From LeBron James to Tiger Woods to Simone Biles: Who made our list of top 50 athletes this decade?

Show Caption Hide Caption LeBron James: NBA star is our athlete of the decade Sports Pulse: Breaking down why NBA star LeBron James is the best athlete in the world over the last decade.

Ten years. In the world of sports, it can seem like an eternity.

As this decade began, the Yankees were reigning World Series champions, the Saints were about to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl title, Kobe Bryant was on his way to leading the Lakers to back-to-back NBA titles and Tiger Woods – with 14 major victories by the age of 34 – was seemingly a lock to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.

How things have changed. The Yankees, Saints and Lakers have yet to return to the pinnacle of their sports, and Woods went 11 years before winning his 15th major.

Then again, some stars who ruled the sports world in 2010 have managed to stay on top. Which ones deserve recognition as the greatest athletes of the past decade?

Thirty-five members of the USA TODAY Sports staff voted to determine the top 50 athletes of the decade. Points were given in descending order, so an athlete who was voted No. 1 received 25 points, followed by No. 2 receiving 24 points and so on. Point totals are in parentheses.

1. LeBron James (786 points)

The start of the decade coincided with James entering his prime, having just turned 25. He delivered, playing in eight NBA Finals and winning three titles, being voted MVP twice and winning a gold medal in 2012. Plus nobody has scored more points since the start of the 2009-10 season than James. But it's his impact off the court that elevates James beyond other athletes of the 2010s, adding to his philanthropic efforts and becoming a leading voice on social and political issues.

2. Serena Williams (781 points)

Narrowly beat out by James, Williams is arguably the the greatest tennis player in history with 23 Grand Slam tournament singles titles, more than any man or woman in the Open Era. Not all of those majors came in this decade, but winning 10 of them – as well as Olympic golds in singles and doubles – after turning 30 might be an even more impressive feat.

3. Tom Brady (742 points)

A sixth-round draft choice in 2000, Brady's career has spanned two decades, and he's still going strong at 42. In the 2010s, he won two MVP awards (2010 season and '17) and led the Patriots to five Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl titles (2014 season, '16 and '18).

4. Simone Biles (740 points)

Biles hit the elite gymnastics scene as a 14-year-old in 2011. Two years later she claimed her first world championship gold medals, winning the floor exercise and all-around competitions. She won eight more golds at worlds in 2014-15 before leading the USA to team gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Individually, Biles won gold in the floor exercise, vault and all-around competitions with a bronze in the balance beam. After taking 2017 off, she returned by winning seven more individual golds at the 2018 and 2019 world championships.

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5. Usain Bolt (654 points)

Bolt was already an international star and Olympic champion when the decade started. But he added to his legacy by becoming the only sprinter to win gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meters in three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016). He also won 11 gold medals at the track and field world championships from 2009 to 2015. And he currently holds the world record in both the 100 and the 200.

6. Mike Trout (610 points)

Trout made his major league debut in 2011 at 19 and a season later won the AL Rookie of the Year award and finished second in AL MVP voting. He hasn't slowed down since. An eight-time All-Star, Trout has won three MVP awards and finished second four times. The only blemish on his career is a lack of postseason success, but he's only 28.

7. Steph Curry (571 points)

The seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Curry quickly established himself as one of the game’s best shooters. He led the NBA in 3-point field goals for five consecutive seasons, including a record 402 in 2015-16. An All-Star in each of the past six seasons, Curry was named the league’s MVP in 2015 as he led the Warriors to their first NBA title in 40 years. The following year, Curry repeated as MVP as the Warriors finished with an unprecedented 73-9 record but lost the NBA Finals in seven games to the Cavaliers. Entering the 2019-20 season, Curry and the Warriors have represented the Western Conference in each of the past five NBA Finals, winning three.

8. Lionel Messi (570 points)

In the decade’s greatest soccer rivalry, Messi comes out slightly ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. A prolific goal-scorer, Messi has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards (five this decade) as the world’s top player. He has spent his entire pro career with Barcelona, where he holds the record of six Golden Boot awards as the leading scorer in the top division of the five major European leagues. The native of Argentina is his country’s all-time leading scorer with 70 goals in 138 international appearances. He also led Argentina to the 2014 World Cup final.

9. Michael Phelps (541 points)

Although many of his accomplishments came in the 2000s, Phelps arguably did enough alone in this decade to be considered the greatest swimmer in history. Following his unprecedented eight gold medal-winning performance at the 2008 Olympics, Phelps cut back his schedule – winning four golds and two silvers in 2012 in London. He was chosen as the U.S. flag bearer for the 2016 Rio Games, then added another five golds and one silver. His victories in the 200-meter butterfly and 200 medley made him, at 31, the oldest individual champion in Olympic swimming history.

