in my eyes its basketball hands down. i played soccer, basketball and football but basketball is a beast as a sports, and the guys are freaks as athletes. im not the biggest lebron fan at all but he is the best athlete in all of sports in my eyes.

I think it's probably european football, largely because of the sub rules. There is a big difference between having the majority of your team play 90+ minutes a game, much of it at an intense pace, with few breaks outside the half (injuries and such mainly) vs stopping for commercials, stopping often for foul shots, and basically unlimited substitutions.

Basketball....lots of running and changing direction, constantly jumping.

Soccer....Field is huge meaning a lot of running and no play stoppage.

Tennis.....four hour matches, enough said.

Its tough, but I'll go with these three.

Basketball easily. I wouldnt say soccer is second on the list either but im not really sure what is..

Wrestling. It's one on one, very intense and tactical.
I will also accept MMA

Hockey. Easily. It's the only sport a majority of people can't do or have a hard time being hard to do.

I would have to go with basketball. The ability to constantly run up and down a wooden court, adding in constantly jumping to take shots, block or rebound...you have to be in shape, and as many of us probably have seen you can tell when a player just isnt in shape or doesnt have it anymore. The way the league is now with the run and gun type style you dont have time to catch a breather unless your coach pulls u out lol.

I think the two most athletic sports would be basketball and tennis. Both require a lot of agility, a lot of changing back and forth, and A LOT of stamina. It's a toss up to say which one is the most though, basketball requires more jumping and tennis requires much more changing direction.

I go with gymnastic first , by far ; rugby ( us football without break , like soccer , but with some physical beasts on the ground ) ; basketball and MMA.
US football is very physical but do not require a lot of stamina .

Other sports have some good specimens of athletes but not on the same planet as those 4. A Nadal is nothing in the NBA , for example ...

MMA. I have played baseball and hockey competitively, and trained with a bunch of really good MMA fighters. Hockey would be a good answer but I'm not sure it takes the most athletic award. It comes with a pretty high learning curve and a prerequisite (skating). However, once you learn how, you can find a fit in hockey without being the most athletic guys. I would say hockey is the toughest though.

I have played football, basketball and baseball (baseball at the collegiate level). The one sport I believe is the most athletic is hockey with tennis a close second. To do what hockey players do on skates is beyond athletic. You can't skate, you can't play pure and simple.

You don't have to be the most athletic guy to be successful at basketball (just ask Larry Bird).

I say tennis second because it takes incredible endurance and hitting a ball is damn difficult, especially if you play someone who has any skill....

Boxing Is hands down the most athletic sport.

Soccer requires a lot of aerobic exercise (running the large field, fewer stops). However, I think of jumping and changing direction too, and more "explosiveness" as parts of athleticism. To me, it's basketball by a good margin.

I'd say hockey because it has everything. The toughness of American Football, the speed and agility of basketball, the coordination (bat to ball, stick to puck) of baseball all performed on quarter-inch blades standing on frozen water. Steph Curry and JJ Redick can make livings off of just nailing shots from beyond the arc. Drew Doughty can have a great shot from the point but he also has to be a bullet on ice, extremely coordinated and tough as nails.

People make a lot of good points for every sport but I'd have to say that in terms of pure athleticism, soccer/European football wins by far. My reasoning: almost every sport has players who are out of shape (offensive/defensive lines in football, big men in basketball, some goalies and defenders in hockey). But soccer has NO ONE who is out of shape, those guys are fit and they're running for almost two hours straight. Based on this tennis is a very close second.