacking midfielder for FC Barcelona in Liga F (Spanish womenâs football league) and for the Spanish national...
American gymnast
Simone Biles is one of the greatest gymnasts in the history of the sport, known for her consistency and the complexity of her performances. Throughout her career, she has pushed the boundaries of what...
American football coach
Bill Belichick is widely regarded as the greatest professional gridiron football coach in history. During 24 seasons with the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL), he led the team...
Australian fast bowler
Pat Cummins is an Australian cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batter and has taken more than 500 international wickets. He is considered one of the gameâs best contemporary...
American basketball player
Russell Westbrook is an American former professional basketball player known for his obsessive work ethic and ferocious competitive intensity on the court. In 2016â17 Westbrook became the second player...
American tennis player
Serena Williams is an American tennis player who revolutionized womenâs tennis with her powerful style of play and who won more Grand Slam singles titles (23) than any other woman during the open era....
Brazilian football player
VinĂcius JĂșnior is a Brazilian football (soccer) player known for his exceptional speed and dribbling, which have made him one of the leading stars of the Spanish club Real Madrid. Playing as a left-wing...
American football player
Aaron Rodgers is an American professional football quarterback who is considered one of the greatest to ever play the position. Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) to...
Italian tennis player
Jannik Sinner is an Italian tennis player who is a leading star in the generation of players rising in the wake of the indomitable Big Three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal). In 2024 Sinner...
English football player
David Beckham is an English former football (soccer) player who gained international fame for his on-field play as well as for his highly publicized personal life. With Manchester United, Beckham developed...
American writer and mountaineer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer widely known for his bestselling non-fiction books Into the Wild (1996) and Into Thin Air (1997), both of which have been adapted into movies. He was...
American basketball player
Chris Paul is an American former professional basketball player who was one of the premier stars of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the early 21st century. Paulâs career single-handedly gave...
Indian cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar is a former Indian professional cricket player, considered by many to be one of the greatest batters of all time. He is the leading run scorer in both Test cricket and one-day internationals...
English football player
Jude Bellingham is a football (soccer) player who is a midfielder for the England national football team and for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid. He ranked third in the 2024 FIFA Ballon dâOr poll, marking...
Spanish tennis player
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player who emerged in the early 21st century as one of the gameâs leading competitors, especially noted for his performance on clay. He won a record 14 career French Open...
American basketball player
Kevin Durant is an American professional basketball player who won the 2013â14 National Basketball Association (NBA) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and established himself as one of the best players...
French basketball player
Victor Wembanyama is a French professional basketball center who, since being selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the first pick of the 2023 NBA draft, has established himself as the most dominant young...
president of Liberia
George Weah is a Liberian politician and a former football (soccer) player who served as president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before entering politics, his impressive football career included being...
Indian cricketer
Ravichandran Ashwin is an Indian cricketer who is considered one of the best all-rounders to play for the country. A right-arm off-spin bowler and right-handed batter, he has taken more than 750 international...
Canadian hockey player
Willie OâRee is the first Black hockey player to play in a National Hockey League (NHL) game. He debuted with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on January 18, 1958....
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- football, gridiron
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