Sporting Greats

[Mattyhitman]

Tanni Grey Thompson

35 World Records
11 Paralympic Gold Medals
4 Paralympic Silver Medals
1 Paralympic Bronze Medal

2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze World Championships
Won the London Female Wheelchair Marathon 6 times

Good shout.

She's from neck of the woods too, a great ambassador for sport from the North East.

[Beanz]

Tanni Grey Thompson

35 World Records
11 Paralympic Gold Medals
4 Paralympic Silver Medals
1 Paralympic Bronze Medal

2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze World Championships
Won the London Female Wheelchair Marathon 6 times

Good shout.

She's from neck of the woods too, a great ambassador for sport from the North East.

She is. I thought she was Welsh though?

[Mattyhitman]

Tanni Grey Thompson

35 World Records
11 Paralympic Gold Medals
4 Paralympic Silver Medals
1 Paralympic Bronze Medal

2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze World Championships
Won the London Female Wheelchair Marathon 6 times

Good shout.

She's from neck of the woods too, a great ambassador for sport from the North East.

She is. I thought she was Welsh though?

She is Welsh, but lives up here now, has done for some time, we accept her as one of our own

[Mattyhitman]

The IAAF are introducing a Hall Of Fame for Athletics, here are the
Inaugural 12 athletes: Jesse Owens (US), Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia), Paavo Nurmi (Finland), Carl Lewis (US), Emil Zatopek (Czechoslovakia), Al Oerter (US), Adhemar da Silva (Brazil), Ed Moses (US), Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands), Betty Cuthbert (Australia), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (US), Wang Junxia (China)


Carnt believe Roger Bannister is not on the list

[Master]

Moses 400 hurdles, legend.

[Beanz]

The IAAF are introducing a Hall Of Fame for Athletics, here are the
Inaugural 12 athletes: Jesse Owens (US), Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia), Paavo Nurmi (Finland), Carl Lewis (US), Emil Zatopek (Czechoslovakia), Al Oerter (US), Adhemar da Silva (Brazil), Ed Moses (US), Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands), Betty Cuthbert (Australia), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (US), Wang Junxia (China)


Carnt believe Roger Bannister is not on the list

Another International conspiracy against the British.

[X]

Good thread ......
For me, sporting greatness isn't necessarily about who is the fastest etc person of all time, otherwise there would only ever be one great in every athletics discipline.

It's about someone who was years ahead of their time, or who dominated for a long time, or who captured the zeitgeist of the moment: so how about, in no particular order

Jesse Owens
Emil Zatopek
Herb Elliott
Carl Lewis
Seb Coe and Steve Ovett
Daley Thomson
Michael Johnson
Usain Bolt
Mark Spitz
Micheal Phelps
Nadia Comeneci
Al Oerter

I'm sure there are loads more.

Also, think back over your lifetime and consider how many All Time greats insports you have had the privelege of watching live in the flesh, on TV or being around while their story unfolded in real time,

Jonah Lomu
Roger Federer
Rafa Nadal
Lionel Messi
Ronaldo (the Brazilian, not the Portuguese cunt)
Viv Richards
Bjorn Borg

Depends how old you are, but it's a good game to play in the pub

[Master]

Cathy Freeman winning 2000 was moving.

[Fenster]

I'm not a Triple Jump expert so I looked it up. This is how two coaches start their articles -

"Triple jump technique is much like the game hop scotch that young children play"
Triple Jump Technique and Training

And

"ANYBODY can triple jump"
How to Triple Jump: 10 steps - wikiHow

An able bodied person could easily make a mediocre pathetic jump, with years of training, just like the snooker player making a 50 break.

Eddie the Eagle is a prime example of what I'm talking about. Check this out - "Edwards first represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships, and was ranked 55th in the world and this performance qualified him, as the sole British applicant, for the 1988 Winter Olympics ski jumping competition."

So even though he was utter toilet he was only 54 places behind the WORLDS best ski jumper and competed in the worlds greatest ski jumps competition. Sports nobody do. ()

[Memphis]

I'm not a Triple Jump expert so I looked it up. This is how two coaches start their articles -

"Triple jump technique is much like the game hop scotch that young children play"
Triple Jump Technique and Training

And

"ANYBODY can triple jump"
How to Triple Jump: 10 steps - wikiHow

An able bodied person could easily make a mediocre pathetic jump, with years of training, just like the snooker player making a 50 break.

Eddie the Eagle is a prime example of what I'm talking about. Check this out - "Edwards first represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships, and was ranked 55th in the world and this performance qualified him, as the sole British applicant, for the 1988 Winter Olympics ski jumping competition."

So even though he was utter toilet he was only 54 places behind the WORLDS best ski jumper and competed in the worlds greatest ski jumps competition. Sports nobody do. ()

Im not sure what the 2 links are designed to prove? I could clock a 100m time just as easly as I could set a distance for triple jump, Im no more Usain Bolt than I am Jonathan Edwards. Just because a skill is basic it doesnt mean becoming a world class peformer in either is easy.

Eddy Edwards was shit, he remained shit and didnt qualify for another Olympics due to them making a radical change to the qualification process, they insisted that you were good at it. If Eddy Edwards strolled onto the slopes and won gold he'd be the perfect man to make your point. Unfortunately the only point Eddy Edwards is good for making is that in an event with 54 registered atheletes becoming the 55th best is a piece of piss.

Jonathan Edwards wasnt the 55th best at what he did, he was and still is he best nearly 20 years later.

[Fenster]

I'm not saying Edward's jumps are not special or impressive, to be the greatest in history at anything is beyond awesome.

I just wan't to know how many people in the world actually triple jump? I don't believe few do it, if that's the case, because you need to be superhuman. All athletes from every discipline suffer injuries. Everything is technical, that's why you spend years practising.

So how many triple jumpers compete on the grand prix circuit compared with other events? How many go to athletic clubs to be triple jumpers? How many triple jump competitions are there a year? How many in history have competed at the olympics?

I just assume it's a small number. If not, if the number is actually shitloads, then Edward's achievements are even more impressive than they currently are.

[Fenster]

Being the 55th best in the world at anything is impressive... until you realise no one does it.

[Fenster]

OK i've now become a triple jump expert. Which has led me to concede.

Considering the triple jump originated in the Ancient Olympics and has been a modern Olympics event since the very start, clearly millions must have attempted it.

Edwards record is phenomenal. Almost as impressive as Ronnies 5 minute max. Fact.