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Who are the greatest athletes in the World?


robert
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What are the greatest athletes in the world?  

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I don't know who it was but it was an ESPN special on a young NASCAR driver that was visually in incredible shape. However he pretty much lives on the Atkins diet...I wouldn't call that healthy. I'm sure most of them are hard core middle america meat eaters as well...meaning they eat more meat than the normal american that eats too much already. A heck of a lot of them are alcoholics too judging by somewhat regular incidents with the law...a far cry from taking care of themselves. As for the crewmembers you're correct...they need to be fast and pretty strong...unlike the drivers. However they don't really need any endurance at all...its sort of like being a designated hitter in baseball.

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I don't know who it was but it was an ESPN special on a young NASCAR driver that was visually in incredible shape. However he pretty much lives on the Atkins diet...I wouldn't call that healthy. I'm sure most of them are hard core middle america meat eaters as well...meaning they eat more meat than the normal american that eats too much already. A heck of a lot of them are alcoholics too judging by somewhat regular incidents with the law...a far cry from taking care of themselves. As for the crewmembers you're correct...they need to be fast and pretty strong...unlike the drivers. However they don't really need any endurance at all...its sort of like being a designated hitter in baseball.

 

I'll have to give ya the last word on this since I didn't read the initial post excluding motorsports.

 

I'm still a newbie and will have more to learn than to teach for quite awhile I suspect. So I don't need to hijack threads yet.

 

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Don't worry about that...springboard is on the list and divers are definitely some of the most athletic people on the planet. They(world class competitiors) tend to be extremely explosive(some can squat 3x their own bodyweight and most of them men can bench over 2x their body weight) yet very very flexible. They spend hours a day diving, cross training and doing various things like ballet/dance for body control. Most of the men later become acrobats if they retire young enough and nobody would say they aren't athletes. While most of the women(outside of the Chinese) are ex elite gymnasts that have either gotten hurt, or have grown too tall to keep doing gymnastics competitively.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Easy: Shaolin Masters.

Spetznaz, although that may only be part of some kind of blood sport.

Surfing is a good one. If they could combine surfing and soccer that would be awesome. Maybe Kung fu and other sports kinda like kung fu soccer.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Definitely triathletes. There's no other sport that requires someone to balance three extremely demanding disciplines. Also, it requires you to use nearly every muscle in your body. On top of that, they are the most mentally tough athletes in the world to have to endure that much pain for such an extended period of time.

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I agree with veganmomma with wrestling, but I would to extend this to MMA/Contact Martial Arts. Although I think every athlete has their own goal on what they want to accomplish, and use different training techniques, MMA fighters have to make sure their whole body is trained to meet the rigors of the sport.

 

Weight lifting for strength, running/biking for endurance, wrestling for power and endurance. The train their whole bodies as a single weapon. If they are top tier fighters they train every muscle in everyway possible for the task of winning, unlike other sports where they only need to train specific muscle groups to advance.

 

And if we are going to take mental toughness, doing a triatholon, though it demands respect from the athletes doing it, most fighters would try to do it without much fear, untrained.

 

But if a triathalete enters a ring untrained, I think he would be scared.

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I wouldn't say that. Most people doing anything they aren't familiar with will be intimidated. The MMA fighter wouldn't be afraid of the race but he'd probably be afraid of failure and would feel pathetic not finishing a race. As for other athletes trying MMA there's a lot of morons out there that aren't affraid of anything...some of them are couch potatoes...thing is they'd expect to do bad.

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I guess thats true. Id expect to do horrible in a triathalon but not afraid to attempt one untrained. But even though I train in martial arts Im quite frightened by getting in a ring with an Anderson Silva

 

I still think that each athlete can be the best at what they do. I still think that a great athlete is strong in all the other ways his sport isnt intended for.

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  • 6 months later...

Rock Climbers are the Best Athletes Ever.

 

You name the skill, we use it. Pure strength in every muscle in our body. Aerobic endurance. Flexibility. Balance. Body position awareness. Mental toughness. Determination. Control of fear (but not elimination, because healthy fear keeps you alive). Rock climbing demands all these skills and more.

 

Many other sports demand all of these skills as well. What sets rock climbing apart is that we face ultimate consequence if our athleticism falls short. Gymnasts should possess all these skills, but if they don't, they go home without a medal. A rock climber who doesn't possess the athleticism to make it to the top of the climb is stuck on a cold, dark ledge facing weather, starvation, and eventually death. We are very careful in our preparation: knowing our route, bringing enough food and equipment, and training obsessively before we tackle big climbs.

 

We don't get paid anything, because our sport is not photogenic. I showed some non-climber friends a video of some of the hardest climbs ever ascended, and they asked if we could watch a soap opera instead. Literally (well, that's their problem). Rock climbing has thus developed a "dirtbag" culture, where people sell all their possessions, camp in Yosemite for years on end, eating leftover food from the cafeteria, just so they can do groundbreaking climbs. We climb just for pure love of the experience, one so sublime that words fail.

