Battle of the Sporting Heroes

[BoyBrumby]

du Randt, absolute beast of a player. Shoo in for any World XV of the open era. Bubka a serial choker and Bradbury more a plot for bad made-for-TV movie than a sporting hero.

Lewis in the second, obv. One of the best stand-offs ever. Nailed on for any QLD all-time XIII and would start more often than not in any Kangaroo selection too. Although Bob Fulton would have his backers too, doubtless.

 

[Blewy]

Bradbury & Lewis

 

[Simon]

Battle #5
Os du Randt 4
Sergei Bubka 6
Steven Bradbury 7

Battle #6
Leigh Matthews 4
Wally Lewis 10
Shaun Goater 3

 

[Simon]

Battle #7

Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopian) - Distance Runner

Honours
2 time Olympic Gold Medalist in 10000m
3 time World Championship Gold Medalist in 10000m
2 time World Championship Gold Medalist in 3000m
26 time world record holder
Current world record holder for "Marathon"

vs

Pirmin Zurbriggen (Swiss) - Downhill Skier

Honours
1988 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist in Downhill
1988 Winter Olympic Bronze Medalist in Giant Slalom
4 time World Championship Gold Medalist
4 time World Championship Silver Medalist
4 time Overall World Cup Champion
40 career Race victories

vs

Steffi Graf (German) - Tennis

Honours
900 Career wins
107 Career titles in singles
11 Career titles in doubles
22 grand slam titles in singles
1988 Olympic gold medalist in singles
1992 Olympic silver medalist in singles
1988 Olympic Bronze medalist in doubles
Ranked #1 for a record 186 consecutive weeks
Won the Grand Slam in 1988 - winning all four majors in a calender year


---------

Battle #8

Garrincha (Brazilian) - Football

Honours
581 career matches for Botafago
50 caps for Brazil
2 time world cup champion
2 times named in World cup team of the tournament
Voted best player of the 1962 World Cup
World Player of the year 1962
Top goalscorer at 1962 world cup
3 times domestic champion with Botafago

vs

Marco Van Basten (Dutch) - Football

Honours
280 career matches for Ajax and Milan
58 caps for Netherlands
3 time European footballer of the year
1992 Fifa world player of the year
218 career club goals
Voted 8th in player of the century
2 time Champions League winner with Milan
3 time Serie A winner
3 time Eredivise winner
1988 European Championship winner
1988 European Championship best player and top scorer


vs

Brett Kenny (Australian) - Rugby League

Honours
264 games for Parramatta
17 tests for Australia
17 games for New South Wales
4 time premiership winner with Parramatta
1986 Golden Boot for best player in the world
1985 Challenge cup winner with Wigan
Named in 100 greatest players of all time in 2008
Australian Sports Medalist in 2000
Most tries ever for Parramatta with 110

 

[Johnners]

Graf & Van Basten

 

[pinchy81]

Gebrselassie & Van Basten

 

[ripper868]

Haile Gebrselassie

Kenny

 

[duffer]

Haile and van Basten.

 

[biased indian]

Graf & Van Basten

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Graff and Garrincha

 

[fredfertang]

Gebrselassie & Van Basten

This

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

First one is very tough between Gebrselassie and Graf. Will go with Steffi Graf, though.

Abstain from the second. I know little about any of them.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Graf & Garrincha.

The bloke ****ed a goat, people, come on!!!

 

[Uppercut]

Gebrselassie and Garrincha.

 

[luffy]

Steffy and Kenny

 

[The Sean]

Steffi's my all time favourite sportswoman (the legs were so good you could ignore the nose) but I nominated Zurbriggen and will stick with him. He was the guy that got me into alpine skiing as a young'un, an absolute genius.

The second battle is a monster, and I'd vote for any one of them over most others. But if it can only be one it has to be Marco Van Basten.

 

[Blewy]

Steffi and Van Basten

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Zurbriggen & Garrincha

 

[NUFAN]

Haile Gebrselassie and Marco Van Basten

 

[grecian]

Graf & Marco van Basten