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Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- Thread starter Jordinho
- Start date
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
Phil Taylor
Bradley wiggins
Chris froome
mark cavendish
Stephen hendry
Steve Davies
Ronnie o'sullivan
it's just tennis, if I knew anything about fishing or athletics I could probably name a few more as well
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Phil Taylor - It's just darts
Bradley wiggins - It's just cycling
Chris froome - Ditto
mark cavendish - Ditto
Stephen hendry - It's just snooker
Steve Davies - See above
Ronnie o'sullivan - See above
These guys are/were superb athletes, but if Zlatan was English, he would get my vote over all of them. As would Borg. Zlatan and Borg gave sweden great worldwide exposure competing at the top level of sports that have massive global participation. I don't mean to disrepect those athletes that you have listed, but you would struggle to find people outside of the UK who have ever heard of them. And Hoy, Redgrave and Ainslie competed in sports where there are massive financial barriers to entry. This means that most of the world are unable to ever dream of participating in these sports. This makes their acheivements a lot less "rare", and easier to do than what Zlatan has done in football. As for Holmes and Edwards, again, their acheivements are superb, but the global profile of athletics isnt that big. If someone from athletics was to win a top sportsman award, i would hope that their acheivements were more on the Bolt, Owens level than Holmes or Edwards.
Ultimately, i would have given the award to zlatan over borg because even tennis has a high financial barrier to entry, but more importantly, football is the number one world sport that almost everyone plays (globally, hardly any kid plays tennis). I suspect borg had to compete with a lot less people (globally) to get to number one in tennis than zlatan had did to get to where he is now. One of the reasons football is such a great game is because a kid from any background can literally be playing in his school team one day and be scouted to a pro club and end up playing top level pro football 15 years later. on the other hand, tennis is a upper-class game. if the parents don't have large amounts of disposable income, their kid has basically zero chance of ever becoming pro. ie. if zlatan's sport was tennis, he would not be playing pro today. luckily, through football he has gone from rags to riches.
when deciding a winner for an award such as sweden's top sportsman, for the reasons mentioned above, i think sports such as football should be given a much bigger weighting. hence, zlatan is the winner for me. however, borg's acheivements are worldclass too and i can see why he won. i suspect zlatan's brash persona also counted against him, which is understandable too.
milo
Jack L. Jones
I don't think that he is. Borg was the best of his generation had won 11 grandslams by the age of 25 and retired a year later. He is amongst the five best tennis players of all time. Ibrahimovic is a good played but not a great one.
AuroRaman
Chris Armstrong
Kind of agree with Neymar but also gaping holes. It is simply not true to state the global profile of athletics 'isn't that big'. It's probably second only to football! Also, I think one would be surprised just how well known Kelly Holmes and Edwards are outside of the UK. As for Edwards, his world record has not been bested for close to 20 years. I know this and remember the jump despite not being a big fan of Athletics. It is quite simply an incredible feat.
As for Steve Redgrave, yes I definitely agree re: financial clout required to be successful in his sport. But Zlatan's achievements in his sport are the equivalent of winning the St Johnstone Paint Trophy compared to Redgrave's achievements, akin to winning the quadruple 4 years in a row as comparison. The guy was a phenom, an ultimate Olympian.
As for Steve Redgrave, yes I definitely agree re: financial clout required to be successful in his sport. But Zlatan's achievements in his sport are the equivalent of winning the St Johnstone Paint Trophy compared to Redgrave's achievements, akin to winning the quadruple 4 years in a row as comparison. The guy was a phenom, an ultimate Olympian.
AuroRaman
Chris Armstrong
Mine was mostly sporting impact but addressing Neymar's comments on the profile of Athletics/athletes.
i should probably clarify what i mean when i say that the global profile of athletics isnt that big. sports/competitions such as the premier league, la liga, nfl, nba etc have many fans who follow the sport on an almost daily basis. most people only follow athletics once every four years. or if someone is a big sports fan, they will watch the world and european championships too. beyond that, you will really struggle to get people to follow athletics.
as for a sport like rowing, there is genuinely only interest in it every 4 years for one month. outside of the uk, almost no-one has heard of redgrave or edwards. I dont deny that you remember Edwards because of his incredible world record feat, but the fact that he was an englishman acheiving this record was probably more important in him (and his jump) being memorable to you. if i was to ask you about other record breakers in athletics, beyond bolt, most would stuggle to name many non-british athletes.
