[quote]stokedporcupine wrote:
shizen wrote:
Also no disrespect but I don’t think Mariusz Pudzianowski is the most dominant strongman, he just wins in ‘fast’ events like WSM. He loses all the time in the ‘real’ test of strength at the arnold every time to Zydrunas savickas who has won it SIX times in a row and holds several world records he is much more dominant in strongman.
i agree, WSM really shouldn’t be able to call itself that anymore. IFSA and competitions like the Arnold seem to be a much better representation of strongman.
now of course, savickas would most likely lose to Pudzianowski at WSM, and Pudzianowski to savickas at the Arnold… but WSM events arn’t really about strength anymore. the difference between WSM and IFSA seems to be that in WSM, a log press event will involve pressing a 275lb log for reps, while in IFSA a log press event will be who can press the heaviest log. Or, in WSM, you run around carrying 250lb barrels or dragging around some heavy chain, and at the Arnold you have to farmers walk a 850lb implement up a 30 degree incline. it seems clear to me which competition is really about strength. [/quote]
Yes, Marsuiz isn’t as dominate as most think. He has lost three times in the past year to Americans in big competitions and has just pulled out of two big competitions. (WSM Super Series at Madison Square garden and Fostimuss in Canada where he was supposed to go up against big Z.) Others have closed the gap on him.
[quote]super saiyan wrote:
Boxer666 wrote:
alexander karelin
russian monster
undefeated in onlympic greco-roman wrestling for 10 years… didnt lose a single point. finally lost when someone avoided him like the plague till he gassed, american rulon gardner i think his name was
[/quote]
Beat me to it. I’ll add to the list:
Cael Sanderson
2004 Olympic Gold Medalist
2003 World Silver Medalist
First Undefeated, Four-Time Wrestling Champion in NCAA History (1999-2002)
Eric Heiden
Won five speedskating gold medals (that was every distance BTW), and set 4 Olympic records and 1 world record at the 1980 Winter Olympics. It’s the equivilent of a sprinter winning every individual distance race in track and field.
[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
Beat me to it. I’ll add to the list:
Cael Sanderson
2004 Olympic Gold Medalist
2003 World Silver Medalist
First Undefeated, Four-Time Wrestling Champion in NCAA History (1999-2002)
Eric Heiden
Won five speedskating gold medals (that was every distance BTW), and set 4 Olympic records and 1 world record at the 1980 Winter Olympics. It’s the equivilent of a sprinter winning every individual distance race in track and field.
[/quote]
Funny story about Cael Sanderson:
He went 159-0 wrestling in college at Iowa State, but then opened 0-1 as a professional.
Talk about a reality check. He’s since rebounded, and is an excellent pro, I believe.
Most dominant now. These are acomplishment based in my view and not solely based on physical statistics.
Athlete overall - Tiger (it is in human what he does in competition)
Basketball - Kobe (although I don’t like him)
Football - Tom Brady
Baseball - That one is really hard - lots of guys close to each other in my opinion. Maddox comes to mind though.
Cycling - Tom Boonen (big fan of the sport)
MMA - GSP (but this changes so often)
[quote]bpeck wrote:
Edwin Moses - he was undefeated in the 400m hurdles for something like 10 years.
bpeck[/quote]
Nice catch. I would like to add, in no particular order:
Olympics:
Carl Lewis
Dan Gable
Michael Phelps
Sergei Bubka
Eric Heiden (I still think what he did in 1980 is one of, if not the greatest achievement in Olympic history).
Auto Racing:
Richard Petty
Michael Schumacher
Horse Racing:
Secretariat
Seattle Slew
War Admiral
Sea Biscuit
Tennis:
Martina Navratolova
Golf:
Tiger (obviously)
Jack Nicklaus
Ben Hogan
Arnold Palmer
Boxing:
Rocky Marciano
Joe Louis
Baseball:
Babe Ruth
Mickey Mantle
Saduharu Oh
Football:
Jim Brown
Lawrence Taylor
Basketball:
Wilt Chamberlain
Michael Jordan
The Boston Celtics of the '50s
UCLA Bruins of late 60s-early 70s
[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
…
Eric Heiden
Won five speedskating gold medals (that was every distance BTW), and set 4 Olympic records and 1 world record at the 1980 Winter Olympics. It’s the equivilent of a sprinter winning every individual distance race in track and field.
[/quote]
I think is now an orthopaedic surgeon. Amazing individual.
How in the world do y ou say Kobe and not mention Shaq?
I’m by far more of a Kobe fan but he doesn’t dominate the game nearly as much as Shaq does do and did. (How many players brought 3 different teams to the finals?)
No athlete in the last 10 years has dominated like Federer, then Shaq tied with Tiger although I agree with the poster that said gold is not an athletic sport.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
How in the world do y ou say Kobe and not mention Shaq?
I’m by far more of a Kobe fan but he doesn’t dominate the game nearly as much as Shaq does do and did. (How many players brought 3 different teams to the finals?)
No athlete in the last 10 years has dominated like Federer, then Shaq tied with Tiger although I agree with the poster that said gold is not an athletic sport. [/quote]
kobe is most dominant now, obviously choose all time people like Michael jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ext would come to mind.
[quote]Himora22 wrote:
tmoney1 wrote:
Himora22 wrote:
So I want to know in your opinion who are the most dominate athletes now or in their own era?
To get the Ball rolling…
Tiger Woods - is there any question
Kobie Bryant - Jordan all time
Josh Becett - Nolan Ryan in his day
Mariusz Pudzianowski - The man is a freak!!
IMO Payton Manning
the floor is open
No disrespect meant on the hijack, but how do incorrectly spell Kobe, Beckett, and Peyton, but spell Mariusz Pudzianowski right?
Just curious.
Anyways, for the list: Agree on Tiger, agree on Kobe (but a case for LeBron can be made), and for a short list I would add Muhammad Ali, Fedor Emelianenko, Sidney Crosby, Roger Federer, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, George Mikan, Jesse Owens, Martina Navratilova, the list goes on and on…
LoL I am the worlds worlds speller and I was looking at the vids of Pudzianowski and just copy and pasted. I hubely your forgiveness. That and I dont have word on the computer at work, but that is pretty funny though…in a sad way. I cant help but laugh at myself[/quote]
HAHA thanks for taking it in stride and being cool about it. As mentioned before, hopefully no hard feelings.
For this to make any sense, first you have to define what “dominant” means. To me, it means that 1) the athlete can single-handedly take over a game/event whenever they decide it’s time OR 2) the athlete is so good that the other team will design their entire game plan around stopping them.
Also, with team sports, sