The verdict is in. It is no surprise. Malaysian Nicol David, eight-time squash world champion, was named by Internet users as the greatest athlete in history to have participated in the World Games since the creation of the multisport event in 1981. She came out well ahead of a survey carried out between January 8 and February 1, 2021 on the World Games website. With 318.943 votes, Nicol David was clearly ahead of his immediate follower, the Irishman James Kehoe, a tug-of-war specialist. Now aged 37, the former Malaysian player won the squash tournament at the World Games three times. She remained at the top of the women's world rankings continuously between 2006 and 2015, won two Commonwealth Games gold medals, five Asian Games gold medals and five British Open trophies. Nicol David retired from sports in 2019. The International World Games Association (IWGA), chaired by Spaniard José Perurena, organized this online survey to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the multisport event. A first list of 24 nominees was proposed to Internet users, subsequently reduced to 10 finalists.
