thletes of the 20th centuryrecognized

assistant a&e editor

Every once in a while a great athlete steps into the ht. They inspire their followers to push themselves, exed in their sport and never quit.

Commercials for Nike and Gatorade grab the fans' attion and cause these great athletes to become icons for eriod of time.

This century has had many extraordinary sporting ents. Who can forget when the U.S. women's soccer m won the world cup?

Posters, jerseys, magazines and cereal boxes displayed names and faces of such superb athletes as Mia Hamm d Brandi Chastain.

Sports Illustrated magazine celebrated its world's atest athletes in New York's Madison Square Garden the Sports lllustrated's 20th Century Sports Awards. Athletes from around the world gathered to celebrate eir friends.

Muhammad Ali was named sportsman of the 20th cenHis style, character and skill made him one of the st adored athletes of the world. His successes included oming a three-time heavyweight champion. The best female athlete of the 20th century goes to be Didrikson Zaharias. She is known as one of the atest all-around athletes in history, male or female.

She won five out of the eight races she entered in the national AAU track meet and won two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics.

She decided to take up golf and wound up winning 82 tournaments and was a three-time All-American basketball player. She pitched in several major league exhibition games and also won championships in billiards, cycling, shooting, speed-skating, squash, swimming and tennis.

The best football player of the century award went to Jim Brown. He won a National Football League record eight rushing titles and he amazingly never missed one game in his entire career. He scored 106 touchdowns and in nine seasons he rushed for 12,312 yards.

Upon his retirement, Brown was the NFL's all-time leading rusher.

The greatest hockey player of the 20th century went to none other then "The Great One." Wayne Gretzky holds 61 National Hockey League records including career marks of 894 goals and 1,963 assists.

He was named the league's Most Valuable Player nine times and is attributed with solidifying the NHL in the Sun Belt. He retired at the conclusion of the 1998-1999 season.

"I wanna be like Mike," is a slogan that will probably be heard into the next century. Michael Jordan was selected as the best basketball player of the 20th century by Sports

Illustrated. Jordan holds records for career scoring averaging 33.4 points a game and most seasons leading the league in scoring (10).

Jordan won six National Basketball Association championships in his career and five Most Valuable Player awards. He retired after the 1997-1998 season.

Carl Lewis is now known as the best Olympian athlete of the century. In the l 980s and into the early 1990s, no one could jump farther and run more consistently than Lewis.

He has won a total of 10 Olympic medals, including nine gold medals.

The greatest baseball player of the 20th century award went to a player who is known under many names-- ''The Great Bambino," 'The Colossus of Clout," or the "Sultan of Swat." Babe Ruth began his career as a pitcher and won 20 games and then became a full-time outfielder and slugged 714 home runs.

He became a dominant personality of an era and was an idol for baseball players in the past and will be one for the athletes to come.

This event was broadcasted live last week on ESPN.