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10. Novak Djokovic (479 points)

Men's tennis has been ruled by three players this decade. Of the three, Djokovic holds the upper hand. Of his 16 Grand Slam tournament titles, 15 have come since 2011 – including all five Wimbledon crowns and six of his record seven Australian Open titles. His 2015 season, in which he won three majors and reached the final in a fourth, is considered one of the greatest in history.

11. Katie Ledecky (443 points)

Ledecky is quite simply the most dominant freestyle swimmer in history. At 15, she claimed her first Olympic title in 2012, setting a record for an American and winning the 800-meter freestyle by more than four seconds. Breaking world records and going undefeated in every international final she entered between the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Ledecky hit more milestones at the 2016 Rio Games. She won gold in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter free, posting world-record times in the 400 and 800 that still stand. All told, she’s set 14 world records.

12. Kevin Durant (398 points)

Starting in the 2009-10 season, Durant led the league in points five years in a row with the Thunder, went to the 2012 Finals, was league MVP in 2013-14 and won Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. But Durant didn’t become an NBA champion until he joined the Warriors in 2016. He won back-to-back titles (winning Finals MVP) and was the leading playoff scorer last season until he was hurt before the Finals.

13. Rafael Nadal (396 points)

The King of Clay won the French Open eight times during the decade and three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2010. He’s the reigning champion at the French and U.S. Open. Nadal was ranked No. 1 for 140 weeks, including now, and No. 2 for 133 weeks.

14. Cristiano Ronaldo (387 points)

He signed with Real Madrid before the turn of the decade and dominated, scoring 40 or more goals three times and winning back-to-back Ballon D’Or awards in 2013 and 2014 and 2016 and 2017. He was named the top forward as Portugal won UEFA Euro 2016. He transferred to Juventus in 2018 and led that team to a first-place finish in his first year.

15. Aaron Rodgers (297 points)

The Packers' quarterback was MVP of the 2011 Super Bowl XLV win against the Steelers, throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns. He was NFL MVP in 2012, when the Packers went 15-1, and he had a career-best 4,643 passing yards and 45 TD passes. He picked up six All-Pro nods and won 10 or more games seven times, including this season.

16. Roger Federer (273 points)

He began the decade ranked No. 1 and finished No. 3. There was a lot of fluctuation in there, including a drop to 16, but he won five Grand Slam tournaments and the Federer-Nadal rivalry remains fun to watch.

17. Sidney Crosby (268 points)

The hockey world wondered if the Penguins' star would be able to return from a concussion suffered in the 2011 Winter Classic. He spent parts of two seasons on the sideline but came back strong. He led the league with 104 points in 2013-14 to win MVP and was playoff MVP twice as the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017, the first NHL team to do that since the late 1990s.

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18. Clayton Kershaw (256 points)

The Dodgers' pitcher dominated in the regular season, winning the Cy Young Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014. He was voted National League MVP in 2014, when he went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA. He hasn’t been able to repeat that dominance in the postseason, though, with a combined 5.40 ERA in World Series games.

19. Alex Ovechkin (239 points)

The runaway NHL goal-scoring leader of the decade. The Capitals' star scored his 600th goal on March 12, 2018, and is closing in on 700. Ovechkin eliminated the one blemish on his career by winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

20. Carli Lloyd (217 points)

A force on the U.S. Women’s National Team, she scored the winning goal in the 2012 Olympics, was captain of the 2015 World Cup team and had a hat trick in the championship game against Japan. She scored three goals in the 2019 World Cup as the USA repeated as champion.

21. American Pharoah (160 points)

Yes, horses are athletes too. American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015, the first to do so since Affirmed in 1978. He took the Kentucky Derby by 1 length, the Preakness Stakes by 7 lengths and the Belmont Stakes by 5½ lengths. Trained by Bob Baffert, American Pharoah went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the first to win all four races in one year.

22. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (154 points)

Mayweather added to his perfect record by winning nine fights in the decade, including a 10th-round TKO of UFC fighter Conor McGregor in August 2017. That gave Mayweather a 50-0 record, surpassing Hall of Fame boxer Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 mark. Mayweather announced on Instagram in November that he was “coming out of retirement in 2020,” but no bout has been scheduled.

