“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon’em.” So said The Bard, but to qualify for the Times Online 23 wonders of sport, greatness, at least in the overused parlance, was not enough and those on it had to do all the thrusting.

To qualify, the person, part or place has to be not merely great, but transcendent. They also have to to be an active participant or still in use.

It is, in the nature of all things, a deeply personal list full of the prejudices of experience. But I have tried to stay true to the idea that being great among their peers today was not enough, they must, in some way, have gone beyond - gone beyond even their ancestral peers, such as Tiger Woods, or gone beyond a sport and redefined the art of the possible.

That reason alone qualified David Beckham, whose right foot would otherwise have not got him close. But there is no room for Andrew Flintofff, who has shone brightly but too briefly. In deference to Michael Jordan, Beckham wears the number 23. Jordan was the first to merge sporting and corporate culture that made him as rich and famous as he was talented.

Twenty-three has had resonance as a mystical and mathematical number for far longer than Jordan’s celebration of it on his rampaging Chicago Bulls shirt. One of the many challenges for mathematicians is to find a pattern in prime numbers, Jordan perhaps provided a non-cerebral pattern to one of their favourites.

Only three sportsmen today were inked in from the start; Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Michael Phelps. Female contenders were less clear. Maria Sharapova earns more than Federer in a year, but despite winning her third Grand Slam at the Australian Open in Melbourne, she could not be described as in the same breath as a player. Others may follow, but to be on this list you must have shown them the way.

23. Indianapolis Speedway

From the small to the biggest. This racetrack town within a town in Speedway, Indiana is surrounded by Indianapolis and is the greatest racetrack in the world. Coming up to its centenary next year it is the second oldest after Milwaukee. The Indy 500 attracts nearly 400,000 spectators, but the venue has resonated even further since 1992 when NASCAR, America’s most popular motor racing was married to the nation’s favourite venue. Running big, clumsy stock cars at Indy is like stampeding bulls on a beautiful oak floor. They slide and jerk through the flat, sharp, treacherous turns of an ancient "oval" - actually a rectangle - built in 1909 for cars that ran 70 mph. But it does not seem to matter, the fans love it as a Woodstock with grandstands.

22. Glenmark Rugby Club

This is more than a token to represent all the grass roots clubs in every sport that nurture those with great futures in front of them. Glenmark is truly special and the proud North Canterbury farming district has produced more talented All Black rugby players per capita than almost anywhere. Last summer Scott Hamilton, the winger, became the 10th ‘GlenBlack’ in a line stretching back 37 years to Alex ‘Griz’ Wyllie, Craig Green, Robbie Deans, now coach of Australia and Todd Blackadder. Sometimes its good to stand and watch and rub shoulders with the past and the future.

21. Madison Square Garden

Witness to some of the greatest sporting moments in history. Game 5 and Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals still reverberate, with the New York Knicks finding two miracles to overcome Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamberlain and the LA Lakers. “The Fight of the Century” followed on March 8, 1971 as the 29-year-old Muhammad Ali emerged from his ban for draft-dodging to take on Joe Frazier. Ali lost on points after 15 rounds but would have his revenge.

20. LeBron James

The year is 0AGF. At least at Nike it is. Executives bet $90 million on James being the next Jordan and signed him on an almost obscenely large sponsorship deal as soon as he left high school. A lot of people in Nike were angry with the size but that was BGF – Before Game Five of the Eastern Conference finals on May 31 2007. With one minute 14 to go of second overtime and the Cinderella team Cleveland Cavaliers down 107-104, James landed a fadeaway three-pointer. One minute 12 seconds later he produced a scything drive to win the game. Suddenly to commentators and fans alike the 22-year-old was ‘Jordanesque’.

19. Carolina Kluft

Arguably one of the greatest all-round female athletes ever, the Swede, who turns 25 in February, has swept all before her in the heptathlon and probably could have specialised and excelled in a number of the individual events. European, world and Olympic champion. She is Sweden’s Daley Thomson. Her greatest enemy is the lack of competition. She has not lost a senior heptathlon for seven years and after feeling “empty” in Osaka retaining her world crown, may only compete in the long jump in Beijing.

