It’s a common fact, although some will deny it, that most people favor their own nation, or even continent, sometimes to the extreme. America for example, awards Oscar, Grammy and Emmy trophies to mainly Americans, yet they claim that these are international awards.
One would expect this to only apply in the entertainment industry, however this is also the case in the sporting world. For example, Football, which is, without a doubt, the most popular international sport, completely gets ignored by the US, due to America’s lack of achievements (this also applies to Rugby, Cricket, Formula 1 and many other international sports).
Football giants such as Diego Maradona, George Best, Zinedine Zidane, Michel Platini and Lev Yashin, might be famous worldwide, but they are widely unknown in the US. Likewise, American football is only known mainly in America (hence the name!), the vast majority of the players are American, yet they are known in the US, as “world champions.” The same could also be said for baseball, even when other nations beat the US, for example during the Olympics (Japan, Korea, and Cuba beat the US regularly), yet American national champions are still known as world champions… slightly ironic!
Of course, there are many American global greats such as Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Rocky Marciano, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Pete Sampras, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Larry Bird, Lance Armstrong, Oscar De La Hoya, Greg Louganis, just to name few, but one does wonder when he sees names (mainly in the American media) such as Tom Brady, Reggie Bush, Jerry Rice, Derek Jeter and many more, being labelled as “the best in the world” if that really is a valid title. How can you be the best in the entire world, when you are competing in a sport that is predominantly played by one nation?
Here is an unbiased list of 15 global and worldwide sporting legends that you won’t hear about in the US, even though they have all been true world champions.
Note – there are already many lists about all time great legends from soccer, rugby, cricket and F1, so for the purpose of this list, these sports have been excluded. Special thanks to Katie the “Ainglish,” without her help, this list wouldn’t be half as good.
A Soviet legend of athletics, who dominated the world of hammer throwing during the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike many hammer throwers, Sedykh threw off three turns rather than four. He felt three turns were sufficient, as he threw nearly the same distances with four turns in practice. He won gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as taking first place at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. He also won three gold medals at the European games.
He couldn’t defend his title at the Olympics of Los Angeles, in 1984, because the Soviet Union boycotted the American Olympic Games. He would have probably added another gold medal to his impressive collection, since he was by far the best in the world during the Olympics of 1984. He still holds the world record, which is the longest current world record from any event of the athletics for men, a world record which he set back in the summer of 1986. He broke the world record a total six times.
There’s no doubt that if this guy was an American, his name would be in every American fighting magazine and he would be as famous as “Iron” Mike Tyson was. Mike is a true living legend of kickboxing, who has delivered some of the most impressive knock-outs in the history of any combat sport, which is the reason why he got the nickname, “Iron Mike.” Zambidis is a professional Greek kick boxer and martial artist. He is a 15 time World Champion with an impressive record of 148 wins (85 KO victories) in 165 fights. He has won every world title there is, including W.O.K.A, W.I.P.U, W.K.B.F, K-1 World Max world titles, among others. He is considered by many analysts as one of the greatest pound for pound kick boxers who ever lived.
Regla Torres Herrera is for women’s volleyball what Soviet Aleksandr Savin or the American Karch Kiraly are for men’s volleyball, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time. Standing at 1.91m in her socks, Regla Torres Herrera was a towering presence on the volleyball court for the Cuban national team. One of the most dominant middle hitters and blockers ever, she guided her team to a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals between 1992 and 2000 as well as World Championship trophies in 1994 and 1998. During the 1992 Olympic Games she became the youngest ever gold medalist in volleyball, after helping Cuba defeat the Unified Team 3-1 as a 17 year-old. The International Volleyball Federation named Torres the best female player of the 20th century.
A dominant figure in the world of javelin, Zelezný had the right genes for javelin throwing and that showed from a really young age. After winning bronze at the World Championships in 1987 and silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he started dominating the sport from the early 1990s. Zelezný claimed Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and three World Championships titles in 1993, 1995 and 2001, setting five world records in the process, and was voted IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2000. He is the only athlete to throw more than 94 meters with the new type of javelin, something he achieved five times.
David Douillet is a retired French judoka and politician. He is considered the most decorated judoka in history and, at the Olympics of 2000 in Sydney, he became the heavyweight fighter with the most international titles. With six major international titles (2 Olympic titles, 4 world titles), he passed the Japanese Yasuhiro Yamashita (1 Olympic title, 4 world titles) who won his titles in the 1970s. He won a total 11 medals in the major competitions, 3 at the Olympics, 4 in the world championships and 4 in the European championships.
The biggest problem during his career was his multiple injuries which finally forced him to retire at the age of 31, after his victory in the Olympic tournament in Sydney. It’s possible that he could have won more titles, if he didn’t have to deal with so many injuries during his career.
Her name is synonymous with dominance and victory. She won 18 Olympic medals, more than any other competitor in any sport, and was responsible for establishing the Soviet Union as the dominant force in gymnastics. She also holds the record for most individual medals (14 outside of team events) in Olympic history. Few athletes have dominated a sport to the extent of gymnast Larissa. During that period, the graceful Soviet star displayed her class at three different Olympic Games. She’s the only female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals to this day, and it’s a safe bet to say that Larissa will be the female athlete with the most gold and total medals for a very long time.
Born on 17 December, 1938, in Opunake, New Zealand, Peter Snell is one of the best middle-distance runners of all time. He became the first man since 1920 to win gold medals at both the 800m and 1500m at the same Olympics. Four years earlier he had won his first gold, in the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics. At the absolute height of his career, Snell stunned New Zealand and the athletics world as he decided to quit and pursue other goals in life. When he ended his career, in 1965, as a 26-year-old man, Snell was a triple Olympic champion, a double gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games, and he had set multiple world records, most notably at the 800m and 1000m. Peter Snell, is a giant of athletics and a legend in New Zealand.
Kato is one of the most successful gymnasts ever at the Olympics, with his 8 gold medals and 12 overall. Also, he has won more Olympic gold medals than any other male gymnast and more Olympic gold medals than any Asian athlete in the history of any sport.
He is his country’s most decorated sportsman and a member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. As of 2011, Sawao Kato is one of only nine people ever in the history of the Olympic Games to have won at least eight Olympic gold medals, with legends such as Michael Phelps (14), Larisa Latynina (9), Carl Lewis (9), Mark Spitz (9), Paavo Nurmi (9), Birgit Fischer (8), Bjørn Dæhlie (8) and Jenny Thompson (8) being the other athletes of this elite group.
No matter what you say about the Welsh Dragon, it will never be enough. Joe is simply one of the greatest boxers of all time, and the greatest super middleweight boxer who ever lived. Joseph William Calzaghe, is a Welsh former professional boxer. He is the former WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, The Ring and British super middleweight champion, and The Ring light heavyweight champion. Calzaghe is the longest-reigning world champion in the last 30 years, having held the WBO super middleweight title for over eleven years, until he relinquished the title to concentrate on fighting at light heavyweight. He retired in February 2009, with an undefeated record, becoming one of the very few legends (with others being giants of the sport such as Rocky Marciano and Laszlo Papp) to retire as an undefeated world champion. He’s also one of the few boxers in history who won every major belt there is, including The Ring’s magazine belt in two different divisions. During his impressive career Joe Calzaghe did beat many other great boxers such as Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins in the US, in front of a hostile American crowd, undefeated champions at the moment like Jeff Lacy, in a must-watch fight, where Joe won all 12 rounds and gave Lacy a boxing lesson; he also won against an undefeated (at the moment) world champion Mikkel Kessler and Chris Eubank. Calzaghe retired as a champion with a perfect record of 46 wins (32 KO’s) and no losses. Most analysts agree that he belongs in the elite pantheon of the sport and he’s arguably the greatest British boxer of all time.
The Frenchman is the modern day “Napoleon” for France, and how couldn’t he be, with all the records and achievements that this man has set already; there’s no doubt that he definitely deserves to be in here. He has won the world championship a record eight times in a row and also holds several other WRC records. For one to realize how dominant Loeb is, and how he took the sport to another level, one would have only to check the numbers. The record for the most victories in the history of the sport was 26, held by another legend, Carlos Zainz, while the record for the most world championships won, was 4, held by Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen, but all this was before Loeb’s era. With a total 8 world championships, 67 victories, 808 stage wins, 103 podiums (first and only in history with over 100) and 1281 points, Sébastien could claim the title of the greatest driver-athlete of all time, from any auto and motor sport. The scariest part of all though is that he’s still active and hungry for more titles.
Pyrros is the greatest weightlifter of all time, according to the International Federation of Weightlifting, which gave him that honor back in 2005, and named him the world’s ambassador for the sport in 2011. Dimas did a lot to earn such honors during his career, of course; he won a record four medals at the Olympics and he became a six times World Champion. In terms of pound for pound strength, he has no equal. His Olympic runs have not been surpassed to this day. His legacy in his homeland of Greece, as well as worldwide, is undeniable. He won a total 16 medals in the major competitions, with 12 being gold; 3 consecutive gold at the Olympics of Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, 6 gold in the world championships and 3 gold in the European games. He used to break the world record regularly, a fact which forced the media to joke about his habit and hobby of breaking the world record so often.
