Battle of the Sporting Heroes

[Uppercut]

Don't wanna be too much of a killjoy, but could we exclude pro wrestlers and obvious joke nominations like Eddie The Eagle, Eric The Eel and Diego The Fat Stumpy Argie Cheat, please?

Nomiate:

Ed Moses - won 122 consecutive 400m hurdle races between 1977-87
Ivan Mauger - 6 individual world speedway titles & 3 times runner-up
Sir Stephen Redgrave - Gold medals in 5 consecutive Olympics in an endurance sport
Gerd Muller - perfect and complete goalscoring machine; 68 goals for West Germany in 62 games.
Jahangir Khan - unbeaten over 555 (!!!) competitive squash games from 1981-86, 6 World Open & 10 British Open titles.

Are they heroes though? Or did they just win a lot?

Diego won a world cup for his country, almost single-handedly. Steve Redgrave won medals for himself in an event noone cares about.

 

[cover drive man]

Are they heroes though? Or did they just win a lot?

Diego won a world cup for his country, almost single-handedly. Steve Redgrave won medals for himself in an event noone cares about.

Just won the find the unintentional pun competition.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Are they heroes though? Or did they just win a lot?

Diego won a world cup for his country, almost single-handedly. Steve Redgrave won medals for himself in an event noone cares about.

Po-tay-to, Po-tar-to. Depends how one defines it.

Diego winning the 86 WC single handed is one of the most persistent fallacies going, by the way. They had a great team: Valdano, Burruchaga, Olarticochea (sp?) & the wonderfully named Jose Luis Brown would've graced any team at any time.

& rowing is fairly big over here. Two university teams' annual comp makes national telly. More global reach than AFL or rugby league anyway.

 

[GIMH]

Don't wanna be too much of a killjoy, but could we exclude pro wrestlers and obvious joke nominations like Eddie The Eagle, Eric The Eel and Diego The Fat Stumpy Argie Cheat, please?

Nomiate:

Ed Moses - won 122 consecutive 400m hurdle races between 1977-87
Ivan Mauger - 6 individual world speedway titles & 3 times runner-up
Sir Stephen Redgrave - Gold medals in 5 consecutive Olympics in an endurance sport
Gerd Muller - perfect and complete goalscoring machine; 68 goals for West Germany in 62 games.
Jahangir Khan - unbeaten over 555 (!!!) competitive squash games from 1981-86, 6 World Open & 10 British Open titles.

I LOVE pro-wrestling but I kinda agree that they shouldn't be included. For one I cbf with getting into a debate about the merits and what not of wrestling, and also they are sports entertainers, they are heroes in their own right but not in the same way, as say, John Aldridge

Who is my first nomination btw

If you want convincing as to whether he should be seconded:

YouTube - John Aldridge & Jack Charlton Lose it at World Cup 1994

From about a minute on.

What the clip doesn't show you is that he scored with his first touch

 

[GIMH]

Po-tay-to, Po-tar-to. Depends how one defines it.

Diego winning the 86 WC single handed is one of the most persistent fallacies going, by the way. They had a great team: Valdano, Burruchaga, Olarticochea (sp?) & the wonderfully named Jose Luis Brown would've graced any team at any time.

& rowing is fairly big over here. Two university teams' annual comp makes national telly. More global reach than AFL or rugby league anyway.

Yeah it was 1990 where he pretty much was a one-man team IIRC

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Diego winning the 86 WC single handed is one of the most persistent fallacies going, by the way.

Dunno, single-handed is the word I'd use. Perhaps closer to single-elbowed, I s'pose.

Still did a fairly decent job of dragging Naples into civilisation, though.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Dunno, single-handed is the word I'd use. Perhaps closer to single-elbowed, I s'pose.

Still did a fairly decent job of dragging Naples into civilisation, though.

Until CDM pointed it out the pun had escaped me, tbh. Still find it hard to laugh over 22 years later.

Was kinda relying on you to second Mauger, btw. No pressure.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Think CDM's taken my Woods' seconding, so I've one free for Mauger.

Mind, the Kiwis should know their stuff, too...

 

[Smudge]

Nah, Mauger's overrated. A bit weak on the tackle and lacked physical presence in the midfield.


