Figuring out exactly what motivates sportspeople to reach the top level of their sport and stay there fascinates us all. While it takes astonishing levels of work, talent, and belief to do that, what of the people who reach the top of their sport, only to decide to mix it up and try their hand at another?
We're not entirely sure we will ever understand what pushes them, so perhaps it is better to simply admire them. Here are six such athletes who decided that their mastering one sport simply wasn't enough.
Michael Jordan
Despite the best efforts of LeBron James (these include a starring role in the sequel to Space Jam), Jordan's legacy as the finest basketballer of all time remains undisturbed. Jordan conquered the court with the Chicago Bulls, winning six NBA titles, and was voted MVP in these finals just as often. He also won Olympic gold twice with the USA.
By 1993, Jordan had fallen out of love with basketball, and this disillusion culminated in a shock retirement. A year later he surprised supporters further by signing a Minor League Baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox.
The murder of his father in July 1993 was believed to be one of the main contributing factors to his falling out of love with basketball, and Jordan pursued baseball as it was his father's wish for Jordan to gain success with a bat. Jordan's numbers were respectable for a man who had just picked up a bat: hitting three home runs and stealing 30 bases.
Fabien Barthez
Not to damn with faint praise, but Barthez was the best of the glut of goalkeepers signed by Alex Ferguson between Peter Schmeichel's farewell and the arrival of Edwin Van Der Sar. Ferguson signed Barthez off the back of his international heroics: he won the 1998 World Cup along with Euro 2000 with France.
Barthez arrived at Old Trafford in 2000, winning two Premier league titles before leaving for Marseille on the first day of 2004, having lost his place to Tim Howard.
In 2006, Barthez announced his retirement having failed to agree a move back to his native Toulouse, only to briefly come out of retirement to play a further season with Nantes. He retired fully in 2007.
His next career is fascinating: he began a career in motorsport in 2008. In 2013 he was crowned France's GT champion, and in 2014 he competed in Le Mans: 24 hours.
Here he is telling MUTV about his new career:
https://youtu.be/y6AtrsjDd7E
Sonny Bill Williams
To the casual rugby observer, the Southern Hemisphere giants only really cross their consciousness when the World Cup swings around. Therefore, the casual observer would be forgiven for thinking that Sonny Bill Williams has been a mainstay of the All Black side for years, central as he was to both World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015.
In between his two World Cup wins, Williams played Rugby League with the Roosters (winning the NRL Premiership and the World Club Challenge) and forged a career heavyweight boxer, winning all seven of his fights.
This effortless switching between different sports has been a hallmark of Williams' career. He began playing Rugby League, winning the 2004 NRL Premiership with the Bulldogs before switching codes to play for Toulon of France in 2008. Here he remained until 2010, linking up with Crusaders in order to have a chance to win the Rugby World Cup with New Zealand.
Jarryd Hayne
Australian Jarryd Hayne has had a fascinating career. He began playing rugby league in Australia's NRL, making his debut Parramatta Eels in 2006, aged just 18. In 2009, he was ranked as the fastest man in the league, before going on to have one of the finest league seasons in the competition's history: ultimately a runner-up in the Grand Final, but he earned a stack-load of individual trophies, including five separate Player of the Year awards.
He went on to win the Rugby League World Cup with Australia in 2013 before switching attention to a career in the NFL. In 2009, he was given the option of switching to Australian Rules football with Greater Western Syndey. He turned the opportunity down, only to decide to switch his attention to forging a career in American football.
In October 2014, he realised this ambition: he announced in an interview he would be quitting Rugby league, and in 2015, he signed a contract with NFL franchise San Francisco 49ers. He lasted just a year, however. Despite impressing in pre-season games,Hayne found first-team opportunities hard to come by, and ultimately slipped well down the pecking order at the 49ers.
He announced his retirement from the NFL in May of this year, saying that he did not want to learn an entirely new playbook under recently-appointed coach Chip Kelly.
Jim Stynes
The path from a Gaelic football-dominated youth to a contract playing Australian Rules football is well-worn at this stage, and perhaps the greatest proponent of this career move was Jim Stynes.
Stynes was born in Dublin, and was a very fine Gaelic footballer, and was part of the Dublin minor team that won the All-Ireland in 1984. That same year, Stynes responded to an advertisement by Melbourne Football Club, who were scouting for talented Gaelic footballers who were taller than 183 cm. Stynes fit the bill, and responded to the advertisement.
He played his first practice game in the summer of 1984, and his subsequent impression proved sufficient in earning a spot with Melbourne's Under-19s. A senior debut followed in 1987 at the age of just 20, and went on to play in the side for twelve seasons in all. he retired in 1998 having made a total of 264 appearances for Melbourne, placing him second in the club's all-time appearance holders. He also broke a record for consecutive appearances: playing in 244 games in a row before suffering a hand injury in 1998.
Stynes became a Melbourne legend, and won the Brownlow Medal in 1991. Stynes sadly passed away in 2012 at the age of 45, following a battle with cancer.
Jim Thorpe
American sport is full of absurdly talented athletes who have switched between sports, but few meet the ludicrous achievements of Jim Thorpe.
Thorpe won Olympic gold for the USA in 1912 as both a pentathlete and decathlete. He then played baseball with both the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox. While playing with the White Sox, Thorpe also played pro football with the Canton Bulldogs. In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams that formed the American Professional Football Association (which would later become the NFL).
Thorpe played for the Bulldogs and was also nominated as the league's first president, a role now better known as the NFL Commissioner. Thorpe also spent some time coaching the Bulldogs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
To complete the set, Thorpe also played professional basketball.
Oh, and in 1912, Thorpe also won the inter-collegiate ballroom dancing championship.
Versatile doesn't even begin to cover it.