At the Olympics of 2004, in his homeland Athens, he tried to become the first weightlifter in the history of the sport to win 4 gold medals in 4 different Olympic Games. Coming off his multiple injuries and three surgeries on his knees which had forced him to an early retirement for nearly 3 years, most analysts wouldn’t give him a slim chance to make it even in the finals of the tournament. Most saw his participation at the Olympics of Athens, as an honorary competition, as his last stand in front of his people and didn’t have any expectations from him to win a medal, or even to be competitive at his age, and with his injuries. But the Greek Lion, as they used to call him, had a different opinion and was going to shock the world one more time. With his wrist taped, Pyrros took the weightlifting platform and lifted among the best of a new generation of warriors. In the end it all came down to one last lift, one last feat of strength. Pyrros would attempt a weight that would put him in the gold medal position.
With the crowd in silence, Dimas heaved the weight from the ground to his chest and stood up with it. It was clear by the look on his face he was hurting. The weight was too much, and his confidence that was always there in other Olympic games was gone. Dimas attempted to push the weight from his chest to over his head but his battle-worn arms gave out and he dropped the weight. Dimas fell to his back in a half roll and laid there with his hands over his face. To many in the crowd it was like watching a god fall from grace. In his homeland Athens, Greece, the modern Heracles had finally lost. He was hurt, in pain and he would not make further history with another Gold medal; Dimas stood up, took off his weightlifting shoes and left them on the platform signaling he was done with weightlifting. He had left all he had there, just like another great Greek had done against the Romans thousands of years ago, Pyrrhus of Epirus, the man that Pyrros Dimas took his name from.
“I love the pole vault because it is a professor’s sport. One must not only run and jump, but one must think. Which pole to use, which height to jump, which strategy to use. I love it because the results are immediate and the strongest is the winner. Everyone knows it. In everyday life that is difficult to prove.” – Sergey Bubka
Serhiy Nazarovych is a retired Ukrainian pole vaulter. Repeatedly voted as the world’s best athlete, he represented the Soviet Union until its collapse, in 1991. Bubka won 6 gold medals in 6 consecutive IAAF World Championships, more than any athlete from any event, in the history of Athletics world championships, an Olympic gold, a European gold, 4 gold in the world Indoor championships and broke the world record for men’s pole vaulting 35 times (17 outdoor and 18 indoor records). He was the first to clear 6.0 meters and the only person to clear 6.10 meters (20 ft). He still holds the current outdoor world record of 6.14 meters (20 feet 13⁄4 inches), set on 31 July 1994 in Sestriere, Italy, and the current indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine. Bubka has received many international honors for his achievements and contributions to the world of sports, such as Prince of Asturias Award in Sports, in 1991, Sportsman of the Year for 1997 by the newspaper L’Équipe, UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2003, and in 2005 he received the Panathlon international Flambeau d’Or for his contribution to the development and promotion of sports. Bubka is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.
Here’s another case of an athlete who had the bad luck to be born in the wrong country, in the wrong time. Papp became the first man in history to win three successive gold medals at the Olympics of 1948, 1952 and 1956, something that only Felix Savon and Teofilo Stevenson succeeded after him; he also won gold in two European championships in Oslo and Milan. After three Olympic gold medals there was little left for Papp to achieve in the amateurs. He had gathered an unbelievable record of 306 official victories, only three losses and six draws. Papp was interested in fighting as a professional and, even though it was against the principles of the Communist society, the officials gave him their blessing as a contribution for all the success Papp had brought to his homeland. Papp was getting older and running out of time, but he still got his chance to fight for the European title in 1965, which he won by knocking out Danish champion Chris Christensen in eight rounds. Papp won the rematch faster than that, twice, and defended his title successfully for a total five times. A victory over Sugar Ray Robinson’s former challenger, Ralph “Tiger” Jones, proved that Papp was to be taken seriously in the pro level as well, even at his old age.
Papp already had a contract fighting for the world title in the United States, and he was willing to travel there, but the Hungarian officials prevented it. They announced that it was time for the 39 year-old Papp to end his career and to come back to his homeland and retire. The loyal man that Papp was, he did that and finished his professional career being undefeated in 29 fights, with 27 victories and two draws.
Papp was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, in 2001. In 1989, WBC President José Sulaimán, gave Papp an award for ‘Best amateur and professional boxer of all time’ and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council. Papp was known as a quiet, honest man who never bragged about himself but did his talking inside the ring. In there, his fists told a story that will never be forgotten from the minds of the boxing fans, at least the true boxing fans outside the US, where boxing is a sport and not a battlefield of financial, racial and political games of boxing promoters, boxing fans and media.
Probably he deserves the #1 spot of this list, but I was afraid that I would be accused of personal and national favoritism, considering my previous list of the 15 most influential Greeks. Even though he’s the absolute number 1 in my personal list of athletes, I will give him the second spot and just list the facts and numbers about the athlete Yannis Kouros, and you may be the judge.
According to the facts and record books (Guinness included) the legendary Greek ultra-marathon runner holds more world records than any athlete in the history of any popular sport with 134 world records. It’s recorded officially that he’s the man who has run the most hours, days, weeks, months, years and miles than any other man in the history of mankind. New York Times – among other international papers and magazines – covered the NY 6-day race back in 1984, where Kouros broke 16 World Records and left the whole world speechless.
He’s the athlete with the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records (31) from any sport, he has won 71 ultra marathons in every continent, more than anyone in history and he holds, to this day, all the world records in the following races: 1) 100 miles Road, 2) 100 km Track, 3) 1000 km Road, 4) 1000 miles Road, 5) 12h Road, 6) 12h Track, 7) 24h Road, 8) 24h Track, 9) 48h Road, 10) 48h Track, 11) 6 days Track and 12) 6 days Road.
Some selected titles or expressions that Y. Kouros has been called by the world Press: “Ultra-marathon God,” “King of the road,” “Emperor of Ultra-running,” “Golden Greek,” “Bionic Kouros,” “Miracle Man,” “Superhuman,” “Poet in Motion,” “Fearless,” “Incomparable,” “The Greatest,” “Greek Streak,” “Super Kouros,” “Relentless,” “Amazing Yiannis,” and “Speed Kouros.”
Kouros has also written over 1,000 poems, several of which appear in his book Symblegmata (Clusters) and the book The Six-Day Run of the Century.
Probably the most famous athlete in the US, from the 15 in the list, but I still feel like it’s not enough for an athlete of his status, the little respect and recognition he enjoys in the US, from the hardcore fans of wrestling mainly. Karelin holds a Ph.D. in Physical Education. Nicknamed the “Russian Bear,” “Alexander the Great,” and “The Experiment,” he went undefeated in international competition for 13 years (spanning from 1987 to 2000). After going so many years undefeated in international competition, and six years without giving up a point, thanks to his injuries and broken ribs only 5 months before the Olympics, he suffered an upset loss to Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Sydney Olympics. A healthy Karelin had earlier beaten Gardner easily, in 1997.
He is universally considered to be the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time and many agree that he might be the greatest athlete of all time from any combat or fighting sport. Karelin was over 6’5 tall (1,96cm) and weighed 130 kg (286 lb). During his incredible career he won 4 medals at the Olympics, gold at the Olympics of 1988, 1992, 1996 and a silver at his last Olympics of 2000; he also won 9 world titles in 9 participations and 12 European titles in 12 participations. His dominance on the highest level of competition is unmatched by any other athlete from any other combat sport. Karelin was famous for his reverse body lift, the “Karelin Lift,” where facing the opponent who was lying flat on the mat to keep from being thrown, Karelin hoisted his opponents into the air and slammed them violently to the mat. This devastatingly effective maneuver, when properly executed, awarded Karelin 5 points per throw, the maximum awarded in Greco-Roman wrestling. The throw had long been in use by lighter wrestlers but not by heavyweights since the technique required immense strength. Karelin’s ability to perform this throw against elite opponents weighing as much as 130 kg was amazing to audiences as well as other participants and observers of the sport. FILA (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) named Karelin as the greatest wrestler ever, as soon as Karelin retired from the sport back in 2000.
Great list. I love the sports ones
OMG what a boring list. Why do I even come here anymore?
We need more Amiercan athlestes lists. People only care about us Americans. All other continent athletes are lame.
typical American
Typical non-American who can’t sense an obvious tongue-in-cheek comment, so cries instead.
@Bootsinmyhats Well you can never be sure with Americans
greek guy, 1/3 of athletes Greek, almost all athletes from his central-eastern european region… 1 guy, from ALLLL of asia. interesting how little self awareness most people have… but yeah, you know those americans, the entire rest of the world knows that chisinau is the capital of moldova, and americans have only heard of washington right? everyone in the world knows for a fact that their own national pride is because they are the best but americans’ pride is arrogance. Maybe im being unfair in seeing the irony of having such an entitled, condescending attitude without self awareness as a part of human nature, maybe I should just see it as a Greek attribute, something about the people from that awful country thats been nothing but a culturally stagnant and boring tourist destination for the last 2000 years.
I can’t remember crying …. Jog on …
also I was born in new York pretty sure that makes me American
Lol he was joking when he said typical american you moron
What a first class troll you are.
trollzy
Where’s Manny Pacquiao?
Americans know who Pacman is a would think, hence why the potential fight would make so much money.
As a precursor, I am American and know many of the names on this list.
However, the reason most of these individuals aren’t known in America is because many of these are Olympic sports. Generally people watch the Olympics to support their own country and often do not pay much attention to the national heroes of other countries. The only well-watched sport of these athletes in America is boxing.
