The Best of the Best.

[Janie]

Who are the greatest Sport persons ever?
I want people to post some of the best and then we will have a poll do decide.
Here a few that spring to my mind :

Florence Griffith Joyner.
Jack Nicklaus
Ali
Lance Armstrong
Pele

 

[Ky]

Jack Nickelson

I think you mean Jack Nicklaus

Greatest Sports Person just based on ability as a given sport? Or personality as well? Coz if the latter that kinda rules out Maradona and George Best.

 

[Janie]

You think that's bad you should have seen my attempts to spell Ali's first name - so bad I gave up

Edit : Based on Ability and Achievement.

 

[Ky]

Cassius was his first name

 

[Janie]

Ok Nigel, now lets not derail this straight away.

 

[Chick]

Oh,look. Shiny Thing.
------>

 

[Ky]

Ok.

Boxing
Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, "Marvellous" Marvin Hagler, Joe Frasier

Football
Pele, Maradona, George Best, Johan Cruyff, Bobby Moore, Marco Van Basten, Michael Laudrup, Dennis Bergkamp, Lothar Mathias

Rugby
Martin Johnson, John Eales, JPR Williams, Johnny Wilkinson, Andrew Merthens, Justin Leonard, the SA World Cup winning captain I can't spell as his name is the length of a small house.

Cricket
Gary Sobers, Don Bradman, Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond

Formula 1
James Hunt, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher

Athletics
Carl Lewis, Seb Coe, Michael Johnson, Sergei Bubka

Others from other sports
Michael Jordan, Ian Thorpe, Michael Spitz, Babe Ruth

Tennis
Pete Sampras, McEnroe, Borg, Navaratilova

That'll do

 

[Cullhaven]

Bjorn Borg.

" if you can keep your head while all around are losing theirs" just about sums him up, in fact a lot of that Kipling poem could have been wriiten about him. Greatest tennis player I ever saw.

 

[Ky]

Except McEnroe beat him and then he retired at 25 which is lame as all hell. Lost my respect for that; he should have stuck around and played McEnroe more. Because of that he's not an all time great.

 

[McHoff H. McChrist]

Mas Oyama

 

[Requiel]

Ok.

Boxing
Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, "Marvellous" Marvin Hagler, Joe Frasier

Football
Pele, Maradona, George Best, Johan Cruyff, Bobby Moore, Marco Van Basten, Michael Laudrup, Dennis Bergkamp, Lothar Mathias

Rugby
Martin Johnson, John Eales, JPR Williams, Johnny Wilkinson, Andrew Merthens, Justin Leonard, the SA World Cup winning captain I can't spell as his name is the length of a small house.

Cricket
Gary Sobers, Don Bradman, Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond

Formula 1
James Hunt, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher

Athletics
Carl Lewis, Seb Coe, Michael Johnson, Sergei Bubka

Others from other sports
Michael Jordan, Ian Thorpe, Michael Spitz, Babe Ruth

Tennis
Pete Sampras, McEnroe, Borg, Navaratilova

That'll do

Athletics: No Daley Thompson?
Cricket: No Geoffrey Boycott, Dennis Compton, WC Fields?
Rugby: Jonathon Davies, Zinzan Brooke?

Motor Racing (all forms): Stirling Moss, Valentino Rossi, Juan Manuel Fangio, Tazio Nuvolari, Jacques Villeneuve. I'll go with your four as well. Mansell is borderline.

 

[Ky]

It wasn't supposed to be a complete list mate. But Geoff Boycott? You're having a laugh aren't you? The most selfish, divisive, and pompous player ever. He played for himself not the team and I'd rather watch paint dry than Boycott bat. Gotta have a test average over 50 to be considered a great batsman and preferably some flair too (all-rounders aside).

 

[Cuppa]

Ian Botham, Pele, Don Bradman, Daley Thompson, Michael Johnson, Muhamad Ali, Bjorn Borg.

There are others but I'd have to choose Bradman as the greatest sportsman ever just because no one will ever get close to beating his records.

 

[Cuppa]

WC Fields? wasn't he a writer? or do you mean WG Grace?

 

[Janie]

Not sure what Dennis Bergkamp is doing on your list - good yes, but not great let alone a legend.

Billie Jean King should be alongside Martina Navratilova and probably to a slightly lesser extent Steffi Graff I think.

 

[Ky]

Dunno, Sergei Bubka set the world record 36 times in his career which, in itself, is a world record.

Plus, in terms of stats, they don't tell the whole story. In terms of match-winning in Cricket single-handedly, no one beats Botham. 1981 anyone?

Bergkamp has scored two of the finest goals I've ever seen plus his vision of the game was right up there IMO, in his heyday. Probably not ever gonna be legend status though, true, because he's never been in teams that have acheieved enough (not his fault).

 

[Cuppa]

Plus, in terms of stats, they don't tell the whole story. In terms of match-winning in Cricket single-handedly, no one beats Botham.

Disagree, if you've got someone in your team who's almost guaranteed to score you a hundred runs (test average of 99.94) then you have a match winner on your hands. But there is no denying Botham is a true great.

 

[Janie]

If you want unbreakable records then Florence Griffith Joyner 100m record is probably never going to be broken.

 

[Cuppa]

If you want unbreakable records then Florence Griffith Joyner 100m record is probably never going to be broken.

Yes it will, but more importantly people have got close to it, compare Bradmans test average of 99.94 to the next best of 60 and a good average today is 50.

 

[Gottaa]

Driving : Stirling Moss, Jason Plato
Wrestling : Big Daddy
Squash : Jahangir Khan