got to be Carl Lewis for me. Phelps is amazing too but as the op indicates the number of available events made it a little easier.
Greatest Olympian of all time
- Thread starter eric le roi
- Start date
Xavi has played 391 games for club and country combined in the last 6 years. An average of 65 games a season. At a ridiculously high tempo. Covering a ridiculous amount of ground per game.
Just saying.
Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes has said that if he said what he's done and knows, Spain would lose the World Cup. He's always said that football teams have used his services, but they have much more power than cycling teams.
Possibly the one thing that could ruin professional football (not games with mates) for me, I recall rumours about the Italian league in the 70s/80s as well.
I'm fairly confident the prem's ok so far though, I think we watch it so much you could see it if it wasn't.
Le Monde published a story suggesting Barcelona and Real Madrid used his services, but they were sued for libel by Barcelona. Given how many games Barca players have played over the past few years, it wouldn't surprise me at all.
I'd have thought drugs would enhance performance in the short term, at the expense of the long term, so I don't quite go along with that.
It's not just the quantity but the level of intensity they play at that rouses my suspicions. Not just the physical side either, the concentration required to play at the level is a huge strain mentally and yet they are always at the same level.
There are drugs/treatments that can aid recovery times, reduce fatigue, etc. Blood-doping doesn't add drugs to the system, but it does increase red blood cell counts by adding one's own blood. That would aid in endurance and recovery by allowing for more oxygen to be transported. It's not just anabolic steroids or EPO.
I'm not saying that they definitely are. I'm saying that it wouldn't be surprising.
Yeah, I've thought about it a bit more now. Even in Coe's day he was said to have his red blood cells re-input before races. Then again the olympics were supposed to be amateur then but the likes of him never worked a day, not to mention the American college professionals and the East european army officers.
Sorry to enthusiasts, but the olympics has been intrinsically dishonest all my life, can't get into it.
They've mostly stopped pretending it's amateur anything, though. The basketball teams are all NBA players and other professionals. The football sides might be mostly U23, but they're still professional players. Michael Phelps isn't a roofer who happens to fancy a dip in the pool now and then.
Of course they have, but it was a long process to get there.
Not a cliche but a truism.
And before it was revealed that Carl Lewis tested positive for banned substances during the US trials. The US Olympic Committee had always been suspected of covering up drug cheats and the evidence strongly suggests that they did so for Carl Lewis.
Furthermore only 1 runner from that 100m final in Seoul finished his career having never failed a drugs test I believe.
Jesse Owens would be my pick for greatest Olympian, for both his success and the manner in which he achieved that success.
Yes but there's professional and there's professional. NBA players, top tennis players and top footballers all earn millions of dollars a year. Apart from a few anomalies like Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, who can also earn millions a year from sponsorship and endorsments, the vast majority of athletes at the Olympics will be on no more than an average living wage. How much do you think the GB men's athletic team members earn? I'm guessing less than £50k a year. Not bad, but certainly no millionaires.
I was coming through Heathrow on the 26th July and I saw loads of athletes from various countries and quite a few of them jumped on the tube, carrying all their gear, on their own..... You won't catch Andy Murray doing that.
That's what's so sad about drugs, they taint everybody, and the UK is certainly not immune.
Linford Christie was actually put forward as an ambassador for the British bid!
Linford Christie was actually put forward as an ambassador for the British bid!
The most corrupt race ever
The 1988 Olympic 100 metres final was one of the most dramatic races in the history of the Games. Ben Johnson may have failed a drugs test and been stripped of his gold medal but, as Lee Honeyball writes, he was not the only guilty athlete on that famous afternoon in Seoul.
Of the eight athletes who competed in the 100metres final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics - the most explosive and exhilarating race ever run - five have failed drugs tests. The first came within hours. Ben Johnson, who had blasted to victory in a then world-record time of 9.79 seconds, tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol and was stripped of his gold.
The race had been badly tarnished, but the cheat, held up as the embodiment of disgrace by the athletes who had trailed in his wake, had been outed and the rightful winner, Carl Lewis, had been found. Or had he?
The warning signs were originally ignored. In a rare interview in 1996, Johnson said: 'Yes, I was taking steroids, but so were others on the starting line that day. They know it. I know it. That's all that counts. If people are naive enough to believe that athletes don't take drugs, that is their problem.'
Over the past eight years Johnson's claims - dismissed at the time as being those of an embittered man - have gained more credence. Doubts about the others may have taken longer to surface, but four of the athletes who toiled behind Johnson that afternoon in Seoul have now failed tests. And who knows today, after the Balco scandal, which athletes are clean and which are cheats?
1 DENNIS MITCHELL
Time: 10.04
Position: 4th
Banned for two years after testing positive for excessive levels of testosterone in 1998. The American's defence of 'five bottles of beer and sex with his wife at least four times' the night before giving the urine sample saw him cleared by USA Track & Field, but not by the IAAF. Now 38, he works as an athletics coach in Florida.
