The Top 10 Underrated Athletes of the 2000's

Photo courtesy of Sports Sound Off

Don’t Forget About Floyd Mayweather, Shaun White, Rafael Nadal and Others

Written by Jason Burlew

When looking back over the past decade, it is easy to pick out some of the greatest athletes. Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Jimmie Johnson, LeBron James and Serena Williams all dominated their respective sports.

However, the great accomplishments of those above may have overshadowed fine performances from other athletes.

Some haven’t performed enough in the 2000′s to rate as the best or as an underrated athlete. These athletes include Usain Bolt, Candace Parker, Chris Johnson and Nastia Liukin. Other athletes didn’t do quite enough, such as Kevin Garnett, Drew Brees, Cat Osterman and Kyle Busch.

While the 10 athletes listed here aren’t the only others that have had a great decade, they are some that might be forgotten when listing the great athletes of the 2000′s.

Here they are, and yes there are technically 11 athletes, listed in no particular order.

Rafael Nadal, 27, tennis

While Roger Federer dominated tennis in the 2000′s, Nadal was always a solid World No. 2 ranked player and became known as the most dominant clay court tennis player of the decade.

But Nadal also had his moment in the sun on several occasions. He won the French Open from 2005-2008, the U.S. Open in 2008 and 2009, Wimbledon in 2008, the Australian Open in 2009 and the men’s singles Olympic gold medal in 2008. Nadal was also ranked World No. 1 from Aug. 18, 2008 to July 5, 2009.

Among Nadal’s biggest accomplishments is the longest single-surface winning streak and most consecutive wins on a clay court, both at 81 wins. He is also the first male player to win the French Open, Wimbledon and an Olympic gold medal in the same year, and he is the first player to win 400 singles matches in less than 500 matches played.

The only thing that marred Nadal’s decade are the injuries he’s had to play through from 2006 to 2009. Without those injuries, Nadal may have been able to capture the World No. 1 ranking a little earlier, and may have been able to add to his list of accolades.

Misty May-Treanor, 32, and Kerri Walsh-Jennings, 31, beach volleyball

The fact that the duo won gold medals in both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball was just the icing on the cake for their incredible decade. The big accomplishment was winning 112 consecutive matches and over 18 tournaments from 2001 to 2008.

May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings also won gold medals at the 2003, 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

Individually, May-Treanor was named the AVP Best Defensive Player from 2002 to 2008, the AVP Best Offensive Player from 2000 to 2008 and the AVP Most Valuable Player from 2005 to 2008. Meanwhile, Walsh-Jennings was named the AVP Most Valuable Player in 2003 and 2004, the AVP Best Offensive Player in 2003 and the AVP Best Defensive Player in 2008, among other awards.

Together, the duo was named AVP Team of the Year from 2003 to 2008.

However, their dominance in beach volleyball is unlikely to continue in the next decade. Walsh-Jennings is currently pregnant and is due sometime in 2010, while May-Treanor ruptured her Achilles tendon while training for “Dancing with the Stars” in 2008 and has hinted at also wanting to start a family.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., 32, boxing

The man nicknamed “Money” went 18-0 in the decade, improving his overall record to 40-0, with 25 wins coming by knockout. For his career, Mayweather has won six titles in five different weight classes.

His record may have been even greater had he not pulled the boxing stunt of “retiring” for a brief time. While he was away from the boxing ring, Mayweather competed in the professional wrestling ring, appearing at World Wrestling Entertainment’s Wrestlemania XXIV, where he knocked out The Big Show.

Mayweather’s 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya set the records for most pay-per-view buys and most revenue generated by a pay-per-view.

Ring Magazine named Mayweather Fighter of the Year in 2007.

Diana Taurasi, 27, college and pro basketball

Taurasi started off the decade as a college basketball player at the University of Connecticut. While there, she led the Huskies to three consecutive NCAA National Championships, and finishing with a career record of 139 wins and eight losses.

In 2003 and 2004, Taurasi was named Big East Player of the Year and the NCAA Tournament MVP. During her collegiate career, she also won the Wade Trophy in 2003, the Naismith Award in 2003 and 2004 and the Nancy Leiberman Award in 2003 and 2004.

Taurasi was the No. 1 pick in the 2004 WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury, and was named Rookie of the Year while averaging 17.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

She helped lead the Mercury to the WNBA Championship in 2007, becoming just the seventh women’s basketball player to win an NCAA title, a WNBA title and an Olympic gold medal. She also led the Mercury to the 2009 WNBA Championship.

Taurasi was a member of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medal winning U.S. women’s basketball teams.

Her WNBA accolades include being named the WNBA’s MVP in 2009, the finals MVP in 2009 and being a four-time WNBA All-Star.

Shaun White, 23, snowboarding/skateboarding

While others have dominated more popular sports, Shaun White was to snowboarding in the 2000′s as Roger Federer was to men’s tennis.

