FOLLOWING is a link to Forbes Magazine which has compiled their list of the top 20 most important sporting achievements of the last 150 years.
I found it really interesting, concise and it included some stats that were real eye-openers.
The mag voted Roger Bannister’s first sub-four minute mile as the No. 1 performance. Jesse Owens and Bob Beamon are also in there. Palmtag . . . unlucky to miss the cut. Would have been close.
And whatabout Bannister hockechump? (heh, just kiddin’…) Gotta rep the distance runners. I’ve always been kind of put off by the glorification of bannister and the 4:00 mile. World mile records have been broken for many years, and many years prior. The stigma that the 4:00 mile could not be broken was wrong, Bannister believed it to be wrong, and the only reason it was glorified is because the entire media and coaching pro’s were surprised that they were wrong. I don’t think that we will see the end of world records.
Well the whole list is really “most media” rather than greatest feats.
BTW, it’s always a laugh when people claim that something that isn’t that far away is “impossible”. I wonder if they really think that or if they’re just trying to hype it so it’ll be a bigger story.
Buncha BS. A record that became promoted because of what non-expert experts said, not because of what was actually accomplished. See how it holds up compared to Jesse Owens or Bob Beamon.
Charlie, you deconstructed the Beamon jump in Speed Trap. Beamon’s length was due to –
Altitude
Wind
He was the only jumper to get in a legal jump before the wind died down and the rain began. Much like FloJo’s 10.49 on a clearly windy day.
Some feats get blown out of proportion, and both Bannister’s and Beamon’s fall into this category.
Doesn’t change the distance and the fact that it took so many years to better it in any conditions. You could also note that, like the sprints, the jump that did better it was on the new harder track first introduced in the meet where it happened.
Likewise, Flo-Jo’s time hasn’t been equaled or even approached under any conditions, new tracks or not.
Regardless, history has shown that the 4 min “barrier” is pretty pedestrian.
Everybody will have a different Top 20. And that’s an All-American list anyhow.
Who (except for the US) cares about all the old NFL, NBA and MBL stars?
Only 3 of the top 20 were non-American athletes?
Take the Woman’s 100m and 400m records. Both are so out of the world, they will be some of the longest lasting WR of all sports…what about these two girls.
And who cares about a crazy chick swimming the channel?
I spoke to Landy, the second guy under 4, and he said he had begun to think sub-4 may be physically “impossible” because he had tried so many times to go there - as had so many others - and no-one was managing better than about 4:01.
What that run does show is that the human mind is a powerful tool - for better or for worse.
ANY such lists are subjective . . . but mostly harmless and if nothing else they serve to remind us that the best athletes aren’t all doing athletics.
Until Shawn Crawford runs sub 19 in the 200m like he said he is gonna do in an interview before the WC’s, MJ’s 19.32 200m WR will remain an awesome feat of human athletism.
