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Second greatest sportsman?

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Original post by IamJacksContempt
The greatest sportsman would probably have to be Maradona. He personified football (aka the most popular, the greatest and most competitive sport in the world).


Messi is the greatest footballer of all time. I don't think anybody comes close either.

What specifically do you mean by 'personified football'?
Original post by Dhanny
Forgot to add Ronnie O Sullivan.

He is easily the greatest Snooker just when you see natural talent and after you see all his tournament wins(despite fighting depression and all his struggles).

Not only was he great, but he revived the sport and made it more popular with his great Fast and entertaining style unlike other great players of snooker such as Davis who was a bore to watch!


Probably the most exciting and talented player but I think he needs to overtake Hendry in WCs before he can be the undisputed greatest. I know that's similar to the Messi/World Cup line but in an individual sport I think it's a fairer argument.

Still I am a big fan of Ronnie.
Reply 62
Zidane :smile:

There will be another Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo or Paul Scholes but there can never be another Zidane!
Original post by 999tigger
Quite happy to call Muhammad Ali the greatest sportsman ever, because he transcended sport.

Who would rank as the second greatest and why?

* should have said sports person.


me, obviously. I'm an undefeated boxer, Ali had 5 losses
Valentino Rossi
Original post by pandamind
The greatest sprinter, certainly, but he isn't faster than his peers by all that much. Compare that to the domination of other sports by their greatest sportsmen, and he isn't really in the discussion


Yes he is, in a 100m race the margins of the elite sprinters are such that 0.05 of a second is huge.

Bolt's best time for 100m is 9.58 seconds.

Only 4 other men in history have run 100m in less than 9.78 seconds: Gay, Blake, Powell and Gatlin - that's only 4 in history within 0.2 of a second of him!

Nobody is within 0.1 of a second of him.

The next best is Gay and Blake at 9.69.

Look at the distribution of all time fastest (legal) recorded 100m times : http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_100ok.htm and see how clustered most of the distribution is and then the gap to Bolt's best. Also look how often Bolt appears in the upper levels of that list - he's been phenomenally consistent.
With Ali at #1, #2 should be left blank. Bradman and Messi can fight over #3.
Original post by Kutta
Zidane :smile:

There will be another Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo or Paul Scholes but there can never be another Zidane!


Zidane isn't even the best footballer of his era lol
Reply 68
Original post by Kenan and Kel
Zidane isn't even the best footballer of his era lol


In my opinion he is :colondollar:

He wasn't as quick or agile as legend Ronaldo or Henry but I can't think of another player who had the influence he had!
David beckham the way he bended those free kicks that's why it's popular for young kids today to say "bend it like beckham!" whenever someone is about to take a free kick he also had cool hair :smile:

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Original post by eternaforest
David beckham the way he bended those free kicks that's why it's popular for young kids today to say "bend it like beckham!" whenever someone is about to take a free kick he also had cool hair :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile


the only thing good about beckham is his PR team, he was average when compared to the best of them
Original post by Kenan and Kel
Zidane isn't even the best footballer of his era lol


Who would you say it was?
Original post by Wilfred Little
Who would you say it was?


Ronaldo

Zidane was a great #10 in an era of great #10s, he just had more of an aura about him
Original post by Kenan and Kel
Ronaldo

Zidane was a great #10 in an era of great #10s, he just had more of an aura about him


Yeah thought you meant him. Ronaldo my favourite player ever, a shame what happened to him.
Original post by Wilfred Little
Yeah thought you meant him. Ronaldo my favourite player ever, a shame what happened to him.


Ronaldo in some ways was like Gascoigne - a great player who had major injuries quite early in his career, remained world class but undoubtedly lost something compared to his early days.

However a difference between Ronaldo and Gazza is that whilst Gazza's career went in to a steady decline playing for lesser clubs and another 'what if' semi final at a major tournament with England, Ronaldo went on to win the World Cup, be the all time top goal scorer in World Cups (later beaten by Klose) and be a very successful player at Real Madrid.

I think a lot of the more recent generation rank him below Messi / Cristiano Ronaldo because they saw the Ronaldo of the 2000s who was still great but maybe more in the bracket of Ronaldinho, Bergkamp calibre than in the greatest of all time debate category. But I think you can put the late 1990s Ronaldo of PSV and Barca as good as Messi maybe even better when you compare the two players' peaks.

When he came on to the scene he was completely unlike any other player before, it was like when you're a kid and go go on the create player function of a football game and create yourself and give yourself maximum ratings for everything, your player on the game is this super fast super strong beast who outpaces and outpowers everyone and you just smack in goals....when Ronaldo first appeared he was basically that. I remember the massive anticipation before France '98 of everyone wanting to see Ronaldo.
Original post by MagicNMedicine
Ronaldo in some ways was like Gascoigne - a great player who had major injuries quite early in his career, remained world class but undoubtedly lost something compared to his early days.

However a difference between Ronaldo and Gazza is that whilst Gazza's career went in to a steady decline playing for lesser clubs and another 'what if' semi final at a major tournament with England, Ronaldo went on to win the World Cup, be the all time top goal scorer in World Cups (later beaten by Klose) and be a very successful player at Real Madrid.

I think a lot of the more recent generation rank him below Messi / Cristiano Ronaldo because they saw the Ronaldo of the 2000s who was still great but maybe more in the bracket of Ronaldinho, Bergkamp calibre than in the greatest of all time debate category. But I think you can put the late 1990s Ronaldo of PSV and Barca as good as Messi maybe even better when you compare the two players' peaks.

When he came on to the scene he was completely unlike any other player before, it was like when you're a kid and go go on the create player function of a football game and create yourself and give yourself maximum ratings for everything, your player on the game is this super fast super strong beast who outpaces and outpowers everyone and you just smack in goals....when Ronaldo first appeared he was basically that. I remember the massive anticipation before France '98 of everyone wanting to see Ronaldo.


Yep same here. I was gutted watching the final in '98 as he stunk up the pitch that night but his comeback is one of the best footballing stories, was so happy when he banged them two goals in vs Germany and got to lift the World Cup.



:cool:

Agree with it all, Ronaldo is the blueprint for the modern striker. In the 90s he was just awesome. I remember him leaving that Lazio keeper on his arse in the UEFA Cup final and rolling the ball in for 3-0
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by KloppOClock
the only thing good about beckham is his PR team, he was average when compared to the best of them


I love how you completely ignore his free kicks :laugh: youre just a jealous hater :rofl:
Original post by eternaforest
I love how you completely ignore his free kicks :laugh: youre just a jealous hater :rofl:


plenty of free kick takers better than beckham
Iniesta over Zidane. Come at me.
Original post by TheLittlestElf
Iniesta over Zidane. Come at me.


All day.

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