Name an athlete you don't like, no matter how good s/he is, and give your reasons.
Please don't choose anyone who has been disgraced (e.g. Lance Armstrong). We all know he, and other disgraced athletes are twonks. Stick with someone current or retired who remains in good standing with their sport.
For me, it's got to be Fernando Alonso. I just read that he won LeMans (or something), and I am sure he is an incredible driver. But man, oh man, can that guy whinge!
I can probably think of others, but I think that Alonso takes the cake for me.
Nigel Mansell. Ronaldo.
Never understood him, don’t like his links to the whole drug scandals that have been mooted, never warmed to him... MoBot?
Whateva.
Lewis Hamilton. Can't listen to that stupid accent.
Any rugby players or cricketers. Because rugby and cricket are both total shite. Rugby in particular is played by toffs or wools.
2nd Mo Farah. For so many reasons.
Andy Murray. Cry baby mummy's boy.
Ben Stokes. A drunken thug who got away with it.
I don't particularly like/trust ultra-competitive people, so I suppose most athletes would fall into that bracket. I think cheating is endemic across professional sports.
The same goes for most of the people we are told to admire - "great" entrepreneurs, great politicians etc - I prefer the little people, the last shall be first etc.
But I retain a particular animus for bully boys like Boycott, and flash harrys like Lewis Hamilton.
I'd share a beer with Valentino Rossi and Freddie Flintoff.
^^ totally get that, cant stand him.
Kelly Holmes, one decent season of running and get made a Dame.
Lewis Hamilton.
Itoje he is definitely a monster and very good at his job. Probably a world leader.
And as such I just don't get why he has to be such a dick, it's the cheating I just don't get, mind you you could apply that to all professional sports people.
+1 for Andy Murray, makes Morrisey seem vibrant and don't get me started on the Uruguay thing.
muhammed ali i would have to say as one choice.
no doubt he was a great boxer but watching a doc where joe frazier was talking about how ali would constantly berate him before the fight (calling him an uncle tom amongst other things as well as insulting joe's wife) definitely cooled some respect for the man.
i can definitely think of other choices eg thuggish footballers,cheats e.t.c
Tahnee Seagrave. She's loads better than I'll ever be, but a couple of years back every interview seemed to have various shades of whinging about how "winny" Rachel Atherton was and how it was all so unfair on Tahnee or something.
Athlete's Foot. Never met in person, I've heard he's a fun guy in an infectious sort of way, but doesn't seem likeable and he has a tinea pedis.
Tyson fury
Sure.. He can move but the man is a walking contradiction. Can't warm to him and just hear lies every time he speaks.
Marc Marquez , unbelievably talented.
Why? 2015.
Paul Pogba, only tries when he's winning. If I were one of these billionaire owners I'd make his every waking moment a misery until he did what he's paid to do. Every miserable F1 driver, non of them seem to want to speak to one another.
Eddie Irvine "I was a better driver than Schumacher, he was just better at setting up the car".
Aye, right.
Joey Barton.
Peter Sagan.
Great rider, great bike handler, probably the best all-rounder at this moment in time. Still manages to come across as an arrogant little snotbag.
Schumacher - cheat.
Alonso - see above.
Will Carling - unbearably smug.
Chris Sutton - have you heard 606 recently? He's more annoying than Robbie Savage.
Mansell, Hamilton, Mo and Murray seem like basically good eggs.
Pheidippides, alright mate you ran a marathon, let it go.
Not really an athlete but Ronnie O Sullivan. He never seems to get beaten by a better player, he's just playing badly that day.
Federer, same reason as Ronnie above, and the white pimp suit.
Denise Lewis. It’s like BBC just gave her a platform to talk about endlessly about herself 😴.
Years ago would have said Cav but have warmed to him a lot as he’s got older. It’s hard to judge young athletes as it seems to take them a while to find themselves-much like anyone else, just more in view.
Everything about Hamilton's public image makes me prepared to dislike him, but he actually seems like a decent guy.
Totally agree Sagan comes across a bit arrogant, but he also comes over totally authentic to himself and he doesn't make excuses when he's just not strong enough (I know he used to moan about being marked out of races, but it was true!). Usually I don't like to see dominant riders keep winning, but don't mind with Sagan as he's such a force of nature.
Taking the thread title literally, I don't like Froome, but I don't really dislike him either.
Tahnee Seagrave. She’s loads better than I’ll ever be, but a couple of years back every interview seemed to have various shades of whinging about how “winny” Rachel Atherton was and how it was all so unfair on Tahnee or something.
Understandable - and I know others feel the same. Personally I struggle to warm to Rachel and feel she masks her ruthless competitiveness behind a facade of supportiveness for the other girls. I prefer Tahnee's riding style too.
Years ago would have said Cav but have warmed to him a lot as he’s got older.
Ditto, respect him for being an open book (albeit one about anger management) and enjoy listening to his analysis of racing. Hope he goes into DSing or punditry. He;d be cycling's version of McEnroe.
Kelly Holmes, one decent season of running and get made a Dame.
I would have thought that two Olympic gold medals was a bit more than one decent season of running but if that's not enough for you have a look below .
