Who are the best athletes?

[Goomoonryung]

 

[BigSwede]

Some of the cross country skiers are insanely great athletes too.

 

[Patrick_S]

There is this program called "Superstars" on Swedish tv where athletes from all sorts of sports compete against each other in different events (swimming, weight lifting, cycling, 200m and 800m running and a bunch of other events), and those that usually do the best in this program are athletes who are very explosive but also have pretty good stamina. André Myhrer (alpine skiing) won this year.

 

[zdenka]

What about Ping pong? Those balls are small and fast lol

 

[Patrick_S]

What about Ping pong? Those balls are small and fast lol

Funny you should say that. In Sweden we have an expression that translates to "table tennis lung", which means having no stamina whatsoever. Traditionally table tennis players are seen as athletes that only lives on natural talent and do very little training (other than standing at the table and hitting balls). I guess this have changed a lot in the last twenty years or so, but i don´t think they train anywhere near as much fitness as for example a tennis or badminton player.

 

[LukeEl]

Hockey and lacross have soem of the best athletes that I know of. And to quote Kenny Powers in regards to triathletes "I play real sports, not try to be the best at exercising".

 

[ace.venturer]

:edit: double post.

 

[ace.venturer]

There is this program called "Superstars" on Swedish tv where athletes from all sorts of sports compete against each other in different events (swimming, weight lifting, cycling, 200m and 800m running and a bunch of other events), and those that usually do the best in this program are athletes who are very explosive but also have pretty good stamina. André Myhrer (alpine skiing) won this year.

:goodpost:

That was one of my favourite shows when I was much younger. :clap:

I had a really good look at the results from Superstars in different countries and the winners come from a wide variety of sports. My conclusion is there is no sport that produces the best athletes. An F1 driver could be just as fit as a 400m sprinter. It's all in the mind, genes and their individual physical fitness/endurance level. :2 cents:

I'm like half Swede, damnit, I resent that comment.

To be honest (aside from from leggy and anders being lame asses), Carolina kicked the shit out of any "sista" anywhere.

:1orglaugh

No question Carolina Klüft was the best heptathlete of her generation.
But I'm sure Carolina would be the first to admit and respect the fact
that the greatest heptathlete of all time is the woman who has won the
most world titles and still holds the world record set at the Seoul
olympics in 1988 (miss Klüft was only 5 years old at the time) and her
name is Jackie Joyner Kersee. In case you're too young to remember Jackie,
she's an American and a "sista". :2 cents:

 

[wigster]

So many different sports require different things, with one skill being enough, it's hard to seperate them. For example, Gymnasts require amazing flexability, Long distant runners require great stamina, and so on. As far as general all round ability goes, i would probably say mixed martial arts, they require good stamina, flexability, strength, speed, and agility. But i'm sure there are many sports that people will say that i've overlooked.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Gymnasts. Then basketball players. The wide receiver, cornerback and runningback in American football are full of amazing athletes.

 

[Sam Fisher]

NASCAR drivers

 

[Sam Fisher]

Thread = fail. Oh well, I like sports. Gave it the ole college try.

LMFAO @ Scott... too fucking funny, man! However, props to you for shouldering the responsibility for a FAIL, even though it turned out to be a well received thread. Just struck me funny when I read the above post from you.
:rofl2:

 

[Smallville22]

Cycling, triathlon and decathlon for me are the tough ones.