My definition of an aththlete is someone who can excel in most activities. Bo Jackson was a great athlete, as was Deion Sanders. They both played at the highest level of both sports. Think back to your younger days and think about the guys, or girls, who were good at everything they did (all sports) those were the athletes. So under my circumstances it's a case by case basis, but honestly I couldn't see many golfers being great at many other sports, although there are many athletes who are also golfers.
Sorry I took so long before jumping back into the argument. Weekends. To answer your questions, I would like to not consider the following as sports: long jump, shot putting, and any other track & field activity. Likewise, figure-skating, race-car driving, horseback riding and golf. I would like to parse it out and say there are competitions, of which sports are a subcategory. Racing is another category. Games of skill (like golf or archery, etc) are yet another. But, I think it is probably wrong to equate a sport-player with an athlete. Not everyone who plays a sport is an athlete (for example, me) and not all athletes play sports. Sprinters are certainly athletes, but sprinting is not a sport. I would say, though, that golf and golfers fall out of both categories of sport and athlete. Golf isn't a sport due to the nature of the game. Golfers aren't athletes because of the rigor of the exercise. Tiger Woods might be the most athletic guy in the world, but we don't get to see it when he plays golf. ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