And in reality Americans know who all the great fighters are. Right now there are not a lot of great American boxers, hence the rise in status of individuals like Manny Pacquiao, the Klitschko Brothers, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, etc. If anything Americans are quite good at recognizing great boxing talent and thats why these guys are all well known. Not to mention other greats like Lennox Lewis, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, etc. were well known in their day.
As for Joe Calzaghe although he was a good boxer, he beat Roy Jones (39 at the time) and Bernard Hopkins (42 at the time) well past their prime. That is why the Italian Dragon is rated by boxrec as only the 11th best pound for pound British fighter of all-time. If you looked at world ranks he wouldnt even be in the top 100 because of the lack of quality opponents throughout his career.
As for Laszlo Papp. Of course no one can match his world best 3 Olympic Gold medals, most athletes turn pro and thus can not compete at more than one. However, he was restrained from turning pro by Communist Hungary. Although he may have been a great fighter his talents were never truly tested because of the restraints set on him by his Communist government.
You sound biased and selective, not to say a liar
You forget to add how Joe Calzaghe was 36 and 37 when he fought against a PRIME Hopkins (Hopkins himself claims that his prime was late 30′s and early 40′s, not me) and Roy Jones, plus the fact that both these fighters ducked a prime Joe Calzaghe, Steve Collins and Dariusz Michalczewski !
Hate to say it but you sound like an American, only they can be so selective and biased in their stories
Aetheras: You sound ver snobby, wimpy, and European, so you should shut up.
Aleksandr Karelin = Zangief
Hopkins was far from his best. All boxers still think they’re in their prime until their 40′s. It was stilla good Hopkins, but physically far from prime. Roy Jones was on the decline 5 years earlier than that fight and was arguably the greatest head to head fighter of all time in his prime (1990′s). Michalczewski and Collins wouldn’t have lasted the full 12 rounds. If you think other wise you’re crazy and obviously a small minority. And this has been discussed to death in boxing forums. Hopkins and Jones never ducked Calzaghe. Calzaghe refused to fight in the USA during the early 2000′s. Go figure. Do your research.
Great list. Not only would these supreme athletes be unfamiliar to most Americans, I believe they’d be virtually unknown outside their own country and their particular discipline. I’m that little bit smarter having read this list.
I agree. When i read through the list i had a few athletes in mind that could have been part of the list and all were from the country i live in.
Yes, These are not very popular sports in the world. I expected more Chinese or women, or people from the special Olympics.
Just the special Olympics? What about the Paralympics?
nice list
heard of some of these but the rest are new to me. The subject matter seems a little boring though after the last list. (only my humble uneducated opinion of course)
Nice job Instead of spending the first four paragraphs of the intro extolling the abilities and work ethics of the athletes on the list you spent it on bashing American and Americans. You did neither the athletes nor the sports they represent any favors with that.
That wasn’t meant as a favor anyone or any organization, that was for his own satisfaction, and I loved just reading it, I could only imagine how gratifying it was writing it.
that was for his own satisfaction
In other words, you acknowledge how pathetically misguided of a contribution it was?
and I loved just reading it, I could only imagine how gratifying it was writing it.
I bet you lit up a cigarette after reading it.
You are always very condescending
Only in response to the condescension of others. Why do they get a pass from you?
@Maggot :
Oh,my apologies then. I have nothing to do with aetheras and his hyper nationalist ramblings.
Come on, we all know the primary focus of people who comment on this site is to overcome their feelings of inferiority when considering their place in the world.
Hatred for the top is a common failing among humans. This gives a chance for people to feel empowered. let them have their fun. It’s kind of cute.
Where is K1 ? where is Pride ? Where is Dream ?
Boxing & kick boxing is old and boring you are not a elite fighter unless your in MMA . Because it’s the biggest test of skills out there if you are a fighter .
I thought WWF was the biggest test of skills
This is by far the most ludicrous comment on here and I say this as a huge MMA and fight sport fan.
You and all of the MMA fans that support this nonsense view require education regarding all round ability versus years of training in one discipline.
You are comparing apples and oranges; while I personally love MMA I am not so blind to understand that the rules and regimens in boxing or any other fighting style would not suit any MMA fighter in that environment.
As an example if you put even a heavyweight MMA fighter with boxing experience in a ring with even an outside the top 100 middleweight boxers and used the Marquis of Queensbury rules the MMA fighter would get his arse handed to him on a plate.
The reason for this is the vast superiority and understanding of the boxing disciplines by the boxer. It is only the lack of rules in MMA that make it look superior, it is these rules which make the other sports far superior and why MMA cannot compete with Boxing in terms of revenues or payments to the top fighters.
You have fallen in to the trap of comparing an all round sportsman to a dedicated sportsman; that is the whole reason why a top decathlete can never outperform someone who is dedicated to their own sport. You will never see a decathlete beat a dedicated 100m runner for exactly this reason, their bodies, training and mindset are conditioned for two completely different sporting events.
That is why an MMA fighter cannot compete in competition under rules and regulations as they do not train in this fashion and do not have the necessary skills to compete at the even a basic level let alone an amateur boxing level. Conversely this is also why a boxer cannot hope to compete in MMA as their conditioning, training and knowledge is lacking as they have concentrated their whole career on one discipline and are not all rounders.
MMA certainly has its place and I enjoy the fighting styles on offer but to say other fighting sports are boring shows your lack of understanding of fighting techniques and where all MMA has originated from. MMA fighters are usually not good enough in the own chosen fight discipline to compete at upper levels and therefore they diversify their fighting style to try and compete in MMA and remain in professional fights.
Your use of the word elite is misplaced as MMA fighters are usually not the elite but an aggregation of fighting styles because they did not possess the required skill to become elite in wrestling, boxing, judo, karate etc etc.
Never could have put it better.
Typical MMA fag:
“Hurr durr MMA da best sports in da whole wide world, can kill ever single other fighters in other fight sports!!! very violentz and bloodies full of action!!! BEST EVARRRR!!!”
Many fighters considered to be “elite” in a single discipline have found varied success in MMA,mainly after incorporating aspects from other disciplines to their arsenal. For instance,one would be hard pressed to argue against Dan Hendersons right to be described as an elite wrestler based on his credentials ( former Olympian) yet a certain degree of his success in the cage stems from his ,albeit one dimensional, striking. Similar things can be said of other accomplished wrestlers such as Mark Coleman,Josh Koshcheck, and most recently Johnny Hendricks.
There are a myriad of reasons one might choose to be an MMA fighter over concentrating on a single discipline; one even being the one you’ve already listed in your last paragraph,though assuming your reason is the norm seems myopic and presumptuous on your part. Being the burgeoning sport that it is,there are considerable financial incentives in reaching the upper echelons of MMA as opposed to,say,judo rivaled only by boxing. Boxing suffers from the over saturation of aspiring fighters so you can see why some would take to MMA.
Your hypothetical scenario regarding an MMA heavyweight fighting a boxing middleweight under Queensbury rules,whilst grossly hyperbolic in its assessment of the heavyweight’s chances, is kind of the reason why MMA exists.
You are correct in pointing out the advantage of a dedicated sprinter over a decathlete but in respect to the spirit of the initial argument, it seems like a false *****ogy. A decathlete and a sprinter are both runners; to judge their performance against on another is fairly easy. Whilst a boxer and a Muay Thai practitioner are both fighters,the only objective method to judge their performance against each other is an MMA bout. I assume that you had grappling in mind when crafting your argument but in MMA the distinctions are more complex than just grappler/striker.
Claiming that single disciplined fights are boring is boorish and shows a lack of understanding of fighting in general;in this we agree, but to contend that MMA is some place of banishment for sub-par, single disciplined seems just as misinformed a position to hold as any.
I agree. I am also an MMA fan, as well as a fan of boxing, and Thai kick boxing. I am from the U.S., and get exhausted by this old argument among mostly fans that do not understand elite athleticism and the focused training each sport requires. Your argument was well written and solid. While I enjoy the spectacle that is MMA, there is simply no comparison to any other sport. And while it is significantly challlenging, requireing solid training dedication including nutrition regimens and long hours of repetitive exertion, sparring, and instruction, it isn’t the focused training of a boxer or a javelin thrower for that matter.
Hmm. I’m an American and also very sports-naive, but quite a few of these names ARE familiar to me. Perhaps some have been featured on LV before. I think Sergey Bubka has definitely. Cool list anyhow.
I would add Jehangir Khan (Pakistan) there.He is considered the greatest ever player of squas winning the World Open 6 times and the British Open 10 times.
i agree with you on jehangir khan. We have also produced some exceptional cricketers and hockey players. Most of the athletes on the list are from contact sports though.
I sensed a great bit of passive aggressive US bashing! Other than that the list was pretty interesting. I enjoy the long lists with detailed info, makes for a good read. I did google a few of the athletes (being from America, I must admit they are relatively unknown) but was underwhelmed at many of their performances. I guess the greatness of these athletes are ranked solely on the team championship titles or the number of Olympic medals. I was specifically disappointed when I watched the gymnastic routines for Larissa Latynina but I guess gymnastics in the 60s was worlds apart from the ridiculous acrobats of our generations. Also, a lot of these entries are athletes of the past which makes it hard for me to believe they are in fact known around the world! But what do I know?! Im only American lol I just know what the media wants me to know! Spider Pig
I sense a bit of passive agressiveness towards the author’s passive agressive opening paragraph…You folks from the US are sure easy to upset when the rest of the world speaks up on your generally known ignorance.