Competition record
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing Great Britain and England
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 5th (sf) 800m 1:58.64
1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 1st 1500m 4:08.86
European Championships Helsinki, Finland 2nd 1500m 4:19.30
IAAF World Cup London, England 3rd 1500m 4:10.81
European Cup Birmingham, England 2nd 1500m 4:06.48
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd 800m 1:56.95
2nd 1500m 4:03.04
European Cup Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France 1st 1500m 4:07.02
1996 European Cup Madrid, Spain 2nd 800m 1:58.20
Olympic Games Atlanta, Georgia, United States 4th 800m 1:58.81
11th 1500m 4:07.46
1997 European Cup Munich, Germany 1st 1500m 4:04.79
1998 Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2nd 1500m 4:06.10
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 4th (sf) 800m 2:00.77
2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 3rd 800m 1:56.80
7th 1500m 4:08.02
2001 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 6th 800m 1:59.76
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 3rd 800m 1:59.83
11th (h) 1500m 4:08.11
Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 1st 1500m 4:05.99
2003 World Championships Paris, France 2nd 800m 2:00.18
World Indoor Championships Birmingham, England 2nd 1500m 4:02.66
IAAF World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 2nd 800m 1:59.92
2004 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 1st 800m 1:56.38
1st 1500m 3:57.90
IAAF World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 1st 1500m 4:04.55
Andy Murray
I'm a fan Ronnie O'Sullivan, loved that 146 two fingers up (albeit appreciate if others don't given it was him saying the prize money was nothing).
Chris Sutton like Robbie Savage have been bought in by FiveLive to feed the ratings - the Jeremy Kyle idea that you need conflict to garner interest in a information overload world.
It's a great shame as I used to love FiveLive, now it is like listening to a group of obnoxious idiots in a pub spending more time point scoring than developing an interesting discussion. The same goes increasingly for Waddle I'm afraid, who was a very under-rated player, but seems to have developed an anger problem.
And I have disliked Richie Porte since he took Dan Martin out of the GC running in the Tour the other year.
Yeah I know anyone could crash, but it wasn't a surprise it was him - was it?
Pheidippides, alright mate you ran a marathon, let it go.
He paid for it though.
Iwan Thomas. Never a great but " ...look at me I'm on Tv... again."
Chris Sutton is a great shout, not a huge fan of lawreson just seems knackered all the time.
I admire Wiggo's achievements but he is a bit of a fud isn't he?
Brian Moore.
gary lineker
mark lawrenson
cocks.
I don't know any athletes well enough to actually dislike them.
You can generally dislike humanity without having met every person that's ever lived too.
Athlete’s Foot. Never met in person, I’ve heard he’s a fun guy in an infectious sort of way, but doesn’t seem likeable and he has a tinea pedis.
👏 This did not go unnoticed!!
I don’t know any athletes well enough to actually dislike them.
what you doing in the thread caller?
Serena Williams
Pepe
Lewis Hamilton
Nairo Quintana
Seb Coe
Not sure if id say lewis hamilton is an athlete. In fact.. hes definitely not.
Dean Karnazes. Read his book, rather annoying guy. Likes to promote himself as the greatest ultramarathon runner ever, but seems he is fairly average.
Tom Simpson. Drugs cheat.
Lewis Hamilton - it's the diamond earrings. Ugh.
Serena Williams - vile
Novak Djokovic - total a++e
Seb Coe - arrogant
Jeremy Guscott - arrogant
Freddie Flintoff - the death of Top Gear
Ronaldo - Cheat. Although he is hardly alone in this.
Not sure why Andy Murray gets so much stick. I think he is a quite a humorous good-natured character. When he isn't actually playing of course.
Lewis Hamilton - someone above said not fit??? Jesus. Obviously never tried car racing then.
Will Carling – unbearably smug.
I heard an anecdote about a Leicester vs Harlequins match where Will Carling had made a comment to a Leicester supporter from the field. The supporter in question waited around after the game had finished and punched Will Carling in the face. A witness to this, commented “ that’s the first time I have seen a fan hit the shit!”
I hope it is true.
Not sure I’m keen on these threads. They can get a bit unpleasant. However, I’m here now... 😀
I’ve always liked listening to David Walsh being interviewed (one of the journos that went after Lance) about professional sports people. And given his reputation for sports writing, he probably has a better insight into this group of people than nearly all of us here. He always says (and I paraphrase) that he’s always told his kids that when they look for role-models, that professional sportsmen and sportswomen are amongst the last groups to which they should look, because they’re nearly all arseholes anyway. For me, it’s often easier to judge a sportsperson on how they live their life post-career and if they make an attempt to “put/give something back”. To this extent, I have a lot of time for, say, Didier Drogba (Who I really didn’t like as a player) but had gone on to do good things with his fame and fortune. Sure they’re entitled to a private life too of course.
I had no idea what arseholes Chris Sutton and Robbie Savage were until they got jobs on 5Live.
Seems to be a lot of animosity towards motorsportists - not s fan of the genre but have watched all the good quality documentaries about the various different ones that have come out in the last few years. They all seem pretty unpleasant but I guess you don’t win F1 races by being a nice chap.
Ian Botham because he's a spokesperson for the grouse shooting lobby and bullies anyone who actually quotes scientific evidence of it's environmental impact.
