Greatest athlete since 1945

BerkshireBlue said:
Poor form from the organisers. If they're the best in the country at that particular event then they should be allowed to represent the country no matter how crap they are. Where has the spirit of the games gone
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Has anybody else represented us in the ski jump at the Olympics.
 
RobMCFC said:
Seems a few people have missed the important criteria in the first post: track and field athletes - i.e. athletics.

I think most of the best have been mentioned but how about Ed Moses?

Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles in 76 and 84, and would have probably won in 80 but for the boycott. He was also unbeaten in 107 consecutive finals between 1977 and 1987.
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Ah, I see someone's twigged. I'm not even particularly a fan of his sport. Quite enjoy it, but no more than that.
But think about it for a second. You're competing against the best in your country, sometimes in the world, in meet after meet after meet. Now everybody has off days, for God's sake. Messi had off days. Bradman had off days (not many). Bolt had off days. Michael Jordan had off days. Everybody does.

To get up in the morning and do it over and over again, against the best in your sport, for ten years!!Not ten weeks. Not ten months. Ten years. 107 finals won (in 122 consecutive races). To simply refuse to be beaten over that length of time makes him, according to my criterion of what greatness is, the greatest track and field athlete ever. Obviously, as has been legitimately said, everybody's got their idea of what “greatness” consists in.
Oh and he got a couple of Olympic golds along the way, spaced out by eight years, just for good measure.

I've often thought about Moses's achievement, but can't get hold of it. It's beyond comprehension.

Edit: something worth adding. He has also been a pretty admirable human being, as far as I can make out, who's done quite a lot for athletics since he left the tracks. That, of course, was not part of the question.
 
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BerkshireBlue said:
Poor form from the organisers. If they're the best in the country at that particular event then they should be allowed to represent the country no matter how crap they are. Where has the spirit of the games gone
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I fully agree.

It’s completely against the Olympic spirit.
 
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