Ken Gargett Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I came a little late to the discussion but at a dinner the other night, a bloke was talking about the world's most successful sportsman – which is, of course, different to the greatest sportsman. His choice was an interesting one. Someone that I would not have considered in the proverbial month of Sundays – Brad Thorn. But he made an interesting case. Leave aside all the junior teams and junior rep teams, and also all the personal and individual awards. He played for – Broncos winning the NRL Premiership, on three occasions, and also winning the Super League title. He played numerous times for Queensland at Origin, winning the title/series. He also played for Queensland in that Super League Interstate, winning that, I think. He played for Australia, winning pretty much everything – World Cup etc, I believe. He swapped to Rugby, winning the National Championship (whatever it was title then) with Canterbury on a couple of occasions. Played for the All Blacks (after first having the unheard of decency to knock them back because he didn't think he was ready and didn't believe he deserved the spot) winning the Bledisloe and the Tri Nations. He then swapped back to League with the Broncos. He won another NRL Premiership. He again played ffor Qld winning the Origin series. He then swapped back to Rugby with Canterbury Won a couple of Super Rugby titles with them. With the All Blacks, won more Bledisloe and Tri Nations series, and lots more. Eventually was in the team that won the last Rugby World Cup. Played in two Grand Slam winning teams Then went to England and won the Heineken Cup – first player ever to do that and most of these things. I'm sure there is stuff I have missed and I am sure others have candidates (remember that this is most successful, not greatest). But it is one hell of a career, and not over yet. He is apparently back to Super Rugby next year. And by all accounts, a genuinely decent bloke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordAnubis Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 There's a book by a bloke named Charles Davis (forget the name of it something along the lines of "Greatest of the greats" ... or something similar). They statiscially compared the efforts of a range of sportsman comapred to their colleagues and determiend their "z value". Just like Rob refers to the bell curve of cigar production, these sportsmen were compared to their colleagues to determine who is better and who is 'the norm". From memory it was either bradman of wayne gretzky (i think his name is) that was the best sportsman, statistically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guybrush Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 What about Roger Federer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overproof Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 What about Roger Federer ? What about Pat Cash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isotonic Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 This is easy. Phil Taylor hands down. No one in any sport comes close. 16 World Titles. Wiki him. Truly staggering. No one in any sport has won more or been as successful. No player has a winning record against him. Ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulF Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 What about Roger Federer ? +1 and Michael Shoemaker ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lant63 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Aleksandr Karelin International wrestler Undefeated for 13 years, unscored upon for 6. The end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzz Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Wilt Chamberlain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolio Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Dunno that Brad Thorn is the world's most successful sportsman Ken, but he sure is the worlds most indecisive sportsman! Pick a code Brad and stick to it son!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 this was not intended as a repeat of the greatest. it was just a discussion i heard at a dinner the other night. a mix of sports helps. brad thorn was an interesting choice - personally, he would never have occurred to me even though i have seen so much of him at both rugby and league. but great record. a lot of these people mentioned come from more minor sports, understandably (no disrespect but no idea who taylor is - rower?, let alone the wrestler). as for federer, great great player but there are plenty who argue he is not even the greatest tennis player, let alone greatest sportsman. without wanting to open that entire thread again - i'll give you heather mckay - women's squash (yes, also obscure). she won the british/world title (effectively the same thing) 16 times in a row and then when they changed to it to the "world title", she won another couple. she did lose a set in that last final - not bad after 18 years but it must have concerned her as she retired. she was undefeated for 20 years and i think she only lost two sets during that entire time. imagine if a tennis player had lost only two sets in 20 years!! she also played hockey, representing australia for five years - anyone representing their country in a sport for five years is not bad, especially when it is a second sport to fill in time during this period. after she quit squash, she took up raquetball. won the american amateur championship and then the professional championship a further three times. has been inducted in their hall of fame. leaves those others mentioned a bit behind. and yes, then there is bradman and lindrum but bradman was only one sport. i think that the discussion was partly covering multiple sports. she would be my choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Festa Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Oh my. Opening another can of worms here Ken? I feel that in order