I contest the notion that Usain is the greatest athlete alive. Running in a straight line or with a slight curve (the 200) is great and all, but doesn't correlate with overall athletic greatness. For all we know, Usain's hand-eye coordination could be bunk, he might throw a ball poorly, etc. Probably not, but its not impossible.
For me, the greatest athlete right now is Lebron James. At his size, his ability to move in an agile manner, his body control, his ridiculous jumping and court quickness...I don't think it compares. He shows the complete athletic package night in and night out, and has from a young age.
Usain's ability to sprint is great, definitely the best so far, but I put more stock in overall athleticism in events other than sprinting.
He's also quite decent at cricket. In a charity match last year he hit Chris Gayle (captain of the West Indies) for 6 and also bowled him out. Being able to both bat and bowl shows a great amount of general athleticism, most people are only able to do well at one of those.
You might think this is stupid, but the guys who compete on Sasuke ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasuke_(TV_series) ) are amazing athletes, some of them incredibly dedicated. They regularly have Olympians on who don't make it very far.
For me, the greatest athlete right now is Lebron James. At his size, his ability to move in an agile manner, his body control, his ridiculous jumping and court quickness...I don't think it compares. He shows the complete athletic package night in and night out, and has from a young age.
Usain's ability to sprint is great, definitely the best so far, but I put more stock in overall athleticism in events other than sprinting.