23. Max Scherzer (123 points)

Scherzer started the decade as an up-and-comer who just completed his first full season in the major leagues. He finishes the 2010s with the most strikeouts and wins in the decade, three Cy Young Awards and a newly earned World Series title.

24. Lindsey Vonn (119 points)

Vonn's decade as a skier was filled with remarkable achievements and excruciating injuries. She won Olympic gold in the downhill and a bronze in the super-G at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. In 2013, she suffered torn knee ligaments and a broken leg and did not fully recover in time for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Vonn returned to the Games in 2018, taking bronze in the downhill. She announced her retirement in 2019 after claiming a record 82 World Cup victories, the most of any female skier in history. She also has seven world championship medals and was the first female skier to win medals at six world championships.

25. Mikaela Shiffrin (118 points)

The world’s dominant slalom skier has won the World Cup season title six times. Shiffrin, 24, also has won three consecutive overall World Cup titles. Currently tied for second on the list of World Cup victories with 62, Shiffrin could pass Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 before the Beijing Olympics in 2022. At the 2014 Olympics at 18, she became the youngest to win Olympic gold in slalom. Four years later, Shiffrin won gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined.

26. Maya Moore (104 points)

The five-time, first-team All-WNBA honoree helped the Lynx win four championships since her rookie year in 2011. Moore was also named MVP in 2014. She has missed only one game in eight seasons, with career averages of 18.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In February, Moore, 30, announced that she would sit out the 2019 season to focus on family and “some ministry dreams.”

27. James Harden (86 points)

A seven-time All-Star and two-time NBA scoring champion, Harden was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year (2011-12) with the Thunder before he was traded to the Rockets. Since the trade, Harden, 30, has averaged 29.4 points and 7.7 assists. He’s led the NBA in scoring each of the past two seasons: 30.4 points in 2017-18 – when he was the league MVP – and 36.1 points in 2018-19.

28. Justin Verlander (83 points)

Verlander won two Cy Young Awards in the decade, including one in 2019 when he became the oldest pitcher to achieve the feat since 42-year-old Roger Clemens did it in 2004. Now 36, Verlander is second to Max Scherzer in wins and strikeouts in the 2010s and first in innings pitched. He also won a World Series title with the Astros in 2017.

29. Elena Delle Donne (69 points)

She is the first player in WNBA history to win MVP honors with two teams: the Sky in 2015 and the Mystics in 2019. A seven-year veteran, Delle Donne, 30, led the Mystics to the team’s first league championship in 2019. She is the first player in WNBA history to shoot over 50% from the field, over 40% from 3-point territory and over 90% from the free throw line in a season (2019).

30. Tiger Woods (57 points)

Woods hasn’t been the same since he crashed his Escalade outside his Florida mansion on the day after Thanksgiving in 2009. He endured personal scandal and several surgical procedures on his back. But Woods had his share of moments of triumph on the golf course. He was named PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2013 and won 11 tournaments in the 2010s. His Masters victory in 2019 was one of the decade's most dramatic moments and marked his 15th career major, keeping Woods within reach of Jack Nicklaus' record of 18.

31. Abby Wambach (55 points)

Inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in September, Wambach, 39, is the career-leading goal scorer in women's international soccer with 184 goals. In the 2010s, she was a member of the U.S. women's team that won gold at the 2012 Olympics and the 2015 World Cup. She was the FIFA world women's player of the year in 2012.

T32. Allyson Felix (49 points)

Felix finishes the decade as the most decorated woman in U.S. Olympic track and field history with nine medals. She captured three gold medals in 2012 and two more in 2016 to bring her career total to six, most of any female track and field athlete in Olympic history. She won her 12th gold at the world championships in 2019, her first since becoming a mother.

T32. Marcel Hirscher (49 points)

At just 30 years old, the Austrian is already widely considered the greatest Alpine skier ever. Hirscher won a record eight consecutive overall World Cup titles from 2012 to 2019, plus six titles each in the slalom and giant slalom disciplines and two Olympic gold medals in 2018.

34. Drew Brees (48 points)

Brees earned nine of his 13 career Pro Bowl nods in the 2010s and was the 2011 Offensive Player of the Year. He leads quarterbacks for the decade in touchdowns, yards, pass attempts and completions. He also finishes the decade as the NFL's career leader in passing yards and touchdowns.

35. Megan Rapinoe (46 points)

Rapinoe played in three World Cups during the decade, winning two, including the performance of a lifetime to lead the Americans to a second consecutive title in 2019. She was awarded the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals and earned the Golden Ball as the best player.

