Top Five Sportsmen/Women of all time?

[davefb]

Jim Thorpe , by a mile .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
Some of the peeps on these lists have only bothered with one sport... tsk...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Jim Thorpe , by a mile .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
Some of the peeps on these lists have only bothered with one sport... tsk...

He was pretty damn amazing. I'd put him on my list along with Reinhold Messner, Fanny Blankers-Koen, Alfredo di Stefano and Jure Robic. Just for argument's sake...

 

[Keith Oates]

Eddie Merkx
JPR Williams
Stanley Matthews
Len Hutton
Steve Cram

 

[asterix]

It's extraordinary that no-one has mentioned the one and only

Jesse Owens

Each of the German victories, and there were a surprising number of these, made him happy, but he was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvellous coloured American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games.

After a New York City ticker-tape parade of Fifth Avenue in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria to reach the reception honoring him. Owens said, "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram.. ..In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (himself an athlete of note) honored Owens by naming him an "Ambassador of Sports."

 

[Dayvo]

It's extraordinary that no-one has mentioned the one and only Jesse Owens

1) Don Bradman
2) Pele
3) Eddie Merckx
4) Jesse Owens
5) Walter Lindrum

 

[theclaud]

I'm afraid I had to Google Walter Lindrum. Which was worth it for this:

 

[Dayvo]

I'm afraid I had to Google Walter Lindrum. Which was worth it for this:

Impresive, but vulnerable to the kind of activity that shouldn't be seen in a graveyard.

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

Michael Phelps
Roger Federer
Paula Radcliffe
Bernard Hinault
Emil Zatopek

 

[Dayvo]

The que might be a tad uncomfortable.

Not if you take your own chalk with you.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Emil Zatopek

Good one.

 

[PaulB]

Michael Phelps
Roger Federer
Paula Radcliffe
Bernard Hinault
Emil Zatopek

There's one person in that list that shouldn't appear in any list relating to the Top Five sportspeople of all time. I'm not going to mention which one at the risk of offending the tax-dodging, run-for-money-never-for-medals con artist's 'fans' but she is beneath contempt and why anyone falls for that guff is beyond me. When I saw her name, the screen was splattered with chuckle-water.

 

[asterix]

There's one person in that list that shouldn't appear in any list relating to the Top Five sportspeople of all time. I'm not going to mention which one at the risk of offending the tax-dodging, run-for-money-never-for-medals con artist's 'fans' but she is beneath contempt and why anyone falls for that guff is beyond me. When I saw her name, the screen was splattered with chuckle-water.

Sadly, although I have no idea to whom you refer, I have to agree.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...iffe-will-be-chief-lottery-loser-8210370.html
Glad I have never done the lottery, anyway.

 

[srw]

Define "sportsman" or "sportswoman".
Define "great".

Define "of all time".

With two notable exceptions, both of them English and both from the late Victorian/Edwardian eras, everyone mentioned has come from the second half of the twentieth century. And most were English.

Did no-one think of Pheidippides? Or the great Dioxippus of Athens, who unarmed beat Alexander the Great's greatest soldier with all his weapons? Or the famous Milo of Croton, lauded by Aristotle?

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Define "of all time".

With two notable exceptions, both of them English and both from the late Victorian/Edwardian eras, everyone mentioned has come from the second half of the twentieth century. And most were English.

Did no-one think of Pheidippides? Or the great Dioxippus of Athens, who unarmed beat Alexander the Great's greatest soldier with all his weapons? Or the famous Milo of Croton, lauded by Aristotle?

They were all on dope.