“Generally known ignorance.” And this is based on what?
I always love people who ironically call all Americans ignorant not realizing that that assumption in itself is completely ignorant.
Yes, I’m sure you LOVE people who do that. If you want to see what the rest of the world thinks of Americans visit popular satire sites like 9gag…
That’s the beauty of being American. We don’t care as much about the rest of the world as the rest of the world apparently cares about America. Imagine an American setting up a site to bash other countries. Most of us would look at it and say “meh, sorry, too busy being American to worry about those other guys”
It’s good to be the king
Look, I am just relieved that a greek guy wrote this list and only about a third of the greatest athletes that Americans are too self absorbed to notice were greek, and 1 was even non-European. I mean, could you imagine if an American had written this list, where would be the anti-american *****ing, or the laughable lack of self awareness where he is doing the things he says americans do, but thinks he avoids it by saying he doesnt wanna be grabbed for bias. Why isnt this list just athletes without international recognition that people probably havent have heard of unless your from Greece.
I am Canadian, and I have never heard of any of these athletes. Fudge, if I was from any other country I wouldn’t know them either because I don’t pay attention to sports.
Sebastian Loeb in no way compares to the other athletes. Driving a car well cannot compare to power lifting, gymnastics, etc.
Even ping pong requires more athletic ability than driving a car
try driving a car at the speeds does guys do.
You need quick reflexes, being in top shape.
It’s a tough sport, even if it’s more mental than physical
Do you know how physically and mentally exhausting driving a rally car on zig-zaggy dirt roads actually is? Not to mention the life-threatening danger.
But I do get what you mean.
Try kart-racing for 15 minuts and see if it isn’t physical. I could barely lift a bottle of water after my first time.
public enema, are you serious? Motor racing involves being at your peak, both mental and physical. F1 drivers are ultra athletes, just because you dont see them sweat, doesnt mean they aren’t sweating. The dehydration they endure alone would be enough to render most of us unconscious. It is well known that these guys can train for 6 hours a day…
Are you telling me that weightlifting is as challenging as gymnastics? Maybe when you think of motor sports, the only images you can conjur up are either drag-racing or monster truck drivers (either of which dont require a level of fitness to compete).
I recall reading somewhere that two hours race car driving will cause a driver to sweat more than a tennis player during two hours of tennis. Can’t name the source tho -fart .
P.S. Why the country bashing? Everyone already knows that America is the prom king of the world.
Ah my little enema, what a ***** you are. If you at least care to research a little you wouldn’t make such an ass of yourself. Prior to rallying, Loeb used to be one of France best young gymnasts. I’d really like to see if you have the reflexes, motor-skills, eye-hand coordination, strength in your arms, neck and upper body and stamina to withstand a 30+ stage of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embed…
..that is a 30+ miles, sorry
this list is too non american.
Thats why its a good list
I would like to add Sachin Tendulkar (India) and Don Bradman (Australia) in the list who are the giants of the game cricket. I am sure not many Americans have heard of them.
About #13, apparently, “Regla” is the tagalog word for Mentruation.)
and you really need to tell it. Nice name u got there.
It means rule in spanish, but that’s often used as menstrual period, with context. At least I’m not the only one who went “WTF, her name is Regla?”
Two words: DONALD BRADMAN.
YES! Go aussies!
See, I also thought that, but in the intro it says that cricket (as well as a few other sports) aren’t included because other lists have covered it. That being said, it is a gross oversight to have a list on great international sporting heroes and exclude Bradman – what a champ! Or even Tendulkar or Lara in the modern era.
Forget Bradman. This site is anti-cricket and will never publish any cricket related lists even though it’s the second most popular sport in the world after football.
I must be almost American…
I only knew Sébastien Loeb. I think there is potential for many follow up lists to this because of sports like Cricket, Rugby Australian Rules Football, Soccer and many others.
I won’t suggest athletes because I can’t be sure who people are and aren’t aware of.
No, it doesn’t make you like an American, most people only know their athletes, or those of a sport they’re interested in.
I only knew the two Frenchmen, and vaguely heard about the powerlifting Greek and hammer throwing Soviet, but I couldn’t have named them.
@Metalwrath Yeah, that’s sort of what I was implying with the ‘…’ I know it’s not about being American or not.
erm…you’ve included Aussie Rules in a list of sports…
And what, AFL isn’t a sport? Do you have any idea how tough and physical demanding aussie rules is?
Aussie rules is definitely a sport…love it myself, but not really an international sport, otherwise you gotta include hurling or GAA cos those are definitely sports and have some fantastic (albeit amateur sportsmen). btw, Christy Ring ftw
OK. I’m American. We deserve this because we think we’re the center of the universe. The title made me laugh. I’ve never heard of any of these athletes but I then I don’t follow sports.
Sergei Bubka? That’s a cool name.
Cant believe Don Bradman isnt on the list!
Mike Zambidis doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near this list, absolutely embarrassing stuff. Masato, Buakaw, Andy Souwer, Petrosyan are all much better options. Ernesto, Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Sem Schilt have had more success at higher levels then Mike. Joe Calzaghe and Alexander Karelin are both fairly common names to any sports fan in America, this list is ***** actually.
Exactly what I was going to say. Hoost, Aerts and Schilt are living legends in the K1/Kickboxing world. In Japan, a country notoriously averse to foreign athletes, they are treated like gods. Zambidis doesn’t hold a candle to them.
im not completely sure what you two guys are implying. So, as a layman in the field of kickboxing, here are the stats that i obtained:
Ernesto Hoost 97 Wins (62 (T)KO’s, 35 decisions), 21 Losses, 1 Draw
Peter Aerts 103 Wins (78 (T)KO’s, 25 decisions), 28 Losses, 1 Draw
Remy Bonjasky 75 Wins (40 (T) KO’s, 35 decisions), 14 Losses
Semmy Schilt 37 Wins (17 (T)KO’s, 19 Decisions), 6 Losses, 1 Draw
Mike Zambidis 148 Wins (85 (T)KOs), 20 Losses
it seems that Mike has the better stats, maybe the lister awarded the spot to Mike on outright number of wins, or percentage win/loss.
THANK YOU MICK!
YOU SCHOOLED THOSE TWO ANTI-GREEKS BIG TIME HAHAHA!
All those guys are multiple time world champions, Ernesto in three different martial arts!! Mike is a great and exciting fighter but stats don’t mean anything man and Mike NEVER won the K1 max, he won a qualifying tournament but those are not world championships. Jerome Le Banner, Bjorne Bregy, Jorgen Kruth, Freddy Kemayo have ALL won qualifying tournaments but to confuse those with a K1 title you would literally have to know nothing about kickboxing. If this guy wanted to showcase a fighter because of fight record then RAMON DEKKERS would have made more sense, more wins, more KOs, better fighter. Somebody on here please try to denigrate Ramon’s record, lol. This guy is obviously biased and it is mighty annoying.
thank you antonious, for a wonderfully refreshing lucid comment !!
i think the author may have done some research but not enough. as i stated in my previous comment, i dont know enough about kickboxing, but i did know Zambidis. Dekkers has a remarkable record.
this choice would be difficult to make, if say, it was a boxing category. you could go through all the stats, then you would have to pick the guy that wouldn’t be recognised by Americans. Difficult. either way, thanks for you suggestions!! cheers
records mean nothing if you are fighting bums
that is like thinking your high school basketball team is the best in the world because they went undefeated
Don’ t believe anything this author has to say, Mike Zambidis not only never won the K1 max, he never made the final.
Your bias against Mike Zambidis is quite obvious!
Masato himself admits that he lost both his fights against Zambidis but they awarded him the split decision victory both times only because the fights took place in Japan. Masato said that he would lose a wide UD everywhere in the world to Mike!
Andy Souwer and Buakaw have both lost in their homeland against Zambidis as well.
And the author doesn’t like, Zambidis won in 2002 the K-1 World Max Oceania Championship, make a better research next time!
And you see the HUGE difference between Zambidis and the kikcboxers you are mentioning is that Zambidis fills stadiums and is a huge attraction not only in his homeland Greece, but also in Australia, Netherlands, Japan, Turkey and Russia, that’s why he’s invited to fight in all the big events there.
Masato fought once outside Japan and did not even attract 2,000 fans.
Learn your facts man and stop lying. Zambidis is BY FACT one of the most loved and embrced kickboxer globally thanks to his impressive style and knock out power.
Masato, Bonjasky and Petrosyan are great but BORING and that’s why they are so unpopular even inside the world of Kickboxing.
No, he is not. When looking at lists of the best kickboxers, the same names turn up every time. Zambidis isn’t one of them.
And while Zambidis may be popular in other countries, he by far isn’t as popular as fighters like Hoost and Aerts.
Pretty sure it was actually Souwer and Buakaw that came out the victors in their matches with Mike and only one of Masato’s victories was a split;the other being a UD. In the split, Mike had a decent showing with his boxing but was knocked down with a flying knee and positively mauled in the clinch whilst being rag dolled about the ring.