2 DESAI WILLIAMS
Time: 10.11
Position: 6th
Williams was, at 29, the oldest runner in the field. He never figured prominently in the race despite running a personal best. He was implicated in the Canadian government's 1989 inquiry into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by their athletes and later admitted to using steroids. He is now a coach based in Toronto.
3 BEN JOHNSON
Time: 9.79
Position: Disqualified
After being stripped of gold in Seoul, Johnson returned to athletics two years later but failed a second test in 1993 and was banned for life. 'I could have run 9.72 if I had not shut down at 94 metres,' he says of his world record run. Now 42, he lives in Toronto where has set up a clothes label. 'I don't watch the sport any more. It's a waste of time. Nobody impresses me.'
4 CALVIN SMITH
Time: 9.99
Position: Bronze
The former world-record holder is the only man in the first five still untarnished by drug allegations. 'I should have been the gold medallist,' he has said. 'During the last five years of my career I knew I was being denied the chance to show I was the best clean runner.' Now 43, he teaches English literature in Tampa, Florida.
5 LINFORD CHRISTIE
Time: 9.97
Position: Silver
Following the final, Christie failed a drugs test for the stimulant ephedrine, but was later cleared on appeal after convincing the panel he had taken it inadvertently when drinking ginseng tea. The 1992 Olympic gold medallist then received a two-year ban in 1999 after testing positive for nandrolone. Now 44, he works as an athletics coach and television presenter.
6 CARL LEWIS
Time: 9.92
Position: Gold
Known for sanctimonious speeches against opponents who took drugs, it emerged last year that Lewis failed three tests at the 1988 Olympic trials (these were covered up at the time). The American Olympic body accepted his appeal that he had innocently taken a herbal supplement. Now 43, he is pursuing a career as an actor and fitness coach.
7 RAY STEWART
Time: 12.26
Position: Last
Having been runner-up in the previous year's world championships, Stewart trailed in last, suffering from a leg injury. 'Based on what happened after the Olympics, everyone was on drugs,' he says. 'There was a lot more [drug taking going on] than people were hearing about.' Now 39, Stewart is an athletics coach in Texas.
8 ROBSON DE SILVA
Time: 10.11
Position: 5th
De Silva may have struggled to keep up in the 100m final, but he did win a medal at the Seoul Games - a silver in the 200m. 'I just remember watching Ben Johnson's back,' he said recently. 'He was moving as if at the speed of light. He was just incredible.' Since retiring in 1997, de Silva has returned to Rio de Janeiro where he works as an athletics commentator.
(Source: The Observer)
Thanks. It's still probably my favourite Olympic moment. It has everything from incredible physical performance to blind human desire to succeed at any cost. It's humanity's glory and failings laid bare.
Just looking up Ray Stewart out of curiosity and his wiki says he was banned in 2010 for life for supplying his own athletes with performance enhancing drugs. That is one seriously messed up line up of athletes.
Just looking up Ray Stewart out of curiosity and his wiki says he was banned in 2010 for life for supplying his own athletes with performance enhancing drugs. That is one seriously messed up line up of athletes.
Then you get Chambers who took 18 different drugs in a year and is now back competing. Who cares who's got the best drugs and/or the best avoidance system?
This was amazing(as I previously mentioned):
Bjørn Dæhlie, of course.
He's winter olympics, but then winter olympics is best olympics.
He's winter olympics, but then winter olympics is best olympics.
I may be a little biased here but I am going with Mr Ryan Giggs.
Jesse Owens
Which tube station is that then?
Teofilo Stevenson.
3 gold medals at heavyweight, first won at the age of 20. Would have won 4 had Cuba not boycotted the LA games as he had beaten the eventual Heavyweight champion Tyrell Biggs numerous times previously.
Also boycotted the 88 games, where there was potential to win a 5th.
Of his 3 Olympic gold medal wins, only 2 people heard the final bell against him, his last 2 opponents.
3 gold medals at heavyweight, first won at the age of 20. Would have won 4 had Cuba not boycotted the LA games as he had beaten the eventual Heavyweight champion Tyrell Biggs numerous times previously.
Also boycotted the 88 games, where there was potential to win a 5th.
Of his 3 Olympic gold medal wins, only 2 people heard the final bell against him, his last 2 opponents.
Mine too. Such a scintillating run and celebration from Johnson. A celebration which cost him a low-9.70s finish, but was worth more in encapsulating the rivalry between him and Lewis.
Well yes even accounting for the altitude and following wind, it was special. Apparently all the competitors were jumped very far in the warm-up, the first couple fouled, then Beamon jumped. After the carry-on getting it measured, the wind had dropped and rain started to fall, meaning nobody else got near him. Amazing though that only Mike Powell has passed it in the last 45 years and getting within half a metre of it will still guarantee you Olympic Gold today.
Ha! I was going to write almost this exact paragraph. That's fecking hilarious.
Yeah, who would have thought that someone with such red hair could have done something so remarkable? Who would have thought that she could avoid detection too and retire with her medals intact?