YOUR TOP 5 SPORTSMEN OR WOMEN OF ALL TIME

[jon1959]

William Wilson starred in about five different eras, when I was religiously following his exploits in the 60s he was about 120 years old then. Tupper got to meetings on his motorbike and sidebath after a day’s welding, Wilson ran a couple of hundred miles to get to a venue without eating, the man was and still is a marvel, Alf is no doubt long retired.

But Alf Tupper ran half his races with a shoe spike sticking into his foot - and half of those he had to finish bare foot and bleeding!

[Harry Paget Flashman]

But Alf Tupper ran half his races with a shoe spike sticking into his foot - and half of those he had to finish bare foot and bleeding!

Fish and chips then after.

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Ali
Federer
Daley Thompson
Maradona
Michael Jordan

Honorable mention for Phil the Power Taylor.

[Whisperer]

George Best
Sugar Ray Leonard
Mark Williams
Peter Whittingham
Tyson Fury.

[cityhammer]

Botham was a fantastic cricketer , one of the greatest players of all time up there with sobers , Kapil dev , Hadlee , via Richards etc

But since he's retired he's become a right old little englander , very right wing

Horrible

Coe was world class

Not including Botham for his politics, but including Coe!!!! Hmmm.

[cityhammer]

Ali.
C B Fry
Daley Thompson
Martina Navratilova
Tiger Woods

It's an impossible question really. I tried to be as dispassionate as possible rather than just go for favourites - I'd only call one of them a favourite of mine and there's one there I don't like much at all.

I know it was a different age, but CB Fry probably has a good claim, if not the best, to be the greatest all round sportsman ever! and he was offered the kingdom of Albania!

[cityhammer]

Ian Woosnam, 5' 4", world number one for ages.

Only if you call 11 months "ages".

[mrbluejay]

Ali
Zico
Daley Thomson
Jimmy White
Whitts

[Rjk]

Ali
Zico
Daley Thomson
Jimmy White
Whitts

Surprisinig amount of love for Moeen Ali on this thread

[Tuerto]

Maradona

Gennady Golovkin

Lennox Lewis

Franco Baresi

Michel Platini

[chris lee]

What sticks out like a sore thumb is the scarcity of women on the list. Possibly because to men they don't achieve hero status in a way that Ali, Bolt, Owens etc have. Certainly we admire the achievements of people like Navratilova, Jess Ennis, Serena Williams etc but not enough for us to include them on our all-time favourites list it seems.

Without getting too political, it is easy to look at misogyny, and under representation ect, and that is a definite factor, but at the end of the day the reason all those people are listed is because they are the best performing individual in the world at that Sport, regardless of race, religion, gender, it is a simple fact of biology no matter how much advancement we make towards equality men will always dominate fields were physical performance is a factor.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Not including Botham for his politics, but including Coe!!!! Hmmm.

Coe was and is a tory but I could have a chat with him

Botham is a right wing oaf

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Without getting too political, it is easy to look at misogyny, and under representation ect, and that is a definite factor, but at the end of the day the reason all those people are listed is because they are the best performing individual in the world at that Sport, regardless of race, religion, gender, it is a simple fact of biology no matter how much advancement we make towards equality men will always dominate fields were physical performance is a factor.

thats very true however the top level female sportswomen have incredible physiques

The muscular power of the sprinters for example

[elytillidie]

Only if you call 11 months "ages".

Not bad for consecutive weeks as number one. Wood's record consists of four stints, Norman's consists of three stints...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...20April%201997.
Woosnam world number one.jpg

[Moodybluebird]

Without getting too political, it is easy to look at misogyny, and under representation ect, and that is a definite factor, but at the end of the day the reason all those people are listed is because they are the best performing individual in the world at that Sport, regardless of race, religion, gender, it is a simple fact of biology no matter how much advancement we make towards equality men will always dominate fields were physical performance is a factor.

But if you read my original post and my 2nd one, I emphasise that it is not the best in any given sport but rather your personal favourite, something that with hindsight I should have made clear in the heading of the my original post.