White won the gold medal in superpipe and/or slopestyle at the Winter X Games from 2003 to 2006 and 2008 to 2009. He also has two silver medals and two bronze medals in this decade at Winter X Games.

He also has a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in skateboarding from the X Games.

White also won a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in men’s halfpipe.

Besides the athletic achievements, White became a pioneer for the sport, bringing X Games, snowboarding and skateboarding into the public eye, much like Tony Hawk did with skateboarding in the late 90′s.

Natalie Coughlin, 27, swimming

While all talk of American swimming has been dominated by Michael Phelps for the last decade, Coughlin could be the female equivalent.

Combining the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, Coughlin has three gold medals, four silver medals and four bronze medals. She is the first American female swimmer to win six medals, of any kind, at one Olympics, which she did in 2008.

In this decade, Coughlin also won five gold medals, five silver medals and five bronze medals at the World Championships, which were held in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Coughlin has also won eight gold medals and four silver medals at the Pan Pacific Championships, held in 2002 and 2006.

Besides those medals, Coughlin also set numerous records, both United States and world records, in a variety of events.

In 2002, Coughlin was named World Swimmer of the Year, and in 2001, 2002 and 2008 she was named American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World.

Michelle Kwan, 29, figure skating

It’s hard to remember Kwan being a top athlete in the 2000′s since she rose to fame in the late 1990′s and she has not competed since 2005.

However, Kwan dominated United States women’s figure skating at the start of the decade. She won the World Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2003, and the U.S. Figure Skating Championship from 2000 to 2005. She also won a bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

For her career, Kwan has five World Championships, which is the most by anyone since the late 1950′s. She also has nine U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which is tied for the most, and won eight consecutive, a record.

In 2003, Kwan was named Sportswoman of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee. Also that year, the U.S. Figure Skating Association renamed Skating magazine’s Figure Skater of the Year Trophy to the Michelle Kwan Trophy, since Kwan won the award seven times, including three times in the 20
00′s.

While Kwan never won a gold medal at the Olympics, she definitely made her mark as one of the greatest U.S. women’s figure skaters of all time.

Sidney Crosby, 22, hockey

“Sid The Kid” almost didn’t make the cut since his professional hockey career only started in 2005. Crosby was the No. 1 overall pick that year by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In his second season in the NHL, Crosby led the league in scoring with 36 goals and 84 assists, winning the Art Ross Trophy for the player that leads the league in scoring.

Crosby also took the Penguins to the playoffs for the first time since 2001, and finished the season by winning the Hart Memorial Trophy (most valuable player) and the Lester B. Pearson Award (most outstanding player in the regular season). He is only the seventh player in NHL history to win all three awards.

Crosby eventually led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 2009, and is a three-time NHL All-Star.

He received the ESPY Award for best NHL player from 2007 to 2009, as well as other various awards.

Crosby also started the decade as a top player in the Canadian Hockey League, earning several awards and accolades.

Alex Ovechkin, 24, hockey

Ovechkin and Crosby will likely be the Magic-Bird of the NHL for years to come. That’s because Ovechkin was drafter No. 1 overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004, but didn’t start playing until 2005 because of the NHL lockout.

In his first season, Ovechkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie, and was named to the NHL’s First All-Star Team, which was the first time in 15 years a rookie had done so.

Ovechkin is the first player in NHL history to win the Hart Memorial Trophy (most valuable player), Lester B. Pearson Award (most outstanding player in the regular season), Art Ross Trophy (league scoring leader) and the Maurice Richard Trophy (leading goal scorer).

He is a three-time NHL All-Star and the Sporting News NHL Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Internationally, Ovechkin is a World Championships gold medalist and two-time bronze medalist, a gold and silver medalist in the World Junior Championships and a silver and bronze medalist in the World U18 Championships.

Ovechkin also holds several NHL and Washington Capitals records.

Gretchen Bleiler, 28, snowboarding

If Shaun White is the face of men’s snowboarding, then Bleiler is the face of women’s snowboarding.

Bleiler is a three-time X Games gold medalist and a 2006 silver medalist in the Winter Olympics in women’s halfpipe.

She won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other competitor, and had a streak of eight straight wins in 2003.

Bleiler was named Female Snowboarder of the Year in 2006 by Fuel TV, and is a former ESPY and Teen Choice Awards nominee.

Bleiler also received massive media expose, appearing on the cover of ESPN The Magazine and being featured in Sports Illustrated, Men’s Fitness, People, Lucky, Shape, Women’s Health and Safe magazines, among others.

She was also spotlighted on ABC Sports, NBC Sports, CNN, ESPN and MTV2.

Honorable Mentions

Steve Nash, Lindsey Vonn, Sasha Cohen, LaDainian Tomlinson, Manny Pacquiao, Marvin Harrison, Justine Henin, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Lorena Ochoa, Dwyane Wade.

Content provided by Associated Content