also, people (globally) just arent interested enough in sports like triple jumping or rowing to reigster an athlete's name from these sports. we're (in england) only interested in rowing or cycling because we are good at it. if i was to ask you who Yuna Kim is, i suspect you wouldnt have a clue. And why should you. She has no connection to you or the uk. But her acheivements in figure staking are probably comparable to maradona/pele in football. she is massive in her native country, but unless you're a figure staking nut, you wouldnt have heard of her. this is the case with all those british athletes/sportsmen that were listed in the previous posts. hence my point that the global profile of these sports are miniscule when compared to football.
and for that reason, i would say zlatan's acheivements are more like winning 4 quadruples. whilst redgrave's would be the johnstones paint. having said that, i dont really like this analogy. zlatan has basically competed against every single boy in the world has trumped them all to get to where he is now. whilst redgrave has shown that he is the best sportsman from his eton college class. i don't like this analgoy either, but i hope it highlights just how much rarer and harder it is to get a zlatan than a redgrave. england is a country with deep sporting roots. yet in football, we often struggle against the very best in the world (despite having a massive football culture). however, in sports that not many other countries take part in, and have large barriers to entry, we seem to do very well. it doesnt take a genius to work out which sports are harder to reach the top in.
just to emphasise, redgrave's acheivments are exceptional, and something that all us brits can be proud of, but from a purely sporting perspective it just doesnt compare to zlatan's imo.
good point, but zlatan's global profile has been acheived mainly through his sporting performances whilst a large part of the "Beckham-mania" brand has been built off the pitch, by Victoria
might as well give it to rooney
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
funny list, Taylor absolutely has to at the top, he's dominated a sport for 25 years, Redgrave is the only one to rival him really, also as great as Hoy has been Wiggo achieved success on the road and the track and won the TdF which is "the" cycling event
the footballers are an interesting choice as well, obviously Moore has the cache of World Cup winning captain and Best was brilliant but there are British footballers who have picked up more domestic and continental trophies than Moore and Best combined
the footballers are an interesting choice as well, obviously Moore has the cache of World Cup winning captain and Best was brilliant but there are British footballers who have picked up more domestic and continental trophies than Moore and Best combined
Mr_B
Niko Kranjcar
I've always liked his outspoken ways, today he said
For the moment, I will not be at PSG next season. I still have a month and a half left here.
"If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay."
I'd love to see him come to WHL, he could make an impact like VDV did,you can't beat that nous and experience even if he is the wrong side of 30, his ego is something else though and he'll probably think we're too small for him.
another couple of quotes from someone who would make Clough blush :
How to shake off Stephane Henchoz:
"First I went left, he did too. Then I went right, and he did too. Then I went left again, and he went to buy a hot dog.”
Mind your own business:
Reporter: “You’ve got some scars on your face, Zlatan. What has happened?”
Zlatan: “Well…I don’t know…you’ll have to ask your wife about that”
After being criticised by John Carew:
“What Carew does with a football, I can do with an orange.”
On refusing a trial at Arsenal:
“Arsene Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
MORE: 11 things to look out for ahead of PSG vs Chelsea
After being asked by a female reporter about a photo of him and Gerard Pique hugging:
“Come over to my house with your sister, baby, and I’ll show you who’s gay!”
On having one too many celebrating Juventus' 2005 title win:
“It was the fault of David Trezeguet, who made me do one drink of vodka after another. I slept in the bathtub. Now I hold my vodka much better.”
What Zlatan bought his wife for her birthday:
”Nothing, she already has Zlatan.”
For the moment, I will not be at PSG next season. I still have a month and a half left here.
"If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay."
I'd love to see him come to WHL, he could make an impact like VDV did,you can't beat that nous and experience even if he is the wrong side of 30, his ego is something else though and he'll probably think we're too small for him.
another couple of quotes from someone who would make Clough blush :
How to shake off Stephane Henchoz:
"First I went left, he did too. Then I went right, and he did too. Then I went left again, and he went to buy a hot dog.”
Mind your own business:
Reporter: “You’ve got some scars on your face, Zlatan. What has happened?”
Zlatan: “Well…I don’t know…you’ll have to ask your wife about that”
After being criticised by John Carew:
“What Carew does with a football, I can do with an orange.”
On refusing a trial at Arsenal:
“Arsene Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
MORE: 11 things to look out for ahead of PSG vs Chelsea
After being asked by a female reporter about a photo of him and Gerard Pique hugging:
“Come over to my house with your sister, baby, and I’ll show you who’s gay!”
On having one too many celebrating Juventus' 2005 title win:
“It was the fault of David Trezeguet, who made me do one drink of vodka after another. I slept in the bathtub. Now I hold my vodka much better.”
What Zlatan bought his wife for her birthday:
”Nothing, she already has Zlatan.”