Mike has a killer left hook and effective overhand right but is still somewhat one dimensional…Oh,nevermind, you called Remy boring. Eh,meta apo auto ti na sou pw kai gw o kaimenos;
and clearly you have something to say against the Greek athletes? I sense that YOU don’t know what you are talking about. Zambidis is one of the top kickboxers and that is a FACT. Facts don’t change you know. By the way, great list Theodore…
He didn’t say all greek atheletes. He said Zambidis. Sporting hero? Really?
It’s not a great list. It constantly bashes another country and then uses that same country when it needs to support it’s own “heroes”. This boxer is one of the best, he beat one of Robinsons opponents! A boxer who was held down by his own country, or so his list says. Then ends that with a dig at who? The USA. No, not a great list by any means. And yes I’m american. For the record I’m against being in any of your countries. So what.
i think it would be better if the contributor placed the sport where the athlete excelled in below the names. for #6 for example, i didn’t know he was a driver up until i read the description. great list anyway. keep it up! ^_^
Is it wrong to be slightly aroused by pic 13?
Wanna know why people from the U.S don’t know them is because they haven’t done anything that great and EPIC. All the greatest athletes from around the world are in America, so why care about others who haven’t done much. And max zambids never won K1! Every athletes wants to come to America and a name them selfs here.
To be honest, I found the list a little unfair to Americans and a little insulting. I live in America and have read about more than half of these people. Maybe title your list as “15 sporting heroes unfamiliar to most people”.
Yes please. Change the title but also put in below.
“most people” = “Americans”
as opposed to “too many people” = “ignorant pindejos like you”
You said it. Agree with your observation 100%. (from a Canadian sports fan)
Zambidis won in 2002 the K-1 World Max Oceania Championship.
Ness, sure Leonel Messi is in the US, hahahahahahahahahaha
Football aka soccer to you is the most epic sport in the world by fact and soccer’s 99% greats have never step foot in the US!
I agree that your comment was EPIC FAIL HAHAHAHAHA
I’m sure every dumb ass soccer player will love to play in the US because we only remember the ones who played in the US. ***** YOU
Trolling much? I can bet the world does not know and cant name american athletes, unless they are constantly mentioned in films, like Babe Ruth, but even then, the only american athletes I know are from american football, a sport only really taken seriously in the USA.
Good on you for this post!!! But where was Don Bradman????????
Did you read the note the author made?
“Note – there are already many lists about all time great legends from soccer, rugby, cricket and F1, so for the purpose of this list, these sports have been excluded.”
What about naim “pocket Hercules” suleymanoglu. Won 3 gold medals in 3 successive Olympic games. One of the few people ever to lift 3 times his body weight. He should be on here as he was one of the greatest weight lifter of all time. & he was about 4″5.
what about the great JAHANGIR KHAN from Pakistan who had the run of 555 games consecutively, the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sports as recorded by Guinness World Records. his wins included World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years.
Only summer sports..
True, we should make one about 15 legends of the winter sports.
Maybe you should
Greeks and their silly nationalism. It’s even more pathetic than American nationalism, because Americans at least have effected something. Greeks just yell how great they are and not much else.
The jealous Fyromian man is back hahahahha
I’m not Macedonian, you idiot. I’m just thoroughly irritated by Greek nationalism, and all the falsehoods it brings. Face it: Greeks haven’t done anything of importance for the last 2000 years, so a little modesty wouldn’t be that bad.
Greeks haven’t done nothing in 2000 years? hahahahahahahahaha
Are you aware of the Byzantine Empire which was culturally Greek dominated for 800 years and 70% of its emperors were Greek?
The Balkan wars? WW2 where Greece smashed Italians? 1821 war of Independence against Ottoman empire? 2004 Olympics? 2004 Euro? The 143 medals in the modern Olympics from a tiny nation of 11 million? The world’s best merchant navy? One of the top 10 countries globally in tourism?
Have you ever heard Greeks such as Basil II, El Greco, Constantin Carathéodory, Odysseas Elytis, Manos Hadjidakis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Theodoros Kolokotronis, Melina Mercouri, Aristotle Onassis, Georgios Papanikolaou (inventor “Pap smear”), Giorgos Seferis, Mikis Theodorakis, Eleftherios Venizelos, Maria Callas, Elia Kazan and Sotirios Voulgaris ( founder of BVLGARI)
All i mentioned took place in the last 2,000 years………………not bad for a tiny lil nation like Greece, if you think that 10 times bigger nations like Turkey have not produced 1% of the greatness of little Greece
hehehehe
Get serious man, Greece is GREAT !
Also souvlakis are totally the best.
I agree with aetheras, but I don’t know about “best merchant navy” but if that’s true it’s hardly a feat, since Greece is perfectly situated practically in the crossroads of the Mediterranean, and has so many islands, so it should have a good merchant navy.
But what’s funny is that no one spoke of Greek nationalism before Armin complained about it. I guess someone has something up his ass. I wonder where he’s from.
What has the Byzantine Empire really done, after the Greeks took the power? The last major thing was the reconquest of the Roman Empire, by the Roman Justinian I.
Yeah, those wars were real triumphs. I mean, even the Ethiopians pretty much defeated the Italians, you would’ve lost your war of independence were it not for foreign intervention, and during the Balkan Wars you didn’t even dare attacking by yourself.
Also, Turkey was, like, ruler of the Western world for a good 500 years. The only reason you dare say they haven’t produced 1% of the greatness of Greece is because you hate them. Probably because you can’t stand someone having more unwarranted self-importance than you.
Sorry I have to be the one to say it, but Greece isn’t that great.
“Greece is Great”. Atheras, you to-the-10th bigoted, ignorant, xenophobic imbecile, I just had to come back and share a comment from todays news. Now hold on, you’ll like this: “Greece plays the highest stakes poker game in the world. And they’re holding 2 -7 offsuit.” Hahahaha Did the writer know you? I suspect so. Greeks = Pathetic
Armin, as you see you are known for the antiGreek spirit you have, so every word you say is anti greek if you seeking for it or not. But as you are so dynamic in your anti greek statements you must accept that some people love their country and know their history and the facts. As aetheras explained in much more polite manor that i should have, Greece was always have been producing arts, science and culture even you like it or not. And by the way, are you Armenian maybe, because the name seems to be so. Well, get over it the Greeks will be always patriotic and we have reasons to be that…
Yup, I understand people are proud of their country. I am too. Probably everyone is, in some sense.
The reason I have become so anti-Greek, is not because Greeks are patriotic. It is because Greeks are patriotic based on false claims. I can’t count the times I’ve heard Greeks claim Alexander is Greek, or Columbus, or Napoleon, or that the modern-day Greek language is the same as the ancient Greek language.
Just face it: you’ve had some good moments, like 2000 years ago. After that, you haven’t really done anything of note, besides being royally ra.ped in the as.s by the Ottoman Turks.
So, you are not Armenian you are a Turk. An Ottoman. You are attacking verbaly someone you hasn’t attacked you. Typical. So, Alexander wasn’t a Greek eh? I see. Maybe you like to rewrite history Armin, but as long Greeks exist they will continue to produce all the things that already mentioned me and aetheras. Don’t try to be erratic. I will not follow. Maybe Alexander was a slav? Hmm. Nice theory. Wrong list. Painful assumption.
No, I’m not a Turk either. And Alexander was Macedonian, which is neither Slav nor Greek.
But, as I’ve noticed time and time again, using logic against a Greek when it comes to his patriotism, is like using a pillow to beat an elephant to death. It’s useless, because nothing will penetrate its thick skull.
So good luck with your bankrupt country full of frauds, lazy people and terrorists. Too bad you can’t pay the bills with your inflated sense of entitlement and self-worth.
Like i said this is a sport list and if you think that Kouros and Dimas do not deserve to be in here let us know!
Zambidis maybe shouldn’t be in here, but so what?
Like i said 1821, the two Balkan wars that Greece smashed Turkey and Ottoman empire happened in the last 200 years, why you keep excluding them from your claims?
Fact is one, Greeks today are still Caucasians (white) like their acnestors………….now millions of Turks, especially the ones in Smyrna and Constantinople, look white, some with blue and green eyes and I wonder to myself, why these Turks don’t look their Mongoloid ancestors? Who really ra.pe.d who?
I bet you have heard all these stories of Turkish women (like Roman did too before) had steamy ***** with *****y Greeks because they wanted white babies from Greek men and not Mongoloid ones from the Turks huh?
A slave Greek man had to do many willings for Ottoman ladies you know, that’s why so many modern Turks look white……………….FACT
ok, i don’t care where you come from. You are still antisocial with your remarks which shows the man you are. If you are a man indeed. Macedonia is Greek Armin. Was and is. Accept that. Macedonia as a place that is devided in Greece (and contains Pella in which Alexander was born), and north Macedonia that you are propably referring to. Ex slavic region that was part of Yugoslavia (slavia i repeat) and after the breaking of that became Skopja. A statue and a replication of the flag of Alexander doesn’t make anyone Fyromian (as aetheras said earlier). Alexander was Greek, as the Macedonia is Greek. Fyrom is not Greek so, Alexander was not Greek. Facts, history and simple logic. Don’t forget that Greeks stood against all enemies that they faced AND in recent history. And thanks to our thick skulls we defeated Italy, and we were the first country that stood against Germany, in times that England wasn’t, France had it, Poland too. Name it. So, let Greeks be lazy (most hard working people in Europe officially), terrorize (we have never been such, oh wait maybe we should take on a chance on that one). You see Armin, we never attacked on another country as Turkey did in Cyprus, we were always defending the country that Alexander was born in. Nobody told you to come here and attack the list, because contained a Greek name or two. You have the problem. You are the cause. Not me or other Greek, American, French or Fyromian.So, keep going Armin. Say whatever you want. Facts are facts. Distortion of the truth, lying and bullying will only make me laugh man. And verbally attacking also.