Oh, you mean Ivan...

 

[Simon]

Agree with leaving out pro wrestlers and gimicky athletes like Eric the Eel etc...

 

[Burgey]

I've nominated my 10, but if someone's looking for a nom, can they put in Heather McKay - iirc a whole career at squash undefeated. Pretty remarkable.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Nominate

Eric Cantona
Garrincha (Known as "Joy of the People" in Brazil where majority of population consider him to be better than Pele)
Eddie Merckx
Lance Armstrong
Martina Navratilova
Victor Trumper
Keith Miller
Helmut Rahn
Dennis Law
Tom Henning Ovrebo (Ref that knocked Chel$ki out of the Champions League)

 

[Simon]

Gonna allow everyone an extra 2 "seconds" now, would like this battle to have a good ammount of contestants, at the moment we have 32 people through.

 

[Simon]

Without wrestlers, cricketers and other gimicks. These are the current lists

Let me know if there are any mistakes

Seconded
Alysson Annan
Ayrton Senna
Brad Fittler
Wally Lewis
Allan Langer
Rod Laver
Nadia Comaneci
Michael Jordan
Peter Brock
Haile Gebrselassie
Muhammad Ali
Diego Maradona
Sergi Bubka
Andre Agassi
Tiger Woods
Bjorn Borg
Cathy Freeman
Keith Wood
Joost van der Westhuizen
Steffi Graf
Lance Armstrong
John Eales
Pirmin Zurbriggen
Craig Lowndes
Steven Bradbury
George Best
Gary Ablett Snr
Wayne Carey
Matthew Richardson
Martin Johnson
Jimmy Glass
Steve Davis
Martina Navratilova
Greg Norman
Michael Johnson
Andrew Johns
Kostya Tszyu
Pele
Miguel Indurain
Roy Keane
Gerd Muller

Nominated - Need to be Seconded
Juan Manuel Fangio
Mal Meninga
Peter Brock
Tommy Haas
David Coulthard
Marcos Ambrose
Steve Renouf
Andy Roddick
Damon Hill
LeBron James
Peter Sterling
Norm Provan
Brett Kenny
Tim Cahill
Boris Becker
Jackie Robinson
Cal Ripken Jr
Joe Montana
Kurt Warner
Phil Taylor
Usain Bolt
Os du Randt
Hicham el Guerrouj
Claudio Gentile
Carolina Klüft
Annika Sörenstam
Kenenisa Bekele
Michael Phelps
Ben Tune
David Campese
Richard Fromberg
Daniel Kowalski
Bruce Bolden
Paul Trimboli
Steve Horvat
Vicky Wilson
Zoe Goss
Ian Baker-Finch
Jim Richards
Jason Dunstall
Leigh Matthews
Marco Van Basten
Ed Moses
Ivan Mauger
Sir Stephen Redgrave
Jahangir Khan
John Aldridge
Eric Cantona
Garrincha
Eddie Merckx
Helmut Rahn
Dennis Law

 

[Simon]

I'm seconding
Martina Navratilova
Greg Norman

Still have 2 seconds left

 

[Son Of Coco]

Don't wanna be too much of a killjoy, but could we exclude pro wrestlers and obvious joke nominations like Eddie The Eagle, Eric The Eel and Diego The Fat Stumpy Argie Cheat, please?

Eric the Eel is deserving of a spot I reckon. Was one of the highlights of the Sydney Olympics for mine, and I thought the following Olympics were poorer for athletes like him not being there.

Oh and Second:

Michael Johnson and Andrew Johns

 

[Ausage]

One could make a case for Steven Bradbury to be considered a "gimmicky" athlete though. Lets face it, he's only remarkable because he wasn't even remotely close to the best in his field when he won.

 

[Simon]

One could make a case for Steven Bradbury to be considered a "gimmicky" athlete though. Lets face it, he's only remarkable because he wasn't even remotely close to the best in his field when he won.

He won an Olympic gold medal, good enough for me tbh.

 

[ripper868]

Second Kostya Tszyu

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Second

George Best
Pele
Miguel Indurain
Roy Keane
Gerd Muller