Matt
Years ago

Best OZ sportsman/sportswoman

Whose you best OZ sportsman/sportswoman since end of world war 2(last 70 odd years)?

Topic #42084 | Report this topic


Anonymous  
Years ago

Best sportsman : Don Bradman
Best sportswoman : lauren jackson

Reply #654486 | Report this post


Reality  
Years ago

Men: Ian Thorpe
Women: Dawn Fraser

Reply #654496 | Report this post


Tiger  
Years ago

Bernard Tomic for both men and women

Reply #654512 | Report this post


Luuuc  
Years ago

Nuh uh. Delly.

Reply #654513 | Report this post


Duke Fan  
Years ago

If you just go off statistical performance in their chosen sport for the men it has to be Bradman. Then daylight

It's a pretty broad category though. Do people get special consideration for excelling at 2 (or more) different sports?

Nice topic though

For the girls I'd say Betty Cuthbert or Margaret Court (sorry rainbow people)

Reply #654524 | Report this post


Gus3232  
Years ago

It wouldn't be Bradman as most of his extraordinary career was before WW2.

Men - Mick Doohan (500cc motorcycles) - World Champion 5 years in a row.

Women - Heather McKay (Squash) - Google and have a look at her record. Just ridiculous.

Reply #654546 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

yeah but squash tho

also Doohan was dominate but half of that sport is the bike you get. it's like saying Phar Lap's jockey was the best ever.

Reply #654547 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I like Gus' suggestions - better than the predictable names everyone else rolls out.

Reply #654554 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Men: Steve Bradbury (in every way possible an Aussie role model)

Women: agree with Bernhard Tomic (again, a huge role model for young Aussies)

Reply #654568 | Report this post


Southern Joe  
Years ago

Men: Jack Charlton (Snooker) Something like 19 world titles.


Women: Layne Beechley. Won many surf titles.

Reply #654569 | Report this post


DJ Rod  
Years ago

Winx

Reply #654574 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

insert obligatory Kyle Adnam response here.

Reply #654575 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Is Adnam for the women though? I know the teenage girl who runs the NBL twitter account aspires to be like him

Reply #654577 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She must be a surfie chick.

Reply #654588 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Men: Jack Charlton (Snooker) Something like 19 world titles.

Eddie Charlton

Reply #654590 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Something like 19 world titles.


"He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title."

Southern Joe how about fact checking your posts.

Reply #654591 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman

Reply #654592 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Winx

*re-checks title of thread*

"re: Best OZ sportsman/sportswoman"

Reply #654601 | Report this post


Southern Joe  
Years ago

"He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title."

Southern Joe how about fact checking your posts.



D'Oh!!!

Reply #654616 | Report this post


Reality  
Years ago

Cathy freeman? Didn't she only win 1 gold medal?

Beachley is a good pick^



Reply #654621 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman are the predictable names as mentioned above. lol

Reply #654625 | Report this post


Matt  
Years ago

Men: Tim Cahill
Women: Layne Beachley

Reply #654658 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Cahill? What? Not only was he never the world's best in his sport, he was never even in the ballpark

Reply #654660 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I think Cahill rates a mention for the same reasons that Freeman does - they're each responsible for some of the most iconic sporting moments in Australian history. But neither's body of work stacks up to some of the other names mentioned.

I'm with Gus that you can't say Bradman if we're talking post-WWII.

Rod Laver deserves a mention.

Is this a harder title to bestow on athletes in team sports, though? Other than Bradman and Lauren Jackson, almost every name is an individual sport athlete.

Reply #654671 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Rod Laver is a good pick

Reply #654738 | Report this post


PeterJohn  
Years ago

Women, I'd pick from Heather McKay, Betty Cuthbert, Margaret Court, Emma George and Layne Beachley. Probably land for Court. Amazing record - possibly unmatched - across multiple disciplines of tennis. Her win rates are astonishing, pre and post motherhood.

For men, I'd pick from Geoff Hunt, Rod Laver, Ric Charlesworth or Mick Doohan. Again, go with the tennis player and opt for Laver.

Reply #654778 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Great thread. Some noms:

Men: Mick Doohan, Andrew Gaze, John Eales, Jamie Dwyer, Ian Thorpe.

Women: Lauren Jackson, Margaret Court, Layne Beachley, Steph Gilmore, Shane Gould.

