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who were the greatest sportsmen of the last century?
- Thread starter Anil
- Start date
Deja moo
International Captain
Dhyan Chand
India. Hockey Player....3 Olympic Gold medals. in 1928 , 32 and 36.He scored over 1,000 goals in a career spanning 22 years from 1926-1948 ( interrupted by the Second World war)
The greatest player to have ever picked up a hockey stick , he is to Hockey what Bradman is to cricket.
His quicksilver agility on the field as a centre-forward and captain of the Indian hockey team became legendary. It earned him the name 'hockey wizard'. Such was Dhyan Chand's reputation, that people thought he used a special hockey stick. Olympic officials in Holland took it apart to see if there was a magnet inside. In Japan, they decided he used some sort of super glue.A Vienna sports club has a statue of Dhyan Chand depicting him with four arms holding four hockey sticks !
It was this magic that mesmerised Adolf Hitler during the Olympic Games of 1936. Hitler even offered Dhyan Chand a high-ranking position in the German army and asked him to stay back. But Dhyan Chand was not of the nineties .. a simple man, all he wanted was to play hockey and return to his hometown Jhansi.
Dhyan Chand was a member of the Indian hockey team which won a gold medal in its first appearance in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. He played a stellar role in its win in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the 1936 Berlin Games, Dhyan Chand was the captain and led India to victory over Germany in the final. Out of the 338 goals scored by the Indians in 37 matches in 1932, Dhyan Chand contributed an astounding 133! In 1947, at the age of 46, and semi-retired, he accompanied a young Indian team to East Africa and scored 61 goals in 22 games !
Dhyan Chand was the unanimous choice to lead India on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1935. India played 48 matches -- including three Tests against New Zealand -- and won all of them. Of the 584 goals the visitors scored, Dhyan Chand's personal tally was 200. Don Bradman was so surprised by the number of goals that he quipped: 'Were they made by a hockey player or a batsman?'
1936 Berlin Olympics : After India played its first match in the 1936 Olympics, Dhyan Chand's magical stickwork drew crowds from other venues to the hockey field.
A German newspaper carried a banner headline: 'The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.' The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: 'Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.'
After every India match, hundreds of spectators would troop down to the players enclosure and touch Dhyan Chand's hockey stick to see what trick it was that kept the ball from leaving his stick as he dribbled his way all over the field. One journalist reported: 'It looks like he has some invisible magnet stuck to his hockey stick so that the ball does not leave it at all.'
The Final of the 1936 olympics :India ran rings around host team Germany in the final.
So much so that the Germans resorted to rough tactics, leaving Chand with a broken tooth.
Having already scored six goals Chand decided to teach the Germans a lesson in good sportsmanship.
So, each time he or one of his team-mates got into the circle, instead of shooting for goal, they back-passed to their opponents!
India still ran out 8-1 winners, collecting their third consecutive Olympic gold.
India. Hockey Player....3 Olympic Gold medals. in 1928 , 32 and 36.He scored over 1,000 goals in a career spanning 22 years from 1926-1948 ( interrupted by the Second World war)
The greatest player to have ever picked up a hockey stick , he is to Hockey what Bradman is to cricket.
His quicksilver agility on the field as a centre-forward and captain of the Indian hockey team became legendary. It earned him the name 'hockey wizard'. Such was Dhyan Chand's reputation, that people thought he used a special hockey stick. Olympic officials in Holland took it apart to see if there was a magnet inside. In Japan, they decided he used some sort of super glue.A Vienna sports club has a statue of Dhyan Chand depicting him with four arms holding four hockey sticks !
It was this magic that mesmerised Adolf Hitler during the Olympic Games of 1936. Hitler even offered Dhyan Chand a high-ranking position in the German army and asked him to stay back. But Dhyan Chand was not of the nineties .. a simple man, all he wanted was to play hockey and return to his hometown Jhansi.
Dhyan Chand was a member of the Indian hockey team which won a gold medal in its first appearance in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. He played a stellar role in its win in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the 1936 Berlin Games, Dhyan Chand was the captain and led India to victory over Germany in the final. Out of the 338 goals scored by the Indians in 37 matches in 1932, Dhyan Chand contributed an astounding 133! In 1947, at the age of 46, and semi-retired, he accompanied a young Indian team to East Africa and scored 61 goals in 22 games !
Dhyan Chand was the unanimous choice to lead India on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1935. India played 48 matches -- including three Tests against New Zealand -- and won all of them. Of the 584 goals the visitors scored, Dhyan Chand's personal tally was 200. Don Bradman was so surprised by the number of goals that he quipped: 'Were they made by a hockey player or a batsman?'
1936 Berlin Olympics : After India played its first match in the 1936 Olympics, Dhyan Chand's magical stickwork drew crowds from other venues to the hockey field.
A German newspaper carried a banner headline: 'The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.' The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: 'Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.'
After every India match, hundreds of spectators would troop down to the players enclosure and touch Dhyan Chand's hockey stick to see what trick it was that kept the ball from leaving his stick as he dribbled his way all over the field. One journalist reported: 'It looks like he has some invisible magnet stuck to his hockey stick so that the ball does not leave it at all.'
The Final of the 1936 olympics :India ran rings around host team Germany in the final.
So much so that the Germans resorted to rough tactics, leaving Chand with a broken tooth.
Having already scored six goals Chand decided to teach the Germans a lesson in good sportsmanship.
So, each time he or one of his team-mates got into the circle, instead of shooting for goal, they back-passed to their opponents!
India still ran out 8-1 winners, collecting their third consecutive Olympic gold.
Last edited:
Simon
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i never got to see those guys like cruijff, pele, puksus (sp) etc.. play, but what i know is that they were all great players, for anyone to say pele wasnt that good its just silly, the guy scored over 1000 goals at professional level, and thats just insane...
Simon
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when Senna died he was at the end of his career, stats wise he wasnt as succesful as schumi is, but that was a very different era of F1. Prost, Mansell, Senna to name a few are among the sports greats all raced at the same time and conditions were no where near as what they are 10 years on....Anil said:
Simon
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IMO he isnt even one of the greats in his sport (although i do think hes the best of the current batch) so theres no chance i could say hes in this category of all time in all sports.
i actually want to add 1 more to my list of Pele and Ayrton Senna, and thats Lance Armstrong, the guys a dead set legend....
i actually want to add 1 more to my list of Pele and Ayrton Senna, and thats Lance Armstrong, the guys a dead set legend....
Swervy
International Captain
roseboy64 said:This is my list, not in any order:
1/Pele
2/Hank Aaron
3/Babe Ruth
4/Tiger Woods
5/Jack Niclaus
6/Micheal Schumacher
7/Cy Young
8/Donald Bradman
9/Garfield Sobers
10/Micheal Jordan
11/Larry Bird
12/Earvin "Magic" Johnson
13/Jesse Owens
14/Pete Sampras
15/Muhammad Ali(last but not least)
some how I completely forgot about Ali......oh my god,he is a total hero
) to that list. 
benchmark00
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Wayne Carey.