Having said all that, I still believe that our heroes, or personal favourites if you like are all men. I think that we naturally associate sporting prowess with men and tend to subconsciously categorise sportswomen to a lower level. And yes biological factors play a huge part in our choices. It's quite obvious why we choose Maradona over some US Ladies footballer or Roger Federer over Serena Williams or Jack Nicklaus over Laura Davies.

[Whisperer]

I can honestly say that I have never been interested in women’s sport so nothing subconscious I just never watch it.

[lardy]

Only if you call 11 months "ages".

The last 11 months seem to have been happening for about 400 years.

[theclaw]

Tiger
Tyson
Bolt
Phil Taylor
Maradona

[Stanmore Bluebird]

Ron Clarke
Roger Bannister
Steve Ovett
Phil Dwyer
Don Murray

[Moodybluebird]

Ron Clarke
Roger Bannister
Steve Ovett
Phil Dwyer
Don Murray

Now that is an interesting choice ! Ron Clarke was such an elegant 10,000m runner, shame he was Australian lol. For me athletics more than any other sport felt special when I was growing up and it's good to see athletes well represented here. Pity that drug abuse has since ruined the sport.

[Stanmore Bluebird]

Now that is an interesting choice ! Ron Clarke was such an elegant 10,000m runner, shame he was Australian lol. For me athletics more than any other sport felt special when I was growing up and it's good to see athletes well represented here. Pity that drug abuse has since ruined the sport.

I ran competitively for 40 years from middle distance up to marathon. Took part in about 800 races in total. Was nowhere near as good as I wanted to be, but was still a reasonable club athlete on the road, track and cross country.

[Stanmore Bluebird]

Interesting comment, Whisperer. Kelly Holmes won 2 Olympic golds on the track following many years of injury set backs so I admire her for overcoming her problems. Paula Radcliffe in the marathon ran on a number of occasions quicker than most British international class men can achieve and is also attractive! Kathy Freeman with the weight of all Australia’s hopes on her shoulders on the final day of the Sydney 2000 track events is also to be admired - although she didn’t came across as being too bright when interviewed.

These 3 are exceptions for me though - am not too interested in women’s’ sport and apart from in athletics cannot think of any memorable sports women. Lots more great women athletes from the past though could be considered like Lillian Board, Mary Rand, Liz McColgan, Jess Ennis, etc etc

[delmbox]

Surprisinig amount of love for Moeen Ali on this thread

Underrated post

[delmbox]

Interesting comment, Whisperer. Kelly Holmes won 2 Olympic golds on the track following many years of injury set backs so I admire her for overcoming her problems. Paula Radcliffe in the marathon ran on a number of occasions quicker than most British international class men can achieve and is also attractive! Kathy Freeman with the weight of all Australia’s hopes on her shoulders on the final day of the Sydney 2000 track events is also to be admired - although she didn’t came across as being too bright when interviewed.

These 3 are exceptions for me though - am not too interested in women’s’ sport and apart from in athletics cannot think of any memorable sports women. Lots more great women athletes from the past though could be considered like Lillian Board, Mary Rand, Liz McColgan, Jess Ennis, etc etc

Our own Tanni Grey as well

[Moodybluebird]

Interesting comment, Whisperer. Kelly Holmes won 2 Olympic golds on the track following many years of injury set backs so I admire her for overcoming her problems. Paula Radcliffe in the marathon ran on a number of occasions quicker than most British international class men can achieve and is also attractive! Kathy Freeman with the weight of all Australia’s hopes on her shoulders on the final day of the Sydney 2000 track events is also to be admired - although she didn’t came across as being too bright when interviewed.

These 3 are exceptions for me though - am not too interested in women’s’ sport and apart from in athletics cannot think of any memorable sports women. Lots more great women athletes from the past though could be considered like Lillian Board, Mary Rand, Liz McColgan, Jess Ennis, etc etc

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.