Unlucky in their time.

[grecian]

Okay, this thread has been inspired by an athlete called Keely Hodgkinson, and I'm kinda hoping it'll be a bit of a Gambhir.

For those who don't know who she is, regrettably most of you, she won silver medal at the last Olympics at the age of 19, a phenomenal performance breaking european junior records. Many may think, well that means she'll go onto win many titles for many years being so young and gifted.

Yet ahh unfortunately the Girl that beat her, was Athing Mu, of a similar age, but just better, and even more of a fenom.

Now of course we have no idea what happens next, one of them may have a bad injury, both may, an even better athlete may burst through, but if things stay as they are Mu is going to eclipse Hodgkinson and everything she may want to achieve. Already without her I'm guessing Keeley would be an household name in the UK as the youngest Olympic track gold winner ever for us, as is, doubt most know who she is.

So anyone else you can think of, unlucky in their time?

 

[Niall]

Murray in tennis, such a player and would have won ten slams any other era. He lost plenty of finals,, but he never got a "easy opponent" bar maybe Milos at Wimbledon one year. The other 3 have had a random or two to deal with in a final .

It must break his heart knowing that when he and his rivals retire, mugs like Casper Ruud will win slams.

 

[grecian]

Murray in tennis, such a player and would have won ten slams any other era. He lost plenty of finals,, but he never got a "easy opponent" bar maybe Milos at Wimbledon one year. The other 3 have had a random or two to deal with in a final .

It must break his heart knowing that when he and his rivals retire, mugs like Casper Ruud will win slams.

Yeah fair enough, still find it odd that the three best tennis players of all time play together, and it's not just that we have suddenly discovered professionalism and conditioning in tennis, so people can last longer.

Oh and if you pop in Murray than Wawrinka must be there, because he has won as many slams, I really hate the hagiography of the big 3 though, so I'm a tad biased. Roger is the only one that doesn't play attritional dull tennis designed to make stamina count rather than finesse, Murray plays that way too.

 

[weeman27bob]

Elise Christie.

10 medals, including three golds, in world championship short track speed skating. But really all winter olympic athletes get known for is their Winter Olympic performance:

At the 2014 Olympics:

• Crashes in the final of the 500m, and is disqualified
• Disqualified in the heats for the 1500m, missing the finish line by a couple of cms
• Disqualified for crashing in the semi-finals of the 1000m

At the 2018 Olympics:

• Crashed in the 500m final for reasons that weren't really her fault, finished fourth, no medal.
• Crashes in the 1500m semi-final (DQed again) and injures herself ahead of her preferred 1000m event
• Makes it through the pain barrier in getting through the heat of the 1000m, having to be carried off the track. But then the judges DQ her again.

Legitimate chance of having three or four medals and she has none.

 

[weeman27bob]

I guess maybe not "time" in quite the same way as you meant though.

 

[grecian]

Elise Christie.

10 medals, including three golds, in world championship short track speed skating. But really all winter olympic athletes get known for is their Winter Olympic performance:

At the 2014 Olympics:

• Crashes in the final of the 500m, and is disqualified
• Disqualified in the heats for the 1500m, missing the finish line by a couple of cms
• Disqualified for crashing in the semi-finals of the 1000m

At the 2018 Olympics:

• Crashed in the 500m final for reasons that weren't really her fault, finished fourth, no medal.
• Crashes in the 1500m semi-final (DQed again) and injures herself ahead of her preferred 1000m event
• Makes it through the pain barrier in getting through the heat of the 1000m, having to be carried off the track. But then the judges DQ her again.

Legitimate chance of having three or four medals and she has none.

Good points, but really talking about people who just existed in time with someone just a bit greater than them.

I actually thought Roger Black at first, with Johnson beating him, but then realised Pettigrew also beat him, mind you he's already been giving a relay gold from Pettigrews confessions, so it's possible he may still get one.

 

[GIMH]

I was thinking Roger Black too.

 

[weeman27bob]

Good points, but really talking about people who just existed in time with someone just a bit greater than them.

Yeah, I realised this after I'd spotted "unlucky" and fired up my classic Elise Christie rant

 

[weeman27bob]

Katarina Johnson-Thompson would probably be dominant in heptathlon at the moment but Nafi Thiam usually just tears her and the rest of the field to shreds.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Yohan Blake
Sam Kendrick and Piotr Lisek in the pole vault, at least Kendrick got a couple world titles before Mondo became Bubka mkII
Federica Pellegrini, long distance freestyle swimmer who's run into Ledecky's era of dominance

 

[BoyBrumby]

Stirling Moss was the first name I thought of.

Would quite probably have won one or more F1 championships had his peak not coincided with Juan Fangio's and then Jack Brabham's.

It used to be the case that no driver had won more GPs without a driver's championship. May still be, but there's an awful lot more grand prix now than when Moss was behind the wheel.

Frankie Fredericks another name that was lurking at the back of my head; seemed to be the perennial sprint silver medalist in the 90s.

In fact, having looked it up, he actually took every Olympic 100m and 200m silver medal in the 90s.

 

[social]

Jana Pittman

2 time world champion who suffered serious injuries before both Olympics

Australian public turned on her and accused her of choking as she was very intense and outspoken so got lots offside as not the done thing for an Australian woman at the time

Disappeared for a while due to backlash but on to become the first athlete to compete in Summer & Winter Olympics

Cancer survivor

Put herself through medical school as a single mum and now an oncologist

Incredible yarn

 

[wpdavid]

Chris Evert, sort of. Winning three Wimbledon titles wasn't exactly shabby, but losing five finals to Navratilova must have eventually become tiresome.

 

[social]

Left field choice

Ben Johnson

Got popped for steroids after one of the most high profile races in history & rightly banned

Only problem was there were only 2 clean athletes in the race but Johnson carried the entire can as athletics could not afford to ban virtually everyone including golden boy Lewis

Not condoning Johnson but height of hypocrisy for Lewis and FloJo to have medals when he doesn’t

 

[wpdavid]

Stuart MacGill. Again sort of, as he still played 44 tests. But coinciding his career with Warne was the height of misfortune.

 

[trundler]

Derek Poundstone. Came very close to winning WSM and it slipped out of his hand, literally. Just kept running into Pudzianowsky's reign at the top. Probably wins one these days.

 

[Furball]

It used to be the case that no driver had won more GPs without a driver's championship. May still be, but there's an awful lot more grand prix now than when Moss was behind the wheel.

I believe David Coulthard currently holds this record.

Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen have also held the record but lost it when they won their first titles.

 

[Furball]

Cristiano Ronaldo surely the answer to this thread. Would have been the greatest player of almost every other generation.

 

[grecian]

Cristiano Ronaldo surely the answer to this thread. Would have been the greatest player of almost every other generation.

I thought about it, but TBH he is still giving quite a few kudos, and many think he is the best, you could equally say Lionel Messi. Yet TBH neither are going to be forgotten.

 

[Furball]

and many think he is the best

Many people think Tories are the right people to run the government, both groups are wrong.