Greatest British sportsman of all time

[bahrain rover]

David Icke, wasn't he the son of God or something? Should be s#*t hot then!! number 2 in the world ever. 

[tommy toes]

How about Ricky Hatton.

[Donnywolf]

Ahh, Superstars. How I loved Superstars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8vwE3_MKDY

Actually, the World Superstars finals were dominated by a Canadian footballer and a couple or three pole vaulters.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars#World_Superstars

Superstars, used to love it.

Can remember one year in the world one though where Jody Schekter greased his legs with cooking oil so he could get more traction in the squat thrusts!

My favourite bit EVER was Stan Bowles shooting the Table and shitting himself. Sure I found it on Youtube once

[BillyStubbsTears]

There is a blindingly obvious one that no-one has mentioned, who wins hands down for me.

Mo Farah.

Well, as I was saying...

[GazLaz]

Phil Taylor.

[IDM]

Ahh, Superstars. How I loved Superstars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8vwE3_MKDY

Actually, the World Superstars finals were dominated by a Canadian footballer and a couple or three pole vaulters.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars#World_Superstars

Superstars, used to love it.

Can remember one year in the world one though where Jody Schekter greased his legs with cooking oil so he could get more traction in the squat thrusts!

My favourite bit EVER was Stan Bowles shooting the Table and shitting himself. Sure I found it on Youtube once

Kevin Keegan falling off his bike?

Brian Jacks was pretty good..

[BillyStubbsTears]

Farah's a phenomenon. In the last seven seasons, he's been in 20 European, World or Olympic finals. He's won 17 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze and has one 4th place finish.

The bronze and 4th place were in events outside his core speciality (half marathon and 3000m). The silver was 5 years ago.

In the hierarchy of track athletes who have dominated their event(s) globally for long periods, he's probably fourth, behind Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis and Ed Moses. Maybe he shares fourth with Paavo Nurmi and Emil Zatopek, but they didn't compete anywhere near as many times at the highest level because the World Championships didn't exist then.

[GM-MarkB]

In the world of cycling i'd put Wiggins ahead of Hoy simply because Hoy's success has come exclusively in the Velodrome. Wiggins has done it on the road too

[wilts rover]

But to counter that Mark most of Wiggins success has been as part of a team where most of Hoy's were individual. However if you put the hour record & TT World Campion in there too it has to go to Wiggins for that versatility and all round ability - even Hoy admits that.

However if Froome wins the Vuelta, which he is more than capable of doing, and becomes the first British rider to win two Grand Tours in the same year...

[Donnywolf]

.... AND if they had let CF off the leash that time when he was "second fiddle" to Wiggins and demonstrated he could blow Wiggo into the weeds he would perhaps have one MORE TDF whereas BW would have had one LESS

Sir DB called him off of course

[GazLaz]

Ahh, Superstars. How I loved Superstars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8vwE3_MKDY

Actually, the World Superstars finals were dominated by a Canadian footballer and a couple or three pole vaulters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars#World_Superstars

But how would athletes of today compare against ones from 25 years ago.....

[BillyStubbsTears]

Well, it's like this...

[Jonathan]

.... AND if they had let CF off the leash that time when he was "second fiddle" to Wiggins and demonstrated he could blow Wiggo into the weeds he would perhaps have one MORE TDF whereas BW would have had one LESS

Sir DB called him off of course

Froome would have nailed that stage if he hadn't been called back, but Wiggins would've still done enough in the time trials that year in my opinion. That tour was made for him.

Absolutely no doubting Froome is the better road rider, though, and will end up with an amazingly decorated record. But Wiggins' crossover achievements from track to road are astonishing and I'm not sure will be matched, and certainly shouldn't be devalued.

And this is before we get to Mark Cavendish - another all time great with an incredible record.

And Jason Kenny alongside Chris Hoy (and fast approaching Laura Trott).

Just to pick up the earlier comparison of the 'team based tour' vs the achievements of the likes of Chris Hoy alone. We mustn't forget the Team Sprint golds on the track.

In any case, the money poured into British Cycling has certainly not been wasted. 

[Sammy Chung was King]

For me you can't really have a definitive pick to rule over all sports, that one sportsman or woman is greatest. In my opinion it's easier to pick the greatest in each sport. Just thinking back did anybody else watch the saint and greavsie programme way back called 'Who was the greatest'?. It was on around the late eighties i think. Anyway these would be my picks for each sport.

FOOTBALL-George Best
BOXING-Lennox Lewis
GOLF-Nick Faldo
SNOOKER-Ronnie o'sullivan
DARTS-Phil Taylor
CRICKET-Joe Root
RUGBY LEAGUE-Martin Offiah
RUGBY UNION-Johnny Wilkinson
FORMULA 1-Nigel Mansell

[The Red Baron]

Joe Root? Very good player but better than Botham?

[NickDRFC]

Haha Joe Root! I actually think that by the time he's retired he will be England's top run scorer across all 3 formats and probably up there with the greatest batsmen of all time, but to put his achievements right now as the greatest ahead of Botham, Cook, Boycott, Gower, Stewart, Anderson, Trueman etc is utterly ridiculous.

EDIT: I've just had a quick look now and Root's current total of 4005 test runs is less than Robin Smith, Matt Prior and Mark Butcher. As I said, top player but you can't equate his achievements to those mentioned above (Botham et al, not Butcher!)

[Sammy Chung was King]

Joe Root? Very good player but better than Botham?

Haha Joe Root! I actually think that by the time he's retired he will be England's top run scorer across all 3 formats and probably up there with the greatest batsmen of all time, but to put his achievements right now as the greatest ahead of Botham, Cook, Boycott, Gower, Stewart, Anderson, Trueman etc is utterly ridiculous.

EDIT: I've just had a quick look now and Root's current total of 4005 test runs is less than Robin Smith, Matt Prior and Mark Butcher. As I said, top player but you can't equate his achievements to those mentioned above (Botham et al, not Butcher!)

You are right in stat terms. I just think he is the best i have seen. I saw botham at the back end of his career, same gower, stewart, smith. Boycott before my time same for trueman. Butcher and prior good players but not greats. Anderson a fantastic bowler but i tend to go for batsman