Atlete of The Decade

[Quite Please]

Originally Posted by Fedex

Interesting article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...e-running.html

"The winner of 24 world and Olympic titles, more than anyone in athletics history; the breaker of six world records; unbeaten in his career over 10,000 metres; undefeated in three years and 26 track races over 3,000m or more; the greatest cross country runner ever with 11 global titles."

To put this into perspective, Bekele's 10,000 m world record time of 26 minutes 17 seconds is equivalent to running an average 100m time of 15.77 seconds.
That means he ran one hundred times 100m sprints back to back at a rate of 15.77 seconds!
Go out to your nearest track and run a sub 16 second 100m then imagine having to do that another 99 times without a break and I guarantee your chin will be on the ground in disbelief.

I agree, Bekele has to be taken into consideration as well, anything else would be close to blasphemy.

[Cyan]

Michael Schumacher.

[Andy G]

Originally Posted by OddJack

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3297734


A month ago, during simpler times, Tiger Woods was presented with a tricky question: Who would he pick as the athlete of the decade?

Plenty of possible choices - Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds, Tom Brady, among them. Tiger, too. Told the list of candidates, and leaving himself out of the mix, Woods contemplated their merits for two holes during a pro-am in China before he finally found himself torn between Federer and Bonds.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/spo.../78689912.html

Well, since Tennis is tougher to play than Basketball or Baseball, I would go for Federer.

Way off. Best player is Allison Fisher. 22 years at #1. Thats not a misprint.

This link even has a comparo of Allison, Tiger, and Federer.

http://www.allisonfisher.com/index.p...d=51&Itemid=73

[Talker]

Originally Posted by Andy G

Way off. Best player is Allison Fisher. 22 years at #1. Thats not a misprint.

This link even has a comparo of Allison, Tiger, and Federer.

http://www.allisonfisher.com/index.p...d=51&Itemid=73

Wow, never heard of her. Those are some stats!
I was thinking of something more physical, using reflexes, timing with some endurance.

I would have to go with Fed, won all his GS's in the time frame, dominated like no one else. And the pages of other records. Never happened before to such a great extent.
In one stretch he won 6/7 GS's.

[Andy G]

Originally Posted by Talker

Wow, never heard of her. Those are some stats!
I was thinking of something more physical, using reflexes, timing with some endurance.

I would have to go with Fed, won all his GS's in the time frame, dominated like no one else. And the pages of other records. Never happened before to such a great extent.
In one stretch he won 6/7 GS's.

Dude, 22, I repeat 22 years as #1. 165 titles, 32 majors. I get what you're saying about physical play, but still, to be the best for that long. These guys careers aren't even as long as she was #1. She was #1 from 1987 to 2009. How many #1's did tennis, or any other sport you want to pick, have in that time. Ivan Lendl was #1 when she first earned her #1.

[Talker]

Originally Posted by Andy G

Dude, 22, I repeat 22 years as #1. 165 titles, 32 majors. I get what you're saying about physical play, but still, to be the best for that long. These guys careers aren't even as long as she was #1. She was #1 from 1987 to 2009. How many #1's did tennis, or any other sport you want to pick, have in that time. Ivan Lendl was #1 when she first earned her #1.

It's amazing. Just think of all the drinks she could win in a redneck bar.

[Andy G]

Originally Posted by Talker

It's amazing. Just think of all the drinks she could win in a redneck bar.

She was #1 longer than you've been alive. Because by you're comment you must be about 17.

[matchmaker]

Any one saying Federer is delusional. He is quick for a tennis player, but nothing otherwordly.

He would be absolutely put to shame against other "real" athletes.

The athletes of the decade are Usain Bolt and Lance Armstrong, the former for explosivity, the latter for endurance.

[Talker]

Originally Posted by Andy G

She was #1 longer than you've been alive. Because by you're comment you must be about 17.

Thank you!!!

[Andy G]

Originally Posted by matchmaker

Any one saying Federer is delusional. He is quick for a tennis player, but nothing otherwordly.

He would be absolutely put to shame against other "real" athletes.