36. Diana Taurasi (35 points)

Considered one of the greatest female basketball players in history, Taurasi spent the 2010s burnishing her Hall of Fame résumé. She earned five All-Star nods and seven All-WNBA selections during the decade and won her third WNBA championship and second Finals MVP in 2014. Taurasi became the WNBA’s all-time leader scorer in 2017 and won Olympic gold medals with the U.S. in 2012 and 2016.

37. Klay Thompson (35 points)

Thompson teamed with Steph Curry to form the Splash Brothers, the best shooting backcourt in NBA history and cornerstones of a Warriors dynasty that won three championships. Thompson was a five-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA third-team pick during the decade.

38. Patrick Kane (34 points)

The top pick in the 2007 draft, Kane became a cornerstone of the Blackhawks' teams that won three Stanley Cup championships during the decade. Kane won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion and the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2015-16, becoming the first American-born player to win each.

39. Alex Morgan (28 points)

Morgan became the latest international soccer star for the U.S. She appeared in three World Cups, helping the U.S. win the 2015 and 2019 titles. In April 2019, Morgan became the seventh American woman to score 100 international goals, and she finishes the decade with 107.

40. Lewis Hamilton (25 points)

Hamilton established himself as one of the most accomplished drivers in Formula One history with five championships in six years (2014-15, 2017-19). His six total championships and 84 race wins are both second behind Michael Schumacher, and Hamilton holds the F1 career record with 88 poles.

T41. Canelo Alvarez (21 points)

Canelo became one of boxing’s biggest draws this decade, signing a massive deal with the DAZN streaming service for his fights in 2018. In the ring, the four-division champion has gone an impressive 23-1-1 over the past 10 years.

T41. Sue Bird (21 points)

Bird finishes the decade among the best women to ever play basketball. She won two of her three WNBA titles (2010 and 2018), made five All-Star teams and three All-WNBA teams and became the league’s all-time assists leader in 2017. Bird also helped the U.S. win Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016.

T41. Aaron Donald (21 points)

The accolades started piling up in 2013 for Donald, as he was named the ACC defensive player of the year and cleaned up in award season, taking home the Nagurski Award, Bednarik Award, Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award. He continued in the NFL as he was named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2014 and captured back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2017 and 2018, the latter when he led the league with 20½ sacks.

T41. Brooks Koepka (21 points)

The 29-year-old golfer became one of the best big-game players on the planet in the last few years of the decade. He captured four major titles – twice taking home the PGA Championship (2018 and 2019) and twice winning the U.S. Open (2017 and 2018). When he wasn’t winning in 2019 he was in the hunt, finishing second at the Masters, second at the U.S. Open and fourth at the British Open.

45. Jon Jones (20 points)

There was plenty of controversy for “Bones” during the decade as he was stripped of his light heavyweight championship multiple times. But there was no disputing his dominance in the octagon. He never lost a UFC bout in the decade, racking up 16 wins.

46. JJ Watt (18 points)

Perhaps no defensive player was as dominant as Watt in the 2010s. He won three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards (2012, 2014, 2015) and twice led the league in sacks. Watt's career has been slowed of late by injuries, but in 2017 he made perhaps his biggest impact off the field when he was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year after helping to spearhead a massive fundraising effort in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

47. Julio Jones (17 points)

The wide receiver began the decade as a star on Alabama as the Crimson Tide captured their first national championship in 17 years in January 2010. He was drafted by the Falcons with the sixth overall pick in 2011 and hasn’t slowed down, twice leading the league in receiving yards while clearing 900 yards in all but one year of his NFL career.

T48. Larry Fitzgerald (16 points)

Fitzgerald has spent the decade continuing to build one of the most impressive resumes of any wide receiver in NFL history. The greatest player in Arizona Cardinals history is now second in career receptions and yards and sixth in touchdowns. He also has the most receptions of the 2010s.

T48. Shaun White (16 points)

One of the most recognizable names in extreme sports, White won Olympic gold medals in snowboard halfpipe at the 2010 and 2018 Winter Games. He also spent the early part of the decade dominating at the X Games.

50. Adrian Peterson (14 points)

Peterson has rushed for over 9,000 yards this decade, claiming the rushing title in 2012 and 2015 – the former accompanied by the league MVP as he nearly broke Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Others receiving votes

Jimmie Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Breanna Stewart, Mo Farah, Eliud Kipchoge, Kyle Busch, Justify, Lamar Jackson, Von Miller, Chandler Jones, Miguel Cabrera.