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When I was about 9 or 10 I went to the Welsh Games at Maindy on my own. It just wouldn't happen nowadays !
I was in awe of the top athletes and had the privilege to speak to Lillian Board (a terribly sad loss), Mary Rand, who I thought was beautiful and lots of others including Bruce Tulloh, Lynn Davies and Derek Ibbotson. Ibbo put his arms around my shoulders when talking to me and I was completely starstruck. I think Ralph Boston was also there to compete against Lynn Davies in the Long Jump, my favourite event in school. Other than Ralph Boston, I managed to get the other's autographs. Still got them somewhere.
W
Maybe we should combine the mens and womens world cups[/QUOTE]
Not a bad idea. England's men might have a chance of winning it if they're drawn against the German Ladies team. Well as long as it doesn't go to penalties that is.
My top 5 favourite female sportspeople:
Martina Hingis - about the same age as me and winning her first wimbledon at the age of 15 was pretty impressive
Victoria Pendleton very impressive in full swing in the hed to head sprints (whatever they're called) always made it look like the other competitor was giving someone a backy.
Jade Jones - absolute best in the world in her category
Ellen Macathur - incredible competitor
Nicole Cooke - amazing achievements, especially without the backing of as strong team that other top road cyclists have had.
You are correct Bob, he didn't get a gold medal in a major athletics meet. However, he was such a good looking, graceful athlete to watch, it's easy to see why he had such an appeal. He also broke numerous world records at middle and long distances.
It was the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 that I remember him best, getting beaten by Billy Mills of the USA and Gamoudi of Ethiopia in the 10,000m final.
What I didn't know until I just checked it out was that he was Mayor of the Gold Coast. Sadly he died in 2015 but it's good to know that he's still fondly remembered by athletics fans of a certain age.
For no other reason other than the fact I took a shine to them, I would have to say my top 5 would be:
Mary Rand
Evonne Goolagong
Margaret Court
Kelly Holmes
Jess Ennis
An honourable mention to Sally Gunnell too but her stint as an athletics interviewer with Roger Black was so dire she fell out of my top 5 !
all this talk of Sally gunnel has reminded me of a women's hurdles race I vividly remember from the mid/late 1990s probably. I think it was somewhere in the UK, and some sponsor or other had handed out circular cushions to a section of the crowd.
during the women's 400 hurdles where gunnell I think was competing with a couple of Americans, someone in the crowd yeeted their cushion and it flew like a frisbee and hit one of the Americans directly in the face as she went round the bend.
of course there followed much po faced criticism of the incident by the commontators, but to the teenage me at the time it was hilarious.
does anyone else have any memories of that? I've searched for the video a couple of times but never found anything, so now I'm starting to think I imagined it.
Surprisingly few mentions to Welsh rugby icons such as Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Gerald Davies, Mervyn Davies or Shane Williams, even though many on here love RU international matches, myself included.
Incidentally, Gerald Davies was my form teacher in Llanrumney High back in the late 60's. He had a ferocious temper if crossed so he was never going to appear in my top 5 !
My grandson who's 16 worshipped him but if I had to pick my top Welsh rugby player it would have to be Gareth Edwards. A truly great player, recognised as possibly the world's best at the time who elevated Wales to another level for so many years. And he played for Cardiff !
Played for Cardiff when he felt like, didn’t even accumulate enough games to warrant a club cap apparently. Disgusting that his statue is in central Cardiff and Fred Keenor’s, a true Cardiff born legend isn’t. Elevated Wales to another level??? What level would that be? Playing the tedious home nations bore fest and going tit for tat with France while melting as usual against the All Blacks.
Let me put it in a way you can understand then. Can you imagine Wales achieving what they did in the 60's and 70's without him ?
And if it hadn't been for a deliberate dive out of a line out by an All Black forward in 1978, Wales would have beaten them, so no meltdown there.
I agree to an extent, but I'd rate the 71 Lions win in New Zealand as the single most impressive northern hemisphere rugby achievement of the last sixty years and there's no doubt that it would never have happened without a world class nucleus of Welshmen in the test side - JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Barry John, Gareth Edwards, Mervyn Davies and John Taylor were all realistic candidates for a world XV at that time.
Now there’s an unsung hero, Edwards, great player that he was had the luxury of playing alongside team mates of similar quality whereas Holmes carried a somewhat mediocre side in comparison. He was almost a ninth forward, excellent player whose career was cruelly curtailed through a persistent shoulder injury, gained no doubt through his exertions.