I'm stumped...athlete with > 24 years at the top of their sport

[benchmark00]

Scoring a ton isn't really the equivalent of winning a tournament though. It's probably more comparable to sinking a eagle.

Nah an Eagle can be achieved with just one or two good/lucky shots.

Maybe shooting a 64 or something.

 

[JontyPanesar]

Kasparov...

 

[Bushranger]

The 3 best and toughest sports careers I know of are

Gordie Howe NHL
27 year career
23 all star games

Bernard Hopkins Boxing
23 years (still Active_plus Boxing takes years of your life)
36 world title fights

Nolan Ryan MLB
27 year career
Pitched in 807 games of Baseball

 

[MartinB]

Two interesting variations on this theme are

1. Ray Lindwall - was rated the best Rugby League full back in Australia around 1940 or 41.
2. Keith Miller - Keith Miller was playing in the VFL (Top level of Australian Rules football at 16) and represented the VFL at 18.

Both had 20 years at the to the top level (across 2 sports).

 

[MartinB]

Depending on what you call a sport, David Foster is up to 37 years now

 

[Spikey]

Gordie Howe's Final NHL Goal #giveittocheech - YouTube

 

[Spikey]

also Teemu Selanne and Jaromir Jagr are pushing 25 years and i dont remember sachin ever doing something like Teemu Selanne Announces Return To The Anaheim Ducks - YouTube or "No Words" - 2010 Stanley Cup Final TV Spot - YouTube

 

[uvelocity]

yeah jagr is crazy i was scoring goals with him in nhl 94

 

[Riggins]

lol u never score

 

[Shri]

Ryan Giggs. 23 years now. If he retires on June next year, it will be 24 years.

 

[uvelocity]

lol u never score

averaging 0 and 1 ball per innings this season tbf

 

[Goughy]

Recent players, Morten Anderson and John Carney + others

Also not quite 24 yrs but Steve Menzies 20 yr RL career is special.

 

[benchmark00]

Ray Finkle.

 

[benchmark00]

Ray Finkle.

Laces out.

 

[Top_Cat]

Ron Jeremy still scores on a regular basis.

 

[ajdude]

Gary Ablett played top level Australian rules from 1982 to 1996 and then from 2002 to the present day. By my count that's 27 seasons, a top effort

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Steve Davis

 

[OverratedSanity]

Martina Navratilova? Singles, doubles everything combined she's had a remarkably long career with consistent success

Ryan Giggs. 23 years now. If he retires on June next year, it will be 24 years.

Wasn't really ever close to being one of the top 5 or so players in the world, though

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Martina Navratilova? Singles, doubles everything combined she's had a remarkably long career with consistent success



Wasn't really ever close to being one of the top 5 or so players in the world, though

A brief period 96/97 he was exceptional! But other than that, you're right.

 

[Dissector]

Hobbs was similar to Tendulkar. His test career was around 23 years and I think he had 3 good first-class seasons before and after.