Battle of the Sporting Heroes

[Simon]

Round of 32 Battle #15

Edwin Moses (American) - Athletics

Honours
2 time Olympic Gold Medalist in 400m Hurdles
1988 Olympic Bronze Medalist in 400m Hurdles
2 time World Championships Gold medalist in 400m hurdles
1980 Track and Field News Athlete of the Year
1984 WWOS Athlete of the Year
1984 SI Athlete of the Year
Winner of 122 consecutive 400m Hurdles races

vs

Michael Johnson (American) - Athletics

Honours
4 time Olympic Gold Medalist
8 time World Championship Gold Medalist
8 time World Record Holder
Winner of 42 career professional titles
Member of USA Track and Field Hall of Fame
1996 WWOS Athlete of the Year

--------------------

Round of 32 Battle #16

Pete Sampras (American) - Tennis

Honours
762 career match wins
64 career ATP titles
14 time Grand Slam winner
5 time Tour championship winner
2 career doubles titles
6 time ATP Player of the Year
6 time ITF World Champion
6 time year end world #1
Record 286 weeks spent at world numbner 1
1997 US Olympic committee Sportsman of the Year
2000 GQ Individual Athlete of the Year
Voted #1 in the past 25 years in a poll in 1997
48th in ESPN's North American Athletes of the century

vs

Lance Armstrong (American) - Cycling

Honours
7 Tour de France Titles
22 Tour de France Stage wins
1993 World Cycling champion
2001 Tour de Suisse winner
1993 World Championship Gold Medalist
2000 Olympic Games Bronze Medalist in Mens Time Trial
4 time Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year
2000 Worlds Most Outstanding Athlete Award
2003 Reuters Sportsman of the Year
2003 Laureus World Sports Sportsman of the Year
2000 Laureus World Sports Comeback of the Year

 

[Blewy]

Johnson & Sampras

 

[GIMH]

First one a stinker of the highest order! Going with Johnson, so unorthodox, he made it worth staying up til all hours in 96

Sampras in the second, another smeller

 

[grecian]

moses

sampras

 

[ripper868]

Abstain, can not split them.

Armstrong - as far as being an inspiration and hero, Lance is hard to top. Sampras dominated tennis and all but he didn't lose a nut on the way to doing it.

 

[cameeel]

Johnson
Sampras

 

[Burgey]

Moses

Armstrong

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Moses
Lance

 

[Johnners]

Johnson & lance

 

[biased indian]

Moses & Armstrong

 

[BoyBrumby]

Johnson, Ed's record is amazing but Johnson was superhuman. Great commentator too, refreshing breath of harsh reality to blow away the inane pro-Brit guff we get from Black, Jackson, Gunnell, etc.

& Sampras. But for one off day versus Kraijcek (sp?) in 96 he could've won 8 Wimbledons on the bounce. Amazing record and his career overlapped with some great grass court players too.

 

[NUFAN]

Great battles!!

Johnson in the first because I've seen more of him.
Armstrong in the second.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Abstain and Armstrong

 

[luffy]

Johnson and Sampras

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Johnson
Sampras (yes, he was no good on clay, Armstrong was no good outside July)

 

[pasag]

Sampras. Hard to go over Armstrong though, had a big impact on the life of a good mate of mine who had cancer.

 

[fredfertang]

Moses and Armstrong

 

[Simon]

Our final battle of the round sees another draw, despite my love of tennis I was never a massive fan of Pete and its pretty hard not to respect what Lance has done, so I'm sending him through.

Battle #15
Edwin Moses 5
vs
Michael Johnson 8

Battle #16
Pete Sampras 8
vs
Lance Armstrong 8

 

[Simon]

We are down to the last 16, we'll start the next round fresh on Monday morning, these are the 16 that remain in the battle.

Ivan Mauger (Speedway Racing)
Tim Cahill (Football)
Tiger Woods (Golf)
Michael Jordan (Basketball)
Usain Bolt (Athletics)
Wally Lewis (Rugby League)
Marco Van Basten (Football)
Jahangir Khan (Squash)
Muhammad Ali (Boxing)
Michael Phelps (Swimming)
Ayrton Senna (Formula 1 Motor Racing)
Pele (Football)
Johan Cryuff (Football)
Steffi Graf (Tennis)
Michael Johnson (Athletics)
Lance Armstrong (Cycling)

 

[Simon]

Round of 16 Battle #1

Johan Cruyff (Dutch) - Football

Honours
8 time Eredivisie winner with Ajax
3 time European Cup winner with Ajax
1984 Eredivisie winner with Feyenoord
1974 La Liga winner with Barcelona
3 Times European footballer of the year
Voted European player of the century in 1999
Runner up in World player of the cenutry in 1999
1974 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball
1974 FIFA Would Cup All Star Team
48 Caps for Netherlands
521 career matches for teams such as Ajax, Barcelona and Feyenoord

vs

Tiger Woods (American) - Golf

Honours
90 career professional tournament wins
14 major wins
9 time PGA Tour Player of the Year
9 time PGA Player of the Year
8 time PGA Tour Money Leader
4 time Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year
8 time Golf Writers American Player of the Year
3 time ESPY Best Male Athlete of the Year Award
2 time Laureus World Sports Award winner
2 time Ryder Cup winner
2 time Presidents cup winner
2 time World Cup winner

-----------------------------------

Round of 16 Battle #2

Usain Bolt (Jamaican) - Athletics

Honours
3 time Olympic Gold Medalist
2 time World Championship Silver Medalist
5 time World record holder
2008 IAAF Male Athlete of the Year
2008 Olympic Award
2008 Jamaican Order of Distinction

vs

Michael Phelps (American) - Swimming

Honours
14 time Olympic Gold Medalist
2 time Olympic Bronze Medalist
18 time World Championship Gold Medalist
8 time Pan Pacific Gold Medalist
32 World Record holder
5 time World Swimmer of the Year
7 time American Swimmer of the Year
Holds the record for most Olympic gold-medals in individual events (9)
Holds the record for most Olympic gold-medals at a single games (8)
2008 SI Sportsman of the Year