Is Mo Farrah the greatest ever British sportsman?

joeinbrighton said:

He's from Northern Ireland.

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GT49er said:

So did the England football team.

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Half Time Pies said:

Its the nature of that event, they are often run tactically and particularly in major championships. Some countries run as a team and slow the race up and then speed it up suddenly to try to break up the field for example. If you look at all of their individual PB's they are pretty impressive.

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Uncle Spielberg said:

Farrah, does not hold a single World record in any event he has competed in, he is 12 seconds off the 5000 World record, he holds the indoor 2 mile record which is hardly ever contested, as I said 13 50 was something a club runner would have been disappointed to get, for me the guy has had luck in that he has not had to compete historically with any decent rivals in his time

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Goldstone1976 said:

Yep. Didn't mean to imply that he was the only one. It's an interesting debate: to what extent should other areas of one's life impugn the record of what one is best known for? It applies to sports people, artists, composers, scientists, etc.

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Beach Hut said:

Steve Redgrave for me by a country mile, 20 years, 5 olympics and 5 gold medals

I doubt any sportsman in the world can top that.

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Uncle Spielberg said:

Farrah, does not hold a single World record in any event he has competed in, he is 12 seconds off the 5000 World record, he holds the indoor 2 mile record which is hardly ever contested, as I said 13 50 was something a club runner would have been disappointed to get, for me the guy has had luck in that he has not had to compete historically with any decent rivals in his time

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Working class pride said:

nwgull said:

Do you? When I was of sporting age I knew absolutely nobody who had joined an athletics club. Hence there is not one in every village, town and city in the country. There are however football, cricket, even rugby of one code or another in every town, village and city. That however is a side point (that i raised). Simple fact is that some people have natural skill, people like George Best. They will be good at football, cricket, table tennis, just about anything. Athletics and cycling is about getting from A to B. It's not skilful. Yes its a great achievement with lots of hard work, I'm just saying that it doesnt make the runner a great sportsman. Just good at running and lots of hard work. A sportsman is someone who can pick up a sport and without much effort be good at it. Also take a sideways look at anyone the BBC call a legend these days.They were calling womens footballers legends a few weeks ago. I have not worked out whether that was a political agenda to promote sexual equality or whether they felt they had to say it because sky have taken all the sports that most people are interested in.

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There are running clubs up and down the land, running is incredibly popular at the moment with marathons down to 5k races fully subscribed.

I disagree I think there is a skill to top level running when you factor in tactics but even if I were to concede your point you don't need to demonstrate skill to be a sportsman.

The shape and mental toughness of runners, cyclists, weight lifters etc... Stands them out from everyday people.

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Half Time Pies said:

Working class pride said:

I think a lot of these views about whether a sport is skilful or not simply come down to whether you understand the sport sufficiently to comment.

You can't have read the article I posted about Mo Farah so I will copy and paste the relevant bit:

"What of the contest itself? When Tiger Woods - rightly considered extraordinary for winning 14 of his first 46 majors - settles over his ball on tee or green, he is executing a closed skill. The only one who can affect the club or ball is him. There will be immense pressure, but there will also be silence.

When Serena Williams - about to tilt at the calendar Grand Slam at the US Open, 21 Slam single titles from 25 finals - winds up one of her car-crusher serves, or hits one of those mighty forehands, she has one opponent to worry about.

Farah, enjoying a similarly dominant streak on the track, has the same pressure of the grand occasion. He is also surrounded by 14 men trying to mess with his race and his head, able to sit in his eyeline or breathe down his neck, or ease an unseen elbow into his ribs.
He has one group of three working as a team, taking it in turns to hurt him, and then the same again in the vest of another nation. He has also had a heat get through just to get this far, and in Farah's case, a 10,000m final under the same immense duress less than a week before, in which the number of opponents climbs to 27.

Running isn't as difficult a skill as hitting a three-iron to six feet or volleying a ball coming back at you at 80 miles an hour, right?
Consider one tiny nuance of hundreds. If you run a single lap of a track in lane two rather than lane one - because there is no room on the curb, or because you are trying to get past a rival, let alone three of them - you are forced to run 6.8 metres further than your rival inside.
That 6.8m at the end of a race doesn't just separate gold from silver. It can separate gold from 'I'd forgotten that bloke was running'.
Kenya's Caleb Ndiku (left) and Mo Farah
Ndiku (left) pushed Farah to his limits on the final lap before enjoying a playful joust in the aftermath
That is just one lap in a 12-and-a-half-lap 5,000m race. And it is only one miniscule variable in the ever-changing permutations.

We talk about footballers who have the vision to pick out the perfect pass at the optimum time. In a distance race, a champion must be capable not only of spotting what is actually happening all around them, in front and behind, to their left and their right, but to work out what those 14 rivals might be thinking of doing too. That takes you so far.

They then need the weapons to respond to all those myriad possibilities and outcomes - not just one great tool, like the boxer who has a great jab or a fantastic ability to slip the punches, but all of them: the ability to go hard from gun to tape; to run alternating laps flat out and then slow, as opponents gang up and take it in turns to dish out the pain; to wind it up from 800 metres out; to blast out a last 400 metres that can blow the rest away"

This is the same as the other sport that you claim has no skill 'cycling', try to imagine the bike handling skills required in order to be able ride at high speeds in close quarters with other riders. Individual riders can approach speeds of 70 mph while descending winding mountain roads and may reach speeds of 40-50 mph during the final sprint to the finish line all the time having to be aware of all the riders around them and respond as appropriate.

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This.

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big nuts said:

Working class pride said:

There are running clubs up and down the land, running is incredibly popular at the moment with marathons down to 5k races fully subscribed.

I disagree I think there is a skill to top level running when you factor in tactics but even if I were to concede your point you don't need to demonstrate skill to be a sportsman.

The shape and mental toughness of runners, cyclists, weight lifters etc... Stands them out from everyday people.

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There is not a running club in every town and village, there is a football and cricket team. Sure there are lots of fun runs where even I might join in to raise a few bob for charity, but that is not sport, its a day out and a jog around a park.

The main difference between us is the shape and mental point you make. You are not wrong and neither am I, we just look at things through a different end of a telescope. For me shape and mental toughness help when playing sport, but they do not make a sportsman. Skill does, Messi, Viv Richards, Don Bradman, Warne, and George Best (never accused of focus or mental toughness!). For me being an athlete is a great thing to be, but an athlete does not make a sportsman, it just makes an athlete. Look at many "athletes" playing football. They look good, better than Messi, but Messi is a great sportsman but not an athlete. I bet that if Messi played cricket, table tennis or golf then he would be good at them as well. Its about skill and hand eye co-ordination. It's probably also why the BBC have left only minority sports that nobody cares about. The cream of sport is on sky.

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pb21 said:

No.

Bradley Wiggins.

The range and scope of his victories, Olympic 4 km pursuit champion, Olympic TT champion, world TT champion, oh and the TdF no less, as well as numerous other road stage races and victories (including a sprint stage) puts him well ahead IMO.

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Frutos said:

Possibly Nigel Benn but definitely not Steve Redgrave?

A bit of an odd choice in my view, but all about opinions!

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