Greatest athlete since 1945

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Since ’tis the season, as it were… By the way, to be clear, I mean track and field. I suggest the date simply because nobody's seen Paavo Nurmi or Jesse Owens run, and the footage is extremely limited and of poor quality.

I'll keep my powder dry on this one for the time being. Curious to see what turns up. (And to see if my choice turns up, which I doubt, somehow).

 

[Vienna_70]

Daley Thompson - won two Olympic decathlon gold medals

Lasse Virén and Mo Farah - the only two men to have done the 5 000m and 10 000m Olympic double double.

Emil Záropek - won the 5 000m, 10 000m and marathon at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

Fanny Blankers-Koen - won four gold medals at London Olympics in 1948.

 

[Kinkybyname]

Michael Johnson

 

[crooky]

Without bringing other matters up...

Without a doubt it's the following for me.



Seeing him for the first time when he burst onto the scene was just incredible. To be that far ahead of the competition was just surreal in such a short event.

 

[Kinkybyname]

Without bringing other matters up...

Without a doubt it's the following for me.



Seeing him for the first time when he burst onto the scene was just incredible. To be that far ahead of the competition was just surreal in such a short event.

he's a rag, should have an asterisk*

 

[chesterbells]

Daley Thompson - won two Olympic decathlon gold medals

Lasse Virén and Mo Farah - the only two men to have done the 5 000m and 10 000m Olympic double double.

Emil Záropek - won the 5 000m, 10 000m and marathon at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

Fanny Blankers-Koen - won four gold medals at London Olympics in 1948.

Great suggestions there. For me, I’d take out Viren because I think we now know he was blood transfusing and he never really competed hardly outside the Olympics, and also Farah for similar (but not identical) reasons.

All the others I agree with and ultimately I’d come down to a toss up between Zatopek and Thompson.

 

[RadcliffeRick]

Alf Tupper. Close thread. Welder by day, track superstar at the weekend. Trained on fish and chips/

 

[mexico1970]

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Field event's Edwards and Duplantis.

Track Michael Johnson.

 

[RadcliffeRick]

So good they had to change the rules to stop his like competing in future events. A bit like the Premier League!!