Know what else is kind of like trying to beat an elephant to death with a pillow? Arguing on a comment board about which country is better. Or arguing hardcore on a comment board in general. Which you do. On every single list.
Saying that Greek nationalism is bad and then following it up with “The Greeks haven’t done anything useful in the past 2000 years” is no better than the Greek nationalism you so desperately loathe. If you’re honestly going to just put all Greeks in one group and say that they’ve all been relatively useless, then you are a prime example of the reason why people are overly-proud of their nations in the first place. You are egging them on, and by insulting all Greeks you are absolutely BEGGING people to stand up and show their pride for their country. Just get over it; I don’t see why the country that invented democracy is such a big deal to you. (Note: I’m not Greek).
Sure they have, they had Olympic Games and then they lied to the European Union to get accepted only to really contribute to messing up world economy and make all the Greeks of the near future born in debt. Awesome food, though.
They also contribute by screwing your women, who visit Greece every summer only so they can get pregnant with Greek babies and then they lie to y’all that these are your babies
Phil ‘the Power’ Taylor should be on this list… 15 times world darts champion. Best player in the history of the game. Legend. (before you snigger at darts, youtube it to see his best bits and see why it is a sport).
Wasn’t expecting Taylor to get a mention in the comments! Best English sportsman of the past 20 years.
I am American and Love Phil Taylor.
It’s wonderful when people break out of their own little worlds and learn about other countries, cultures and aspects. I’ve heard of several of these athletes…and it’s because I no longer focus just on my own country. People everywhere (not just in the US) need to learn about the world around them. So while I like the idea of this list and the topic itself can be used on multiple subjects, the title is off-putting.
Nice list.
Crappy title.
A list based on snide remarks towards any nation is besotted. Chances are that if you live in the free world, you should thank the wisdom of your leaders as to whether the USA is a righteous ally or not, and also thank them for the principled application of a universal declaration of human rights, one that the U.S. pays dearly for in the blood of its young as well as it’s treasury and protects even the likes of you. Incidentally, I am aware that America and Americans do not do that single handedly, but we pay more per capita than any country in the world vis-a-vis the World Bank, the IMF, the United Nations, and NATO. Do you have a better solution? Oops, yea, I forgot, you all are bankrupt.
So iis your list. It doesn’t tell us a thing about America’s attitudes towards these athletes and only expresses your ignorant anti-American prejudice. Example: It was the American based Intl’ Boxing Hall Of Fame that inducted Lazlo Papp, assuring his place in the history of the sport. It was American promoters that scrambled to get him a shot at the title and HIS OWN COMMUNIST COUNTRY that prevented it. Many American boxing fans know his name to this day and any fan that visits the Hall of Fame will see the exhibit about his accomplishments. I suspect that in particular, the large number of Hungarian immigrants that managed to get to America after the attempted revolt would have been particularly proud of him. We welcomed 200,000 Hungarian immigrants to our shores after the Hungarian uprising in 1956. That was just one of several sharp increases in Hungarian immigration during a long history of steady arrivals to the U.S. from that country and one of those families were very close frined on my family. Of coure, none of this is important to you. You seem to think it is far more important a distinction that the average American does not know what a “leg by” is.
You are right about Aleksandr Karelin’s popularity in the USA. What credible rationale do you use to support your comment that “but I still feel like it’s not enough for an athlete of his status, the little respect and recognition he enjoys in the US, from the hardcore fans of wrestling mainly.” Are you even aware of the status and history of wrestling in the USA? Prior to 1968 wrestling in the U.S. (other than the wholly rediculous “prefessional wrestling” that is an exhibition and not a sport) was largely a collegiate and high school sport derived from American folk wrestling and called “free style”. Through collaboration with international sports interests the U.S. Wrestling Federation (USWF) was created and came under the auspices of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA). I am proud that it is headquartered at my Alma Mater. A huge program was undertaken to organize collgiate athletes and high school athletes into new regimes of training to prepare them for International competition including the many forms of wrestling (in particular Greco-Roman) which FILA comprised into common rules, regulations, and standards. Do you really think Americans were ignorant of Karelin aganst this backdrop of newly energized interest? Do you have any idea of the level of wrestling prowess that has existed in the USA since then, or the primary freshet of talent feeding into new forms of combat sports such as MMA, that American wrestlers are today? Any idea how many American Olympic medalists in wrestling there have been? Seventy (70). How many from Russia (including the pre 1988 U.S.S.R.)? Sixty-one (61). Hmmm.. how about Greece, the cradle of the Olympiad and the Greco-Roman style of wrestling? Four (4).
Lets talk about your personal favorite; Yiannis Kouros. You wrote that the “New York Times – among other international papers and magazines – covered the NY 6-day race back in 1984, where Kouros broke 16 World Records and left the whole world speechless.” I know that well. Want to know why? Because I was there to cheer on my brother who was in the race. (He set a personal best). You are absolutely right, Kouros held the world breathless with his record destroying performance. You failed to mention that he came back to New York later in the year to compete in the Sri Chinmoy 24 hours race where he rolled through the world’s best 100 mile record and the 24 hour Road Best. So wait a second…New York? New York Times? Do you honestly believe that Americans treated Korous poorly? He returned by special invitation to the U.S. for both of the above events and he was warmly wecomed as a celebrated rise-from-nowhere international athlete. That is exactly the kind of story Americans fall in love with.
I’ll also add that I am a fan of, and have watched and admired, Iron Mike Zambidis in several of his K-1 matches. He is a brilliant combat fighter and I agree with all you wrote. I felt that his match against El Hadj in Oct 2010 was one of the most brilliant fights I have ever watched. The shameful judging in the follow-on match with Giorgio Petrosyan was one of the most inexplicable miscarriages of athletic judging ever seen. How can a judge not count a knock-down? Still, let me just tell you that the martial arts are alive and well in the U.S., and that there are many fans aware of who he is as one of the standard bearers for Muay Thai talent.
Theordors, back to you finally. I have to say that your list is the most bigoted and shameful writing I have ever seen on these pages. You are the apotheosis of what I hold dear about sports and sportsmanship, the subject about which you chose to ride in your erstwhile trojan horse carrying an agenda of hatred and barely disguised bigotry. I will question in my mind whatever the publishers were thinking to allow such dreck to besmirch their mainstaff. Did they do so simply because fanning vile flames like yours results in more controversy? Perhaps so, they would not be the first to sell out that way. But the truth is I doubt the publishers hold you in any higher regard than the skid marks in a well digger’s shorts. Certainly I do not. Maybe its true what they say about Greeks?
Remind us what exactly do they say about the Greeks? Also, where in the text says that NY times did poorly on Kouros? Hmm. Maybe its true what they say about some people…
Are you an American? You live in the country that if you are not black you will be ridiculed and made fun of in a track and field stadium or a boxing gym only because of his skin color?
Do you live in America? In the nation where they make movies about white men not being able to jump and it’s seen as a joke? Are you an American? In a country that every sport has to be dominated from a certain race or it’s a racist sport otherwise?
Are you an American? The country that golf and tennis became mainstream only when Tiger Woods and Williams sisters became champions?
And you talk about freedom in sports or culture? America is the only nation in the world where one race is OPENLY considered superior in sports, dancing, music etc and no one complains about it.
Please, stop because you are horribly embarrassing yourself
Aetheras, its not about accusing other countries here. Dont play the game, man. The list is about athletes that most Americans never heard about. Maybe Theodore put 1 or 2 Greeks in there, rightly so in my opinion, but as for the nationalism accusers and such, don’t even bother.
And maybe Europeans are broke but even in the US have large economic problems and whole cities are left without people and forgot about the freedom in speech (see patriotic act and such). People, dont attack that way to the others. Its JUST a list. Read it, and make remarks about the athletes. If theyre wrong search it. Simple.
Atheras – you have written a reply that is only slightly less laouhable then the one that precedes it inasmuch as I can’t even understand what the f**k he means. Still, yours is barley cogent so please, amplify. By all means.
I said clearly that you are from the country that if it happened to be born white or Asian or Black or Mexican it automatically excludes you from certain sports.
For example in the NFL blacks are OPENLY considered superior for certain positions by nature and genes (HOW RACIST GOD, only Hitler had such theories)
Same goes in track and field and boxing, where one if he sees the Olympic team of USA thinks that it’s an all black and Latino team
Now in sports as swimming, gymnastics, hockey, winter sports etc is exactly the opposite, one seeing the team of USA is like seeing the team of Sweden
You see in Europe, which is truly Free from any racist and biased beliefs, if you are white you can be a great basketball players or boxer too, that’s why the heavyweight boxing champs are white from Ukraine, get the point?
When it’s the last time USA had a great heavyweight boxing champion or sprinter? Oh i forgot, in your country if you are white you can’t be any of those.
That is what you call a country of equal opportunity? lol
Man you divide everything by race and skin color in your country, so please!
Largest crock of bull***** I ever read. You’re an idiot. However, I confess, I do separate idiots from those people who can think. Guess what side of that “divide” you are on. (do you even know what “divide” means?)
