Looking back, the 2000s have been one of the best decades in sports. There have been many upsets, comebacks, blowouts as well as countless Cinderella stories. However, individual athletes steal the show with their performances. Trying to narrow down the best athletes of this decade is a difficult task, but these are the top five athletes of the decade.

No. 5: Peyton Manning Manning has three MVPs to his credit this decade, along with one Super Bowl victory. The quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts broke the record for touchdown passes in a season, which was later broken by the New England Patriots’ QB, Tom Brady. His best attribute to the team is his ability to manage a game. He is the best at reading the defense and changing the play to exploit the other team’s weaknesses. At the end of his career, he will be considered one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.

No. 4: Roger Federer Federer has 15 major tournament wins, including six Wimbledon titles. Federer finally completed the tennis Grand Slam this year with his first French Open victory. The rivalry he has with Rafael Nadal has been very one sided, with Federer coming out on top most of the time. Nobody has dominated tennis like Federer since the days of Pete Sampras.

No. 3: Lance Armstong Armstrong is one of the best comeback stories in the history of sports. After fighting off brain, lung and testicular cancer, he returned to cycling and won the Tour de France seven times in a row, including the first six of the decade. The physical demand of the tour is a lot, and the fact that he was able to perform at a level to win it seven times in a row is astounding. There has never been a more inspiring story than Armstrong’s.

No. 2: Michael Phelps Phelps won six gold medals in the 2004 Olympic games, one shy of the record set by Mark Spitz. In the 2008 Olympics, he finally broke Spitz’ gold medal record, winning eight. Phelps won 21 World Championship swimming events. Phelps has changed the way people look at swimming with his dominating performance in Beijing.

No. 1: Tiger Woods There is no one who dominates his sport quite like Tiger. Woods has won 12 majors this decade, including winning all four majors in a row. He has an unprecedented 56 PGA Tour wins this decade, not to mention the countless wins he has internationally. Woods is the most recognizable athlete in the world. There is no greater intimidating presence in all of sports than Tiger Woods in his blood-red Nike polo and black slacks on Sunday at Augusta National.

These are the athletes who are legendary from this decade. When people look back at this decade in sports, these are the athletes that people are going to remember. When our generation gets older, we will be able to tell the generations to come that we remember the days of Manning and Tiger.