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Just watching the snooker, Hendry is introduced as the best player ever which got me thinking about other greats, Rossi springs to mind... So what would be your choices...?
Living and/or still active in the sport?
Pele.
Giggs.
Jamie.
Those that you have followed... Giggs is a good call
Surfmat
Napalm, just....
Schumacker (sp?)
Snookerist + legend = 😕
boxing ones- ali, sugar ray l, jim watt, ken buchanan
music -bowie, jagger, tom waits
football -maradona, pele, messi
bikes- john mcguiness, carl fogarty
bicycles -repack rider from this manor
actors - jack nickleson
Lester Piggot
'Legend' to me should mean the subject should be dead. DaVinci, Einstein, Archimedes struggling to think of sporting legends.
Ali a true sporting great
Alex Zanardi.
Literally followed, Kiko Gambas. 😉
Big cricket fan so for me, Sir Ian Terence Botham
Whilst I love foggy, is he up there with Rossi..?
Lance Armstrong and Carl Lewis
Ian Botham, good shout...
Danny MacAskill
Small fry compared to the world renowned names above, but I've seen other boxers, footballers do some pretty cool things but I think WOW every time I watch the MacAskill videos and they genuinely blows my mind!
captainflashheart 😉
Graeme Obree. Mad genius,
APF
Jerry Rice (American Football Wide Receiver)
Lance Armstrong
Muhammad Ali
Diego Maradona
Johnny Tomac
Ned Overend
Steve Peat
Missy Giove
Eddie Merycx
Giacomo Agostini
Internet Big Hitter? Too many to mention.
One immediately springs to mind... Laird Hamilton. This guy invented big wave surfing.
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Metalheart it's spelt Eddy MERCKX!!!! And he's not just legend - a deity in this house
Good shout MrSparkle.
Both largely unknown to the masses, but incredible athletes. I've often wondered what either could have achieved if pointed towards more mainstream running / athletics.
giantonagiant - thanks. I had the pleasure of riding with Billy Bland whilst doing both the Lakeland Loop and the Fred Whitton one year. what a great fella. I have seen Joss a few times but have yet to speak to him at races.
Should add http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Hill to my little list, not just for his race acheivements but also for the following:
Hill has built a streak, in which he has not missed a day of running since December 1964, starting when he was becoming established as a world-class runner. Hill continues his streak, though he now defines a 'run' somewhat loosely; he has established baseline criteria of only one mile run, at any pace. Nevertheless, Hill's streak is a benchmark that other such streaks are usually compared against. In his streak, Hill includes workouts after a car crash in 1993 when he broke his sternum, and after bunion surgery, after which he used a crutch for one mile (1.6 km) in 27 minutes the next day.
Stephen Hendry changed the way his game was played - that puts him well into genuine legend status in his chosen game. It's beyond being exceptionally good or dominant.
Most people would say O'Sullivan is the most talented player to ever grace the green baize, but he's not, and cannot ever be, the legend Hendry is.
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A great man, a great father, a great teacher and a great coach.
That's what legends are made of.
Bruce Tulloh.
.
Michael Jordan
Michael Johnson
Ed Moses
John Mcenroe
Eric Cantona
Gabrisalaise (sp)
Jason McRoy
But what could these "legends" achieve with a pc and an internet connection?
petter solberg [img] 
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Zdenek Stybar [img] 
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Thinking about it a bit longer and more to the OP topic
Lance Armstrong (as long as he remains unproven to have been on anything)
Marvin Haggler
Senna
Cavendish
Michael Jordan
Gerry Rice
Serge Blanco
[i]Senna[/i]
Has he risen again then? 😉
Still havent seen anyone apart fro maybe Mercx who dominated his sport in such a manner or for as long as Lester Piggot. Those of you posting lists just show your low standards. Rode his first winner aged 12 in 1948 and last in 1994.
Football: Johann Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Pele.
Rugby: Martin Johnson, David Campese, Gareth Edwards.
Cricket: Viv Richards, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram (very sad to say unfortunately not the greatest fast bowler ever - Malcolm Marshall).
Boxing: Marvin Hagler, Muhammad Ali, Manny Pacquiao
MTB: Peaty (who else?)
Some definite non-legends have been mentioned, true. Jockeying is sort of unique, though - can't think of any other sport which has such longevity for the top men. Piggott rode at the top level for 40 years. Is there any other physical sport that you can do for so long at the elite level I wonder?anagallis_arvensis - MemberStill havent seen anyone apart fro maybe Mercx who dominated his sport in such a manner or for as long as Lester Piggot. Those of you posting lists just show your low standards.
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Tinsley ]Marion Tinsley[/url] was one of the most dominant players of any game (draughts) - lost 7 games in 50 years. I guess you're more likely to see these massive differentials in talent with the less popular sports / games.
