text: would you consider rocky marciano, george herman "babe" ruth,  secretariat and eddie arcaro to be athletes ? marciano played minor league for the chicago cubs before becoming a professional boxer and heavyweight champion of the world with record of 49 undefeated professional fights, a record that still stands to this day. babe ruth hit a record of 60 home runs (without any drug/substance support) and secretariat ran a mile and one half in 2:24 under a hand ride by jockey ron turcotte, on a flat surface (unlike nowadays, whereas the from the far turn to the top of the stretch the turn is banked). and, arcaro was the only jockey to have had two triple crown winners-whiraway and citation...are all 4 great athletes; 3 or 2 or 1 or none ? yes, these are all athletes. an athlete is anyone who trains, physically and mentally, to excel at a sport or physical competetion.