No no no no no.
No offense to you personally, but that's my reaction to his name in this category. He's a short distance sprinter. His skills are too limited in scope to be the greatest athlete of all time. Carrying a baton doesn't exactly rate as a significant skill. How long is he performing at any one time? Maybe 21 seconds at most. Not enough. When I think of that tittle I want someone with numerous skills, a diversification of talents. A gymnast, a decathlete, a two sport star. Something more.
Michael Phelps has a better range of skills in the types of swimming he has to perform and 23 gold medals over 4 Olympics. Back stroke, breast stroke, butterfly, freestyle are very different kinds of movements.
65 Gold medals in the top World competitions including the Olympics. 82 Medals overall.
Want a guy totally dominant in one sport, how about Mark Spitz. 7 Events, 7 golds, 7 straight world records in a diversity of swimming skills in his second Olympics.
Babe Ruth. Destined for the Hall of Fame, pitcher or hitter, deserved both. His record against the great Walter Johnson as a pitcher was 11-1. A 2.28 ERA lifetime (1.75 in 1916), a 3.42 BA and 714 HRs lifetime.
I'm not saying Carl Lewis, but he won 9 golds in the Olympics running and in the long jump, and was drafted by both the NBA and NFL. And the skills a gymnast has to master are astounding. I'd take Ashton Eaton with two Decathlon golds long before Usain.
Larisa Latynina, Soviet Olympic gymnast 1956-1964. 9 Golds, 5 Silver, 4 bronze, 18 medals over 3 Olympics well before steroids. 25 Golds in European, World, and Olympic championships. Just saying it's unbelievable.
Look at the athletes who take hits along with their skills like Gretzky, athletes who have to go face to face and through a forest of giants like Michael Jordan and still dominate through a career. How about guys who were magnificent at offense and defense like Bill Russell or Bobby Orr.
Cheers