You are huge idiot. In America the best player gets the opportunity. If the best football player is black, white, or martian, he plays.
America might have some racial issues, but on the playing field, everyone is an athlete regardless of color.
Oh and White Men Can’t Jump is a movie that’s a great commentary about race and social norms while being very entertaining. I hate how the Euro’s think they know anything about American culture by watching an early 90′s movie.
And just earlier, you made comments about Mongoloids and the blue eyed, white Greeks. Nice switcheroo.
WOW dude…your thought process is a mess! That is hysterically funny!
what didn’t you understand exactly?
Are you an American? The country that golf and tennis became mainstream only when Tiger Woods and Williams sisters became champions?
Don’t pad your argument with blatantly false statements.
tell us, how it is to be a loser in his prime?
Really? That’s the best you can do, sneak back a week later and leave this lame retort? Let me know when you’ve got something of value to add.
You say ” Really? That’s the best you can do, sneak back a week later and leave this lame retort? ”
You see some people have a life, job, wife and a family they have to look after……………..so one week later it is that i could make it back here. Now someone like you that still lives in his momma’s basement and spend 24/7 online trolling, wouldn’t know that, would he? Mate, you are not even trolling in my eyes, you are “losering”
Just look at what you’ve become. Have you no self-respect left? Accusing ME of trolling? “Trolling” is empty, no-content posts like what you’ve been reduced to making. In contrast, about EVERY one of my replies to you has made SPECIFIC points countering your scattershot “arguments” and claims, and NOT ONCE have you refuted them with anything of substance or put up an adequate defense of your own position. How is slinking back a week later just to call me a loser, while completely ignoring the FACTUAL point I had made in calling out your lie, ANYthing BUT trolling? Face it, you’ve got nothing. And it’s not like I’m the only one who’s been pointing that out to you. So why don’t you just move on. You’re out of your league here.
For whatever reason,I can’t seem to find your reply to me so I’ll just go ahead and quote it here,in its entirety;
“You managed to make a pretty long post here without really saying much. So, are you arguing about comparative popularity of various sports, or are you arguing about “racial domination” in various sports? You seem to waiver haphazardly between the two, parsing my replies out of context to make whatever dumb point you are trying [...]
I do not see any blacks dominating them like the stereotypes of your country suggest Why is this so important to you?”.
Your reply suggests to me that you’ve only cast a cursory glance at my post. I don’t see how you could infer anything in regards to race from it.
You know,I may be mistaken here in assuming your reply was to me therefore I will refrain from expounding on the finer points of my argument. If I’m wrong and your reply was indeed intended for me then by all means let me know and I’ll try to clarify my contention further.
@ MMATH: I may be mistaken here in assuming your reply was to me
If you are the same person as that idiot aetheras, then yes I was talking to you. I don’t think you are though because your post here was more articulately written than his half-baked rants. And I don’t recognize your nic “MMATH”, so I don’t believe I’ve replied to any of your posts before, at least not under that nic. The thread you quoted me from btw is on page 2 of these comments. You actually quoted from two different comments of mine within the same discourse, and one of those was dated several days before your posts about MMA (which I know nothing about and wouldn’t likely join in) showed up here.
You are aware that USA is broke as hell? The only reason why it doesn’t seem that way is because they have more say on international loans, they give themselves credits that the world bank should be giving to other countries and when they cant be paid, they just go ahead and raise the debt ceiling.
I don’t think there is any need to title this list against Americans. I am not American and I had only heard of 1 person on this list. Its probably because I am not into Athletics.
Last time i checked, Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s ” Top 20 athletes of the 20th century IN THE WORLD” poll, both included 18 Americans (mainly from their national sports) and 2 foreign athletes, Pele and Borg the tennis player I think!
Football (soccer to Americans) which is widely accepted as the number 1 sport in the world, was represented only by one athlete, Rugby none, Cricket none, Formula 1 none, but there were 14 athletes from the NFL and MLB (two national leagues) and 3 from NASCAR i think…………………and Some Americans dare to be mad with this list? hahahahahahaha
GREAT JOB BY THEODOROS
That’s because ESPN is an American program and, gasp, we don’t really give a crap about your athletes that mean nothing to us. Just like you don’t care about our greatest football and baseball players. Cry about it.
Americans have created many sports: football, baseball, & basketball to name a few so it should be no surprise that we play, watch, and adore those sports more. Not to mention Americans have helped popularize many other sports including hockey, golf, and tennis throughout the world. To admonish a country filled with sports for not giving enough credit to people from other countries is ridiculous.
American media outlets saying that American athletes are best. Stop the presses and start the international inquiry.
Of course si and espn say American athletes are the best. They’re not trying to sell magazines in Bulgaria and to us hammer throwing is a fringe sport.
Oh and soccer sucks. Any game that can end in a tie and teams are happy about it is a soft sport.
WOOF WOOF!
If you think someone is #1 then put them at #1
There are Plenty of American athletes in similar sports that are very famous in the states but unheard of in other countries.
Kouros should be number 1. The only nationalism i charge on the author is not placing Kouros at the #1 position because of his nationality!
Dimas is the greatest weightlifter of all time, he deserves to be there, if he was American he would be worshiped as a God now!
Mike Zambidis is great but Semmy Schilt should be in his position, I agree with others there, but still Zambidis is not a bad choice either!
Greeks produce great athletes, what can you say? A nation of 10-11 million has won 143 medals at the Olympics.
It’s not Theodoros fault that Greek basketball team smashed USA of Lebron James, Wade, Antony and Bosh in the world games of 2006. Neither that Greece won Euro 2004 and organized best Olympics in history in 2004 and won 18 medals.
Americans who are mad with this list and call Greek people names, should check where they come from, some of their greatest athletes of all time, such as:
their GOAT in tennis Pete Sampras,
their GOAT in Hockey Chris Chelios,
their GOAT ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes
their GOAT diver Greg Louganis,
one of their greatest in soccer Alexi Lalas
their greatest multi sport college athlete until recently Harry “Golden Greek” Agganis
And Greek Americans don’t even make 0,4% of the total population in the US hahahahaha
Think about it!
Don’t hate the playa, hate the game………..as Americans say
Au contraire you brain dead idiot. I hate the player (Theodoros) and you because you are both you fu##ing bigoted azz wipes. Hmm, I wonder why it is that Greek Americans do so well…must be because they are Greek. Oh wait, then again, they are not. They are Americans. Sorry, you lost based on flawed logic, or perhaps just because you are a loser.
aetheras, don’t reply to him. Its clear that he’s looking for a (virtual) fight. Don’t bother…
and the Top Fuel Drag Racer Chris Karamesines.
ooh wait, i dont wanna be in this argument…
what about the last world championships and olympics that USA basketball participated in… oh ***** you forgot about that huh, or really any other time other than losses to greece and argentina. basketball is an international sport now and americans flat out dominate still. and I’m saying this as the biggest Mavs fan, I *****ing love Dirk and rep him all the time. But Kobe, Wade, Lebron, my fellow classmate Kevin Durant (who will end up being one of the best players of all time), Derrick Rose, all some of the best who play the best in the world and continually rape. So real bad path to take talking about basketball. The last Olympics the USA tore through every country.
Basketball was invented in the US and has veen a major sport there for ever…………in countries like Greece, Argentina, Spain etc Basketball is not even a national sport and became professional only during the 90′s and USA has been smashed from all these teams several times at the world competitions………..you make the math Einstein
I don’t want to intrude on your nationalistic pat on the back there but that one victory of the Greek basketball team over the Americans in 2006 whilst a well deserved victory,was still an aberration;one that has since been rectified.
My intention,just to be clear, is not to diminish Greek American’s contribution to sport being of Greek decent myself,though I do find the stereotyping of American attitudes perpetuated by this list,indeed any form of stereotyping, to be slightly irksome.
Oh,and my knowledge of hockey is virtually nonexistent so please correct me if I’m wrong but I was always under the impression that Wayne Gretzky was considered to be the GOAT.
My only fault is being born in the U.S. I am tired of all the anti-American crap on this site (and a few others). There must be a reason other people feel the need to bash us. I personally have no problems with people from other countries, and love to learn about other cultures. Read through this list again (I thought I would have to guess a few times the homeland/sport), and one will see a few uncalled for jabs at the U.S.
Also – a bunch of Australian, English and Indian cricketers. And a few AFL players.
The only name I’d heard of among these is Sergey Bubka. (I’m an Aussie).
MARIO BALOTELLI
The fat red headed guy with the pasta show? Just kidding, Mario is pure class…
Anything that isn’t American is unfamiliar to Americans.
And this is based on what?
I always love people who ironically call all Americans ignorant not realizing that that assumption in itself is completely ignorant.
Most non-Americans don’t care about American sports, so what? Does that make you ignorant also?
Great effort. This list you’ve written is a gateway to literally hundreds of lists in this unique listverse market. ….15 sporting heroes unfamiliar to Australians… 15 sporting heroes unfamiliar to Italians… 15 sporting heroes unfamiliar to Peruvians…. 15 sporting heros unfamiliar to Ghanians…
And there’s also the sportfan-centric lists… Because let’s be honest, there are sports fans that only know athletes in a sport with which they ardently follow. So you could conceivably pull off a 15 badminton heroes unfamiliar to Nascar fans, 15 Muy Thai heroes unfamiliar to Basketball fans, etc.
the possibilities are endless.
Well written list.
I feel the tone of the list was self-righteous in nature. Although, that’s kind of implied in the title. As a brit and casual sporting fan, I have an avid interest in association football from premier league to conference, and a more casual interest in others. Boxing is a favourite of mine, I certainly knew Calzaghe’s name when it came up.
Didn’t recognise any of the athletic heroes however. I think the American people that do not have a specialist knowledge wouldn’t have either. This can’t be a national thing, it usurps the whole list. ‘You’ haven’t heard of would have been better, if not just to avoid the mass internet nuke from the proud yanks.
I’d recommend Eddy Merckx as another not-known-to-americans list. In his cycling career, he won 25% of the races he entered – including the Tour, Vuelta and Giro, and almost all of the “classics”.
Focusing solely on athletes unfamiliar to Americans makes this list too American-centric. If I was Australian I would want a list of athletes unfamiliar to Australians.
Ok. First all these stupid Americans putting stupid comments are stupid. & 2 how do we even know they’re Americans. They could b some *****ed of country just saying they are Americans t get hostile American comments.
Any I super loved this list. Idnt watch sports or know much facts but I figured I would atleast have heard of some of these ppl. Its a very interesting list. I am amazed about the lack of acknowledgment these ppl have. Interesting. I am American obviously
Come back when you learn English and if you are an American you make me ashamed.
Theres a reason these athletes are not known: it’s because they or their sports are BORING. And by the way, the greatest super middle weight of all time is not Calzaghe, it was The Motor City Cobra,Thomas “Hitman” Hearns.
First off – nice list. Enjoyed it.
I usually do not post negative comments about lists but here are a few rejoiners to the points you make in the opening:
First, I am no huge “football” fan, but I know of Zindane, Maradona, and Best (three out of five soccer players you claim Americans never heard of).
Second – Americans are becoming more and more familiar with and watching “football/soccer”. It is just like our American football (NFL) trying to take hold in Europe – it is a very long and slow process to get cultures unfamiliar with the sport to adopt it AND overcome the mass appeal and media coverage of the predominate sport on the European Continent. Same here in the US with soccer. It is happening, just very slowly.
You say Americans never heard of the fifteen athletes you have on the list? I myself have heard of and am familiar with five of them.
Let’s not get too caught up in the use of the term “world champions”. Was Ali the “world champ” at boxing? Yeah, but was there some boxer out there in Zimbabwe or Bali that could have kicked his ass? Probably. It is just an expression – they guy can’t fight every boxer in the world. Same with football (NFL). The Green Bay packers are the “world champions”. So what? It doesn’t mean they conquered the world like Rome, nor that they played and beat every team from the world (heck, they didn’t even beat every team in the NFL that they played last year).
Finally, like it or not, the USA is where athletes of all kinds, all over the world, come to shine (and make huge amounts of money) in many popular sports. Look at the NHL (ice hockey). For years it was dominated by Canadian players. Now the best players from all over the world fight to get onto an NHL team – and the NHL is like the sixth or seventh most popular sport in the US. But North America is where you want to be if you are a hockey player because it is where the biggest league and audience is – the NHL. Same with baseball players who come from Japan, Latin America, to play major league baseball in the US – the big sport in the big country. Same with basketball – all kinds of players are now entering the NBA from Europe and other countries. Where do they want to play? North America, the US,m in the big game – the NBA. It’s like our best soccer players go to Europe and want to play for Manchester United, or Arsenal. And why not? That’s where the big game and popularity and money is at.
You criticize America and their myopic, insular obsession with their own sports, and with just cause. But the reality is, things are starting to change here, and all over the world. If you had told me (I am a huge ice hockey fan), in the 1970′s, that in thirty years the best players would not be all Canadian and instead, American, Polish, Ukranian, Swedish, etc., I would have laughed. But here we are.
I don’t think that America’s ‘lack of achievement’ in other sports has anything to do with us not liking them. It’s not like we are waiting to win sports so that we can be fans. For example, when michael Phelps showed up at the Olympics not all Americans started watching swimming haha. People only like to watch the sports they are familiar with, like how europeans watch football. I don’t dislike soccer because Americans have never won, i dislike it because its boring as hell. We have short attention spans over here!
Pyrros Dimas’s homeland of Greece ? Yeah ?! Was he born on top of Olympus or did he live for 30 years on top of Acropolis ? Get your facts right and don’t get blinded by your extreme nationalism.
If you cry in the sound of the anthem, of the country that you won, and if you are been asked and you answer that you are Greek, your homeland is Greece. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been born in Albania. Greeks are been born in all parts of the World. Right? Ty.
Yup! Hell, the universe is Greek !
People do a lot of things for personal gain. Matter of fact today I might just call myself a martian and who knows about tomorrow… it’s another day.
“America for example, awards Oscar, Grammy and Emmy trophies to mainly Americans, yet they claim that these are international awards.”
Umm…what? Non-Americans win Oscars and Grammies all the time, and the Emmies don’t claim to be international. In 2007 not a single American actor/actress won performance/acting awards. Have you seen how many European and Australian natives live in America and have promising acting/recording careers? God forbid you actually look into these things before ranting about them.
And, on the baseball note, do you realize that every nation plays it EXCEPT for the European ones? All of Asia, North America, and South America love the sport. News flash: You guys aren’t the center of the universe, as much as you want to be.
If you are going to whine and complain about America, at least get your facts straight so you don’t look like a complete moron.
Amazing how the people who say Americans are ethnocentric are the ones who follow it up by saying how much better their own country is. Get over it and get a life.
Europeans love to show us how superior they are to us uneducated, ethnocentric, arrogant Americans. And do you know how they try to accomplish that? By making uneducated, ethnocentric, and arrogant remarks. Yes, they are definitely superior to us.
I have heard of 2 of them before, score!
Great list – though i think You should have included danish sailor Poul Elvström. Maybe the best of his sport of all time.With 4 Olympic Gold medalis (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960 and he came 4th. in 1984!), and he also won 13 world championships.
Just to clarify, players for 19 nations were on Major League baseball teams this year. Without questions, US baseball is the pinnacle of the sport and its championship rightfully called the World Series. It is at wort the second most popular sport throughout Latin America and parts of Asia.
American Football on the other hand… Go Giants!
Point taken. With one exception; car racing, including Formula 1, is not a sport.
Wrong-O. You, unless you’re a trained athlete, wouldn’t make it ’round the first corner. That first 3.5 – 4 g corner, you’d be lucky not to pass out. Let alone the stopping – 5/6 g isn’t unheard of. The famous Juan Pablo Montoya claimed to be able to perform 300 repetitions of 50 lb (23 kg) with his neck. Betcha you can’t do that with your arms or legs.
Great list! As an American who follows a lot of sports worldwide most of these I had not heard of. Bubka, Karelin and Latynina were the three I had heard of most. Another good one that could have been on is the man who was arguably the greatest hockey goaltender to ever play, Vladislav Tretiak. That guy was phenomenal.
Oh. Where is Paavo Nurmi from Finland? He had some pretty impressive Olympic heroics……or Sebastien Coe (British 4 time Olympic medalist)…..Alberto Tomba (Italian 5 time Olympic medalist in skiing)….another skier, Hermann Maier….Janica Kostelic….need I go on? Not bad for an American……
“For example, Football, which is without a doubt the most popular international sport, completely gets ignored by the US, due to America’s lack of achievements”
The chicken and the egg. Do we find soccer/football boring because we suck, or do we suck because we find it boring, therefore our best athletes pursue other sports and bigger paychecks?
what happened to sachin , murali or shane warne ???? cricket deserves a place in this list
Do Americans know Sachin Tendulkar? he is the God of Cricket game.. Most followed Indian Sportsperson on Twitter.
Karelin is well love among MMA fans, also. He was a good boxer, too.
Could have maybe called it Sporting Heroes Unfamiliar to North Americans…I imagine that there are many Canadians unfamiliar with these athletes too.
People seem to forget that much of the reason that North Americans appear so insular has to do with size and geography. Canada is huge…in Europe and the UK you want to travel to a different country you travel a couple hundred miles. For me to leave Ontario, my province within Canada, to go visit, say Alberta, I have to travel 1650 miles/2650 km. I can experience different cultures without every leaving Canada. I’ve lived in the Maritimes, in Ontario, in Quebec and the Prairies. And they’re all different. Been to the USA too, on more than one occasion, (some of the stereotype is true – I was asked about fur coats and Eskimos/Inuit) and it was different again. Also priorities come to play and climate – I’ve noticed that European friends, friends who don’t have central heating, still vacation rather than have central heat or a car. Where I live, I don’t have that option. My priorities are somewhat ordered by climate. And distance. No one, or very few, live near where they work – a car is a necessity. You’ll see very few international travellers at middle age; we have to wait until the kids are gone to afford it.
It’s no good to only pounce on the symptoms without having any idea as to the cause. Our throw ‘em in jail politicians need to learn this lesson, just as much as list writers.
Good entry otherwise; lots of deserving athletes and many I’d never heard of.
Ok list aside from the 6 paragraph bashing of American sports…jealous? If you don’t like American sports…don’t pay attention..just like we don’t pay attention to your “world sports”..they are boring, we don’t care. The intro ruined what would of otherwise been a interesting list.