Who's the Greatest?

[Ironside]

sandy lyle

[seven2unsuited]

eddie the eagle

[AndrewT]

Highly debateable that Warne is the best spinner ever.

Muralitharan has taken more wickets,has a better average and a better strike rate.

Fair point, and yes Murilis record is v impressive. He has alot of matches in that record against sub standard opposition (Bangladesh, Zimbabwe) and played more on sub contenital wickets which are more spinner friendly.

Plus there is something about Warne and the way he bowled which was more intimidating than Murili, Warne> Murili imo.

I read somewhere that even taking his away his wickets against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh,his strike rate and average compares favourably.
Even if Murali gets to 1000 wickets i don't believe he will get the credit he deserves because of his action.

Yes, Murali = chucker.

[TightEnd]

rubbish. double jointed wrist combined with a physical deformity. Action cleared repeatedly by ICC panels, often after much racially motivated complaints from Australasia

Murali and Warne both greats. For me, I'd have Warne.

[Pelham Boy]

Highly debateable that Warne is the best spinner ever.

Muralitharan has taken more wickets,has a better average and a better strike rate.

Fair point, and yes Murilis record is v impressive. He has alot of matches in that record against sub standard opposition (Bangladesh, Zimbabwe) and played more on sub contenital wickets which are more spinner friendly.

Plus there is something about Warne and the way he bowled which was more intimidating than Murili, Warne> Murili imo.

I read somewhere that even taking his away his wickets against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh,his strike rate and average compares favourably.
Even if Murali gets to 1000 wickets i don't believe he will get the credit he deserves because of his action.

Yes, Murali = chucker.

He hasn't failed a drug test though,unlike 'golden boy' Warne.

[amcgrath1uk]

This is a bloody tough thread to come and join in the fun, but I will.

who's the greatest has to be, the person who performed at the peak of the sport they compete in for the longest period of time. Do we look at record breakers??

here's my list in no specific order

1) Michael Jordan. Considering just HOW many games they play, the stats are simply astonishing. 
2) Sergei Bubka. How many world records???
3) Tiger Woods. As has been said, not just that he wins tournaments, its the consistent levels, the distance he wins by.
4) Pele. 3 world cups, over 1000 goals scored. THE football icon.
5) Donald Bradman. Again the stats over time are amazing
6) Michael Schumacher. As much as I hated the bloke for winning all the time, he won all the time. His skills in wet weather conditions where the car's technology is all but useless show just how far ahead he was of his peers.
7) Wayne Gretzky. To hold SIXTY records in his sport is immense.
Michael Johnson. Dominance of 2 events over a long period + world records


There's so many more to mention, Steven Redgrave, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Shane Warne, Haile Gebreselassie, Jan Zelezny, Paula Radcliffe, Ed Moses, Lance Armstrong..

bloody hell i could go on all night..

[Nem]

This is a bloody tough thread to come and join in the fun, but I will.

who's the greatest has to be, the person who performed at the peak of the sport they compete in for the longest period of time. Do we look at record breakers??

here's my list in no specific order

1) Michael Jordan. Considering just HOW many games they play, the stats are simply astonishing. 
2) Sergei Bubka. How many world records???
3) Tiger Woods. As has been said, not just that he wins tournaments, its the consistent levels, the distance he wins by.
4) Pele. 3 world cups, over 1000 goals scored. THE football icon.
5) Donald Bradman. Again the stats over time are amazing
6) Michael Schumacher. As much as I hated the bloke for winning all the time, he won all the time. His skills in wet weather conditions where the car's technology is all but useless show just how far ahead he was of his peers.
7) Wayne Gretzky. To hold SIXTY records in his sport is immense.
Michael Johnson. Dominance of 2 events over a long period + world records


There's so many more to mention, Steven Redgrave, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Shane Warne, Haile Gebreselassie, Jan Zelezny, Paula Radcliffe, Ed Moses, Lance Armstrong..

bloody hell i could go on all night..

[X] Doesn't like boxing or tennis ;-)

[Bongo]

There's some form of statisical analysis on Don Bradman's wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradman)

Probablity against being as good as him: 1/184,000

compared to Pele - 1/9,300, Ty Cobb - 1/6,300, Jack Nicklaus 1/4,300, Michael Jordan 1/3,000

[amcgrath1uk]

This is a bloody tough thread to come and join in the fun, but I will.

who's the greatest has to be, the person who performed at the peak of the sport they compete in for the longest period of time. Do we look at record breakers??

here's my list in no specific order

1) Michael Jordan. Considering just HOW many games they play, the stats are simply astonishing. 
2) Sergei Bubka. How many world records???
3) Tiger Woods. As has been said, not just that he wins tournaments, its the consistent levels, the distance he wins by.
4) Pele. 3 world cups, over 1000 goals scored. THE football icon.
5) Donald Bradman. Again the stats over time are amazing
6) Michael Schumacher. As much as I hated the bloke for winning all the time, he won all the time. His skills in wet weather conditions where the car's technology is all but useless show just how far ahead he was of his peers.
7) Wayne Gretzky. To hold SIXTY records in his sport is immense.
Michael Johnson. Dominance of 2 events over a long period + world records


There's so many more to mention, Steven Redgrave, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Shane Warne, Haile Gebreselassie, Jan Zelezny, Paula Radcliffe, Ed Moses, Lance Armstrong..

bloody hell i could go on all night..

[X] Doesn't like boxing or tennis ;-)

more like hadn't finished and couldnt be bothered going on with other sports.. I'll finish another night I think

[bobby1]

Not the greatest sportsman but one of the greatest sporting achievements has to be Bob Champion and Aldaniti coming from their death beds to win the 1981 Grand National.

'Bob Champion was thirty-one and one of the top jump jockeys in Britain when he discovered he had cancer in 1979. He was told he might only have a few months to live and went through months of chemotherapy. What kept him going was the dream of winning the Grand National - one of the most prestigious and demanding steeplechases in British racing. In 1981 Bob Champion overcame his cancer, and went on to win the Grand National, on a horse called Aldaniti who had also come back from crippling injury - not once, but three times'

[thediceman]

Blast from the past: Ed Moses

[dino1980]

Just seen this thread. There hasn't been a single female athlete/sportswoman of any kind metioned yet, so who's the greatest female sportswoman of all time?

To kick things off how about Babe Didrikson Zaharias?

[Nem]

Steffi Graf

[TightEnd]

Navratilova

an argument for Billie Jean King too

Jackie Joyner Kersee

"More than 40 years after her death, Babe Didrikson still outranked all but one of the outstanding sportswomen who followed her when she made it to second place in the list of greatest female athletes of the twentieth century drawn up by the American magazine Sports Illustrated for Women. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, given the benefit of the drug scandals that broke around her, was ranked first for her versatility as a track-and-fi eld athlete. Not only was she one of the best performers (three golds, one silver, two bronzes in four Olympics), said the magazine, but 'the energy of her athleticism and personality wrapped itself around all of women's sport at precisely the time when it began to grow.'" from www.si.com


the article concluded


"All the others with a claim to having been the best are stars of a single sport, tennis having produced the most. Martina Navratilova, whose remarkable career spanned more than 30 years, is arguably pre-eminent among them. Billie Jean King and Steffi Graf also demand consideration.

Other contenders include the Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie, who won 10 world championships and three Olympic golds; Romania's Nadia Comaneci, the first gymnast to record a perfect score in Olympic competition; and Wilma Rudolph, the American who overcame polio to win both Olympic sprints in 1960."

[Nem]

In 1988, Graf won the Olympic gold medal in singles and all four Grand Slam singles titles that year, becoming the first and only player to win the "Golden Slam."