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Oh yeah, ultramarathon runners get a vote for me, too - I can't imagine what it is like when you've been running for something like 15-20 hours straight, are completely delirious, and still have what it takes to keep on going. That stuff is sheer madness.

 

Dean Karnazes!

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I voted CYCLISTS. It's a hard decision. I was surprised there's no votes for runners... to be able to run a 42k marathon you need to get in shape! But Triathlon athletes, even more fit, in the general aspect of it, because it's 3 different disciplines, more full body workout. Also wrestlers (all martial artists) because there's virtually no limit to how fit you need to be for thoses kind of sports when you want to push yourself to the maximum... but it's like that for all sports... so technically ALL athletes can virtually be the greatest athletes in the world because to push yourself to the maximum and be the champion you need to give all you have. But I voted cyclists because to make the Tour de France, each day is comparable to a 42k ruuning marathon, but Tour de France athletes need to perform this exploit everyday for weeks! Is there such kind of competitions in other sports?

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I voted CYCLISTS. It's a hard decision. I was surprised there's no votes for runners... to be able to run a 42k marathon you need to get in shape! But Triathlon athletes, even more fit, in the general aspect of it, because it's 3 different disciplines, more full body workout. Also wrestlers (all martial artists) because there's virtually no limit to how fit you need to be for thoses kind of sports when you want to push yourself to the maximum... but it's like that for all sports... so technically ALL athletes can virtually be the greatest athletes in the world because to push yourself to the maximum and be the champion you need to give all you have. But I voted cyclists because to make the Tour de France, each day is comparable to a 42k ruuning marathon, but Tour de France athletes need to perform this exploit everyday for weeks! Is there such kind of competitions in other sports?

 

Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.

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I voted CYCLISTS. It's a hard decision. I was surprised there's no votes for runners... to be able to run a 42k marathon you need to get in shape! But Triathlon athletes, even more fit, in the general aspect of it, because it's 3 different disciplines, more full body workout. Also wrestlers (all martial artists) because there's virtually no limit to how fit you need to be for thoses kind of sports when you want to push yourself to the maximum... but it's like that for all sports... so technically ALL athletes can virtually be the greatest athletes in the world because to push yourself to the maximum and be the champion you need to give all you have. But I voted cyclists because to make the Tour de France, each day is comparable to a 42k ruuning marathon, but Tour de France athletes need to perform this exploit everyday for weeks! Is there such kind of competitions in other sports?

 

Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.

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I voted CYCLISTS. It's a hard decision. I was surprised there's no votes for runners... to be able to run a 42k marathon you need to get in shape! But Triathlon athletes, even more fit, in the general aspect of it, because it's 3 different disciplines, more full body workout. Also wrestlers (all martial artists) because there's virtually no limit to how fit you need to be for thoses kind of sports when you want to push yourself to the maximum... but it's like that for all sports... so technically ALL athletes can virtually be the greatest athletes in the world because to push yourself to the maximum and be the champion you need to give all you have. But I voted cyclists because to make the Tour de France, each day is comparable to a 42k ruuning marathon, but Tour de France athletes need to perform this exploit everyday for weeks! Is there such kind of competitions in other sports?

 

Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.

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I voted CYCLISTS. It's a hard decision. I was surprised there's no votes for runners... to be able to run a 42k marathon you need to get in shape! But Triathlon athletes, even more fit, in the general aspect of it, because it's 3 different disciplines, more full body workout. Also wrestlers (all martial artists) because there's virtually no limit to how fit you need to be for thoses kind of sports when you want to push yourself to the maximum... but it's like that for all sports... so technically ALL athletes can virtually be the greatest athletes in the world because to push yourself to the maximum and be the champion you need to give all you have. But I voted cyclists because to make the Tour de France, each day is comparable to a 42k ruuning marathon, but Tour de France athletes need to perform this exploit everyday for weeks! Is there such kind of competitions in other sports?

 

 

 

Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.

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Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.
Imagine posting the same thing 4 times in a row on the same thread.

 

Imagine trying to pick up Super Heavy Weight Wrestler and throwing him around like a bag of rice.

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o350/the_truth_bucket/AlexanderKarelin.jpg

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Imagine not just doing that with the Tour de France, but also the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in one year.
Imagine posting the same thing 4 times in a row on the same thread.

 

Imagine trying to pick up Super Heavy Weight Wrestler and throwing him around like a bag of rice.

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o350/the_truth_bucket/AlexanderKarelin.jpg

 

 

Hahahahahaha. My bad.

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Oh yeah, ultramarathon runners get a vote for me, too - I can't imagine what it is like when you've been running for something like 15-20 hours straight, are completely delirious, and still have what it takes to keep on going. That stuff is sheer madness.

That's what I'm talkin' about!

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Oh yeah, ultramarathon runners get a vote for me, too - I can't imagine what it is like when you've been running for something like 15-20 hours straight, are completely delirious, and still have what it takes to keep on going. That stuff is sheer madness.

That's what I'm talkin' about!

That's insane!
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