A thread about sporting legends

Craig Kelly

TA

Rossi, the greatest of all time.

Jordan, with that layup.

DB10 and TH14. Arsenal legends.

Jackie Stewart

I posted a picture of the first man inside 13 mins for 5k on page 1. Said Aouita.

😯 i just checked out the current time, bekele 12.37!! If i was a bit slower he’d be double as fast as me over 5k, that’s sub 3min km

Back to Surfers post of this morning I do not recall being answered they are:

Dave Bedford (once ‘beat’ him in a fun run when he was almost 40 – I was wrecked)
Brendan Foster
Steve Jones – once saw him at a running show exhibition thing – still national record holder. Is it Nick Rose behind, don’t think it is Hugh Jones).

I would add Kenny Stuart or Helen Diamantides or perhaps Yvette Hague as legends in minor sports, I have been in the same race as them but I would not say I raced them.

Charlie Spedding (still English record holder)

Should have recognised the Gateshead vest…..

I can always recall a picture of CS in the ’84 Olympic marathon in the stadium with John Treacy. JT was really going for it and CS was looking into the stands or somewhere while on his shoulder. JT got the silver medal behind the 37 year old Carlos Lopez.

Big time operator our Charlie. His book is interesting it highlights his ability to rise to the occasion but be very mediocre when there was little at stake.

The Great One.

Freddie Spencer is my G.O.A.T. no one will ever do what he achieved. It broke him though.

Ricky Carmichael

Toni Bou

Sean Fitzpatrick

Gareth Edwards

How about a thread on wasted sporting talent?

Surfer – you seem to know fair bit about running back-in-the-day. I have never been able to work out why the times Bedford, Foster, Adcock, Hill, McLeod, Martin, Moorcroft, Spedding and many more managed have rarely been approached despite better facilities, nutrition and equipment. (I know Mo Farah eventually took DM’s 5,000m record recently). Its not just that the Africans are quick, but GB has gine backwards in the last 40 years.

I don’t think many British men are running 2.15 for a marathon these days and yet a mere girlie has done that!

The advent of low mileage and the plethora of advice to run “easy” from the magazines that have a vested interest in advocating jogging as oppose to training.

The thing all the old school athletes had in common was a willingness to train hard and run “high” mileage. Its not just the big names that existed in the 70’s and 80’s its the depth. I used to train in Liverpool with a handful of guys all of whom had broken 63 minutes for the half marathon and still got beaten regularly on the regional scene. Now they would be untouchable other than foreign imports!

In the good old days there was only the Athletics Weekly, in A5 format as well!

See… Youve got me started now I’m like TJ on helmet thread!

Could be something in that surfer – not sure how the top guys train these days but there was a lot of good runners back then. I always remember reading a book by Jim Alder and what he did after a days grafting on the building sites. And another by Gordon Pirie.

Even so, with sports science I would have expected better times these days, I guessed it was the ‘pool’ was a lot smaller. People have computer games and mountain bikes now…. Jumpers for goal-posts eh!

Even my mediocre times of 20 years ago would look a lot better now.

(done before, but I never tire of pics Senna in a black
and gold lotus

Gilles. Total Legend.

OK so Rafa’s proved he’s fallible, but this guy was a magician at his peak.

Jim Alder and what he did after a days grafting on the building sites. And another by Gordon Pirie.

I’ve met Jim Alder on a couple of occasions. I was in his company a few years back at the National Road Relays in Birmingham. Somebody was talking about a series of running events that were on the same day (think it was in Scotland) and called them “a festival of running”. Alder let rip “this is a festival of bloody running and this is where the good athletes are, not a mickey mouse event in Scotland just because its on the telly”

Top bloke.

Awesome to see this still going!

More please!

Steve Caballero, Jean-Michel Bayle, Kenny Roberts, Stu Thomsen.

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Abdoujaparov

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Ricky Carmichael

Flair & Smokers special

French footballer

Italian cyclist

English cricket

Infallible at his peak, unbeaten for 9 years, 9 months and 9 days, 122 races
Ed Moses = Awesome

Jeremy McGrath, without and err, with, me……

Some of you have funny ideas what a sporting legend is – lots of people who are/were quite good at their sport who didn’t ever transcend it being pictured here.

I would add Kenny Stuart or Helen Diamantides or perhaps Yvette Hague as legends in minor sports

Not really that convinced by any of those – I mean if you’re going to mention Yvette, then these two have a far greater claim, and I’d be surprised if more than one or two here could name them:

Though since we’re doing name dropping on this thread, my claim to fame is that I once finished 2nd behind Helen in a very long distance event (and got 1st male prize 😳 )

Here’s my real contribution though – a bloke far more widely known than any of those British runners mentioned, and a real legend

Just in case no-one knew who it was that I posted earlier….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charles

He was never cautioned or sent off during his entire career, due to his philosophy of never kicking or intentionally hurting opposing players. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, he was nicknamed Il Gigante Buono – The Gentle Giant.

In 1957 he joined the Italian club Juventus F.C. for a then-British-record £65,000 transfer fee. The transfer was notable as Charles became one of the first British professional players to be signed for an overseas team after John Fox Watson led the way moving from Fulham to Real Madrid in 1948. In his five years at Juventus he scored 93 goals in 155 matches, winning the scudetto (Italian league championship) three times, and the Italian Cup twice.
Charles with Sivori and Boniperti at Juve.

The respect Charles earned from Juventus fans was shown when, on the occasion of the club’s centenary in 1997 they voted him to be the best-ever foreign player to play for their team.

In the foreword for Charles’ autobiography, Sir Bobby Robson described him as “incomparable” and classed him among the all-time footballing greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona and George Best. He also notes that Charles is the only footballing great to be world class in two very different positions.

Charles’ accomplishments with Juventus led to him being voted ‘the greatest foreign player ever in Serie A’, ahead of Maradona, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Zinedine Zidane – this in 1997, 34 years after his last appearance in the league. In 2001 he became the first non-Italian inducted to the Azzurri Hall of Fame.

A true legend and was a thoroughly decent bloke.

And already mentioned, , and I think we all know which one. Probably the greatest lap ever drive, Donnigton, 1993.

Legend

Sport is not always about competing. It’s about love of that sport. Murray Walker loves his motor sport far more than anyone I’ve ever seen.

LEGEND!

Well if it doesn’t have to be a competitor

I would add Kenny Stuart or Helen Diamantides or perhaps Yvette Hague as legends in minor sports

Kenny Stuart (amongst a small number of others) could be called the greatest fell runner of all time. He was unusual in that he made the move to the road and won the Edinburgh marathon and (IIRC without Google) ran 2:10 minutes for the distance.
Another fantastic career cut short through illness.

Since motorsport reared its ugly head and surfer turned it into the athletics thread for a page or two, it’s gone a bit stale.

love him or hate him you can deny it !

Its not exclusive DD!

And partly my fault for the athletics, bringing back very old memories to me.

Would somebody be so kind as to post a picture of….

Tony Hawk

(If you could make that picture one of him doing a nine, it would be even better)

The Hawk

and his predecessor

Skiing legend Glenn Plake

Maybe not a legend in most peoples eyes. A great sportsman and was a genuinely nice guy too.

loddrik – Member
Joe Montana, let’s be honest, more people in the world follow the NFL than follow rugby.

Really?

What on earth was that from Carter? Did he have the cheek to claim the points?

He may become a legend but its too early yet.