The athletes of the decade are Usain Bolt and Lance Armstrong, the former for explosivity, the latter for endurance.

How could you or anyone else here think Usain Bolt is Athlete of the Decade. Before the last Olympics, no one even knew who he was. He did awesome at one event (the olypics as a whole) at the end of the decade, and some how he qualifies for athlete of the entire decade??? No way, from 2000 to mid 2008 he was just another guy, July 2008 he's great, since then, nothing. What can he show for other than 1 months work. How good will he be at the next Olympics? He'll be the fastest at serving your fries with that burger.

[NamRanger]

Originally Posted by OddJack

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3297734


A month ago, during simpler times, Tiger Woods was presented with a tricky question: Who would he pick as the athlete of the decade?

Plenty of possible choices - Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds, Tom Brady, among them. Tiger, too. Told the list of candidates, and leaving himself out of the mix, Woods contemplated their merits for two holes during a pro-am in China before he finally found himself torn between Federer and Bonds.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/spo.../78689912.html

Well, since Tennis is tougher to play than Basketball or Baseball, I would go for Federer.

On what basis? Basketball is a physically more taxing sport, while Baseball requires just as much if not more eye hand coordination.

[OddJack]

AP Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBTGbOJcQdU

[Rippy]

Originally Posted by matchmaker

Any one saying Federer is delusional. He is quick for a tennis player, but nothing otherwordly.

He would be absolutely put to shame against other "real" athletes.

The athletes of the decade are Usain Bolt and Lance Armstrong, the former for explosivity, the latter for endurance.

To be honest, I would have just assumed "athlete" meant "sportsman".

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by NamRanger

On what basis? Basketball is a physically more taxing sport, while Baseball requires just as much if not more eye hand coordination.

You think it's physically more taxing because all you are comparing is playing tennis vs playing basketball for one day.

If you compare the whole season a tennis player is going through, the fact that they cant rely on any team player, the mental stress, the traveling, tennis's knock out system, the fact that there will be no substitutes, time outs etc. you will notice that tennis is a tougher game to stay fit at.

While basketball results in more injuries, the injuries resulted from tennis players is mostly caused by repeating movements that wear down joints, tendons and muscles. This is why the average retirement age for a NBL player is above 35, which is above the corresponding age for a tennis player.

[Andy G]

Why must a sport be physically taxing for a person to qualify for athlete of the year? Billiards may not be physical, but it certainly is extremely difficult. Anyone who can be world #1 for the entire decade should automatically qualify for athlete of the decade. Let alone #1 for 2 decades back to back.

http://www.allisonfisher.com/index.p...d=51&Itemid=73

[Quite Please]

Originally Posted by Andy G

How could you or anyone else here think Usain Bolt is Athlete of the Decade. Before the last Olympics, no one even knew who he was. He did awesome at one event (the olypics as a whole) at the end of the decade, and some how he qualifies for athlete of the entire decade??? No way, from 2000 to mid 2008 he was just another guy, July 2008 he's great, since then, nothing. What can he show for other than 1 months work. How good will he be at the next Olympics? He'll be the fastest at serving your fries with that burger.

Hahaha, well spoken. To be in consideration for best of athlete of the decade you have to have dominated your sport for a long time. We still need to see that from Bolt.

[killertubbie]

Originally Posted by OTMPut

Usain BOLT. End of discussion.

you're wrong man!! Federer IS THE athlete of the decades not anyone else...

[thalivest]

Originally Posted by Andy G

Way off. Best player is Allison Fisher. 22 years at #1. Thats not a misprint.

This link even has a comparo of Allison, Tiger, and Federer.

http://www.allisonfisher.com/index.p...d=51&Itemid=73

I watch some womens billiards from time to time. She is AMAZING. Even her look is intimidating to her opponents. She was amazing at snooker before that.

[nCode2010]

Snooker is not a sport.

[nCode2010]

Originally Posted by killertubbie

you're wrong man!! Federer IS THE athlete of the decades not anyone else...

Agreed. Federer is the greatest true athlete I've ever seen. Nobody has ever made it look so easy for so long as he has at a MAJOR sport.