Reply #654787 | Report this post


Matt  
Years ago

Men:
Dick Thornett would have to be looked at as well, made the aussie team in 3 sports Water Polo(went to Rome 1960 Olympics/Rugby league/rugby union.
Cahill probably not the best in the world ever but club football is different to international football and he has been a talisman in that, he would do better in some better teams e.g. Argentina. Longevity and wider audience appeal there to in tim cahill's favour plus a sport like soccer is so big and popular that it's more competitive in some ways than say surfing, but in saying that to break into surfing is tough or golf or tennis as there's not many spots. Greg Norman's stats are awesome as well. He was world no 1 for along time in a hot field in the 80's and 90's. In his stellar1986 season he led going into the last day of every single golf major, something Jack Nickalous/and Tiger Woods have never achieved..
Love him or hate him anthony mundine has an impressive resume. He was a good ball player to, he would of made NBL...
Mick Dittman was a good jockey and Peter Brock has a good record as does Jack Brabham.. Warney is right up there as is Keith Miller..

Women:
Cathy Freeman has a lot of the stuff Tim Cahill has when measuring success e.g. wider audience appeal and iconic clutch moments.. Shirley Strickland might be best ever aussie athlete she won more track and field golds than any other woman.

Modern day athletes have faced more competition due to larger global populations and people playing the sport which does harm the stats of people like Laver/Makay/Shirley Strickland etc

Reply #654793 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

How are you judging what makes a good sportsperson , is it success in the game, looks ngevity or behaviour both in and out of the sport
So many variable and so many to choose from
Probably easier to choose the worst though I'm
Sure the selection could be vast lol

Reply #654795 | Report this post


DJ Rod  
Years ago

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/pearson-snubbed-as-newspaper-names-horse-as-sportswoman-of-the-year-20121223-2btac.html

Black Caviar was named by this paper as Sportswoman of the year, my comment was in jest.

Reply #654803 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Fair play then, Rod.

In his stellar 1986 season he led going into the last day of every single golf major, something Jack Nickalous/and Tiger Woods have never achieved..

I was about to mention Greg Norman, can't believe no one else had up to this point. A shame he tended to choke right at the end, that '86 season - what could have been.

Reply #654820 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Also on Greg Norman 331 weeks as world no. 1 = 6.5 years, only Tiger was there longer.

Reply #654821 | Report this post


PeterJohn  
Years ago

yes - really good thread and interesting posts

nice to learn some new things about Aussie sport

Reply #654823 | Report this post


Hoopie  
Years ago

If you base it on who achieved the highest level against the most opposition, then you'd need to look at participation numbers around the world.

For men, you could make a case for Kewell and Viduka in that case, assuming that soccer has the highest participation numbers, or Gaze.

For women, you would have to consider Liz Ellis and Anne Sargeant in netball, or even one of the Matilda's.

In terms of longevity and dominance, I'd go for Greg Norman just ahead of Thorpey and Lauren Jackson just ahead of Heather Mackay.

In a few years, it may even be Ben Simmons.

Reply #654827 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So you first mention high participation numbers and football players (rightfully so) but then you list netball players... huh?

Reply #654828 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Let's bring this thread up in 10 years time and see where Ben Simmons fits into all of this.

Reply #654834 | Report this post


Matt  
Years ago

Mens:
Grant Kenny has an excellent record, and he was good at 2 sports he won a Bronze in kayaking at the 84 olympics on top of a great Ironman record..
Ken Rosewell has an excellent record and highly impressive longevity stats..

Womens:
Shane Gould's stats were incredible, 3 individual gold medals at 72 olympics all in world record time and she picked up 2 other medals a bronze or silver I think..
Susie O'Neil has a great record..

Reply #655306 | Report this post


Matt  
Years ago

Ken Catchapole to was a great rugby union player..

Reply #655307 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Men: Mark Phillippoussis, Gary Ablett Jr.
Women: Michel Timms, Lauren Jackson.

Reply #655315 | Report this post


D2  
Years ago

WW2 cutoff not withstanding I'd still go with Bradman.

And for women its Court them daylight.
Even to this day, she remains the greatest ever female player in the world. Her Major singles record (M or F) still stands, and her combined record of 64 Major titles is unlikely to ever be broken.

Reply #655518 | Report this post


Matt  
Years ago

Margaret court and laver's weakness is they played in a less competitive era than today as tennis was less global back then....
Also players only all started coming to the Australian open in 1988 when it moved to the tennis centre, at Kooyong the whole field didn't always turn up eg Bjorg hardly played at the OZ open, Connors and McEnroe missed plenty...

Reply #656090 | Report this post




You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.



Close ads
Little Streaks - The fun and interactive good-habits app designed especially for kids.
Serio: Tourism photography and videography

Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.

Recent Posts



.


An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 5:54 am, Fri 29 Mar 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754