Tony Alva
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King Fabu.Cavendish. Jack White. John Holmes.
did Redgrave need to win 6 to get a mention? 😯
Graham Noyce
Hakan Carlqvist
Geraint Jones
Martin Lampkin
anagallis_arvensis - MemberStill havent seen anyone apart fro maybe Mercx who dominated his sport in such a manner or for as long as Lester Piggot. Those of you posting lists just show your low standards.
Piggot as good as he was - only really dominated in the 60s
Gordon Richards - although now dead - was in another league altogether
Piggot as good as he was - only really dominated in the 60s
that i'm afraid is pure bollocks. Pretty sure he won the Derby four timrs in the 70's not to mention the triple cown on Nijinski. Ten days into his come back in about 1993 aged 56 he won the richest mile race in the world on Royal Academy in a breath taking bit of riding. No won else would have won on that horse that day go google it.
Anyone who mentions a cyclist without also mentioning Eddie Merckx can't know much about cycling. If Lance hadn't focussed so much on the TdF then he'd be up there but maybe he only did so well by being so focussed. So a Tdf legend anyway.
Cav is on his way, I smile when I remember the Cav threads back in 2007/8 when so many here slagged him off, so wish we could go back to those threads now.
Can't believe it took 30 posts for someone to say 'Michael Jordan'!!
The guy was a sheer force of nature!!
Ok so he was a 54 year old living legend like the man says
Ole Einar Bjørndalen. 1993 all 3 golds at junior worlds, 1996 first World Cup win, 2002 all 4 Olympic Golds, 2012 latest World Cup win. All in one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports. Not my fault if you've not heard of him.
Her he was schooling the Yanks in 1968 over twenty years before
Jack Vance
Andy Morrison
Malcolm Hebden
Senna???
Bez
headpotdog - MemberSenna???
Posted 2 minutes ago # Report-Post
Bruno? Interesting choice. 😀
I'd possibly put in Mark Spitz.
Redgrave for longevity under a ridiculous training regime.
Phil " the power " Taylor,
Shaun white.
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Redefined a sport...10x world champion
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Travis Rice
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Redefined our sport.
Wayne Gretzky
Ken Dryden
Vladislav Tretiak
Pele
Johan Cruyff
Greg LeMond
Jacques Villeneuve
Robbie Naish, windsurfing
Tomac MTB
Cav/Wig/Lance/Indurian and Robert Miller road
Bubba golf
Do you mean his dad Gilles?SaxonRider - MemberWayne Gretzky
Ken Dryden
Vladislav TretiakPele
Johan CruyffGreg LeMond
Jacques Villeneuve
Pete Sampras, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Floyd mayweather jr
Lots of obvious ones, several dead ones. No mention of Kelly Slater.
Apart from the rather nice picture of him doing a forehand snap oop there /\ ?
Jason McRoy
Living legends mate, not dead ones.
RIP.
****ing waste that was.
that i'm afraid is pure bollocks. Pretty sure he won the Derby four timrs in the 70's not to mention the triple cown on Nijinski. Ten days into his come back in about 1993 aged 56 he won the richest mile race in the world on Royal Academy in a breath taking bit of riding. No won else would have won on that horse that day go google it.
He did indeed win lots but take a look at the jockey champs over the years to see how much domination of the sport various jockeys had
Richards was the champion jockey for almost 30 years, Piggot did it for 7 or 8 years in a row
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_flat_racing_Champion_Jockey
I'm gonna chuck Sir Chris Hoy's name into the hat.
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Pigface - Geraint Jones? Cricketer?
What no female legends?
martina navratilova
Gunn-Rita Dhal
The Queen
Williams sisters
Paula Radcliffe
Thatcher (...let the flaming begin)
Billy Gene King
...let's have some positive female role models for all your daughters to be inspired by!
He did indeed win lots but take a look at the jockey champs over the years to see how much domination of the sport various jockeys had
Lester, being very big for a jockey, struggled to make the weights needed for the daily grind of tryingto championships. Thats why he concentrated on winning big races. He was champion jockey 11 times but holds the record for British Classic victories at 30. Gordon Richards didnt get even close to winning as many classics or big races and like you said is dead anyway.
Some rubbish here but John Holmes - LOL assuming its the John Holmes i am thinking of!
I learnt something about Spitz, in that he not only won 7 gold medals they were all in world record time 😯
Agree with Naish and Hamilton.
Skiing? How about Hermann Maier aka "The Herminator" Legend before he almost lost both legs in a car crash but he came back from horrendous injuries to be crowned World Champ.
Active: After Saturday night, definitely Floyd Mayweather.
Living but not active: Roberto Duran.
(boxing, in case you live in a cave)