to be the greatest, you would, as a by-product of just being plain great, also be successful. In order to measure ultimate greatness, there has to be an absence of mediocrity. At the same time, to measure the 'most successful,' there would have to be an absence of failure. Now, I am quite sure, at some points in their careers, that all of these sports people had some failures. Whether is be at the beginning, during, or end (i.e. maybe pushing too far and not finishing on top) of their careers. But I feel the most successful sports person would have, by definition, the least amount of failures. Which will take a lot longer to measure and distinguish between each, sport, code, game etc etc Finally darts is a game, not a sport. An my vote still stands for Reinhold Messner. While there were a few failures. There were many more successes. And his opponent/competition is the planet Earth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 there was no definition - and i am not looking to provide one. each to their own. one point, i would not argue that darts is not a sport but will argue, as great as my admiration for him is, messner doesn't qualify. the bloke climbed mountains. how on earth is that a sport, especially as he does it solo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Festa Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 there was no definition - and i am not looking to provide one. each to their own.one point, i would not argue that darts is not a sport but will argue, as great as my admiration for him is, messner doesn't qualify. the bloke climbed mountains. how on earth is that a sport, especially as he does it solo? As you say, 'each to their own.' As was Reinhold! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isotonic Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Well Ken... if Archery & shooting are Olympic sports then darts (Phil Taylor) is definitely in the same realm. None of them require any physical prowess and all require balance, precision and timing. Having said that I actually agree with you that none of them are sports. But then again I don't consider anything without a ball as a sport. Haha. If I were in charge motor racing would be out. Gymnastics... please. Synchronised swimming... move on. All require huge amounts of physical ability but IMO none are sports. Sadly, having said that much of the world does so Phil Taylor ranks right near the top of the world's most successful sportsman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squali Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 If your talking about having successful Careers , there are to many athletes that qualify for the top honor . Being best and the most dominate , to me go along with success : I would have to nominate : Edwin Moses 400m hurdler : Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set the world record in his event four times. And 2 gold and 1 bronze medal in the Olympics . Michael Phelps - 18 Olympic medals ! That kind of speaks for it self ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfwild Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 Hard to go past David Foster, 6'4, 25 stone, greatest axeman of all times!!! David Foster is the first person in sporting history to have won 1000 championships. This was achieved at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1998 and widely reported by media both in Australia and overseas. David has represented Australia since 1980 and was captain of Australia for 21 years consecutively. At the 2003 Sydney Royal Easter Show, David announced his retirement as captain of the Australian team, however will hopefully be able to represent his country for many years to come. He has won the Australian Axeman of the Year a record breaking nine times in a row. In 1990 David was awarded Axeman of the Decade - the accolades just keep coming. There is not a major event in Australia and New Zealand that David hasn't competed in and won - when he competed against the Americans he took three world records from them. check out http://www.davidfoster.com.au/page/profile Not mainstream but pretty impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SigloVI Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 Rocky Marciano 49-0, 43 KO's Only heavyweight champ to go undefeated his entire career Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philprop Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 If you want to go by silverware, Scott Neidermayer is pretty decorated. He has won every major hockey trophy. I think he is the only one to have done so. He has won a Stanley cup, a World Cup of hockey, a world junior trophy, Olympic gold, world championship gold, memorial cup(?) plus whatever indiviudal awards he won over his carreer.Wherever he went he won. To me that's successful. He's an all time great but not a real household name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted August 9, 2013 Author Share Posted August 9, 2013 If you want to go by silverware, Scott Neidermayer is pretty decorated. He has won every major hockey trophy. I think he is the only one to have done so. He has won a Stanley cup, a World Cup of hockey, a world junior trophy, Olympic gold, world championship gold, memorial cup(?) plus whatever indiviudal awards he won over his carreer.Wherever he went he won. To me that's successful. He's an all time great but not a real household name. never heard of him, to be honest, but that is exactly the sort of thing i was talking about (sure he wasn't a character in 'animal house'?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philprop Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 Here is a pretty good article on him. For those of you who do not know who he is. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/hockey/vancouver-canucks/Scott+Niedermayer+best+player+biggest/8632199/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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