18. Melbourne Cricket Ground

The spiritual home of Australian sport grew out of games in Yarra Park into one of the great cathedrals of sport in a city defined and organised around sport. Sydney may have had the 2000 Olympics, but Victoria’s capital is the undisputed sporting capital of sports mad Australia. Australian Rules Football was invented and first played at ‘The G’ in 1858 and the first Test between England and Australia was played there in 1877. It is not Lord’s but somehow manages to mix pomp with earth on a quite breathtaking scale.

17. Tony McCoy

The greatest jump jockey ever and arguably Britain’s most obsessive sportsman. The 12-time Champion jockey may have hurt his back this season, but will not be stopped from making it 13 consecutive championships. Incredible discipline, weight management to the point of starvation and skill make him unmatchable.

16. Murali’s Doosra.

Many will never be convinced as the legitimacy of his action but Muttiah Muralitharan is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon. He struggled in Australia before Christmas, but his ‘doosra’ – the off-spinner that goes the other way - took his game to another level. Bamboozled England batsman – particularly the lefthanders – say the ball looks exactly the same as the off-spinner. Muralitharan’s rubber wrists allow him to bowl both with scrambled seams along the same trajectory with incredible accuracy, forcing even the best to grope.

15. David Beckham

In football terms only his right foot, you can have the rest. It delivered for club and country and time and time again. But more significantly, like it or not, like Michael Jordan or Bjorn Borg, he is one of the few sportsmen to transcend his sport.

14. Jonny Wilkinson’s right foot.

Persistence is omnipotent and Wilkinson epitomises the almost frightening focus that many great sportsmen have. The dropped-goal off Wilkinson’s wrong foot has already been immortalised. Eighteen months before the left-footed Wilkinson had not yet learned how to do it. Rugby is a team game in which the forwards decide who wins a game and the back by how much, but Wilkinson defies normal gravity and when they needed him most he was ready to unleash all those thousands of hours of training.

13. Tom Brady’s right arm

This season, with Superbowl XLII still a few days a way, Brady has already had perhaps the greatest ever season by a quarterback in NFL history. Victory would bring his fourth. He has broken a string of records in the New England Patriots record breaking season and is eclipsing the marks set by Joe Montana and Dan Marino. Against Jacksonville, in the Patriots first play-off game Brady came closer to the perfect game than any before him, completing 26 out of 28 passes. Some feel that Peyton Manning has the best right arm in American Football, but Brady’s overhand throw is a thing of beauty compared the clunking sidearm delivery of many quarterbacks that give them so many injuries.

12. Sebastian Coe

Two Olympic golds and 11 world records are enough for one lifetime for most people, but Sebastian Coe has never been short of ambition. He will remembered also for achieving what seemed like the impossible and winning the 2012 Olympic Games for London. That maybe just the beginning of his future in international sport politics and tough he has rivals in this field – Sergei Bubka would like to lay claim to this spot – Lord Coe is peerless at the moment.

11. Floyd Mayweather.

The most astonishing thing about December’s welterweight world title fight is that Ricky Hatton survived until one minute 35 seconds of the tenth round. Mayweather may talk a lot of crap but he is far from just a pretty boy and his ratio of punches thrown to punches landed was an incredible 39 per cent compared to Hatton’s 17 per cent. One suspects he has other levels of survival that no one has pushed him to. Pound for pound he is the best boxer in the world and his terrifying talent would bear scrutiny in any era.

10. Francis Joyon

The quiet Breton was already being called the Bob Beamon of sailing in 2004 when he broke the round the world solo sailing record. Many thought his decision to head off in a 20-year-old 90ft trimaran, IDEC I, was mad let alone likely to be successful. But he broke the existing record by 20 days. A year later Ellen MacArthur improved that by 32 hours (a year later) but was there to watch Joyon take another great leap forward and improve her record by a fortnight in January 2008.

9. Oscar Pistorius

The tests say he gains a “considerable advantage” over normal runners, but Oscar Pistorius, aka the fastest man on no legs, is extraordinary. Born without fibula, both his legs were amputated below the knee at eleven months. He fell into sprinting by accident after a rugby injury at school in 2003, now 21, he has used the technology – available for more than a decade to others – to shake-up the athletics world and help us learn more about the capabilities of the human body. It is difficult to legislate for the unique and Pistorius’s case is only just beginning.

8. Yelena Isinbayeva

The female Sergei Bubka, Isinbayeva has broke her 20th world record last year and rivals Kluft as the most dominating female athlete of her generation. The 25-year-old from Volgograd, Russia, is the greatest female pole vaulter ever.

7. Sachin Tendulkar

The most loved cricketer and one of the most loved sportsman in the world, by virtue of the billion pair of eyes in India that have followed his every step. England talk about batsmen maturing at 27. Tendulkar made his test debut at 16, his first Test hundred at 17, had 16 Test hundreds before turning 25 and is still producing them. Brian Lara had more flair, but Tendulkar has looked serene under the greatest pressure.

6. Ellen McArthur

Single-handedly put sailing back on the front pages of our island’s papers and re-introduced a generation to the mystery of the ocean. She has shown that birthplace – landlocked Derbyshire – is no limit to dreams, desires and fulfillment. She has her jealous detractors in the sport, but overall has delivered both at sea and as a humble yet inspiring person. Her round-the-world record was smashed by Francis Joyon, but never underestimate her and at the age of 31 she has a lot more time for extraordinary feats.

5. Shane Warne

Before Murali there was Warne. An ordinary, clay-footed man off the pitch, Warne is a unique cricketer who inspires, mystifies and terrifies in one roll of his right arm. Voted one of the five cricketers of the 20th century by Wisden, he has transformed perceptions of spin bowling in an age of fast bowling and batting. Murali has gone past his tally of Test wickets, but besides having no question marks over his action, Warne has performed as well away as at home and single-handedly in the early 1990s he reintroduced magic and wonder to the game. Another to wear 23, but only because it was his Aussie Rules footie (the game he really wanted to be good at) number he says.

4. Anfield

Far from the biggest or most glamorous of stadiums in the world, Anfield remains a heartbeat of football and The Kop part of the soul of the game. It is the continuity, the link with their history that defines all great venues and clubs. Everton played at Anfield after it was founded in 1884, but after a dispute, Liverpool was formed in 1892. Liverpool won their second league title in 1906 and the Walton Breck Road End was redeveloped. Local media and fans christened it the Spion Kop as a memorial for the Liverpuldlians lost in the three Lancashire regiments trying in vain to take Spionkop during the Boer War in 1900. The Kop has been redeveloped and since the Taylor Report in 1994 been all-seater, but fans and players alike attest to its continuing power. Whether it can retain that after a move is another matter.

3. Michael Phelps

As if made for the water, the 22-year-old Phelps and his enormous wingspan, threaten to leave all in their wake in Beijing. After only getting six golds and two bronzes at the Athens 2004 Olympics – a joint record total – the Baltimore Bullet is on course for eight golds in Beijing. That will break Mark Spitz’s legendary record of seven golds at the 1972 Olmpics.

2. Tiger Woods

Woods has appeared more human in the last five years. But is still on course to becoming the greatest golfer of all time. Aged 32 he has13 Major titles and is bearing down on the golden Jack Nicklaus’s record 18. A black man playing a white man’s game on whiter than white courses across America, Woods has remained A-political and attractive to bluechip sponsors. He is predicted to become the first billion dollar athlete by 2010.

1 Roger Federer’s top-spin forehand.

We knew he was human before the semi-final defeat in Melbourne, because like Pete Sampras he has not won the French, but Federer. is on the way to being the greatest of them all. The 26-year-old Swiss’ 12 grand-slam titles (three Australian Opens, five consecutive Wimbledons, equalling Bjorn Borg’s record, and four US Opens) don’t tell the story of what it is to watch him. For tennis fans it is a religious experience. To separate his forehand seems churlish, but it's liquid power transcends the rest of his game. Just watch it and breathe. John McEnroe, no easy critic, calls Federer’s top-spin forehand the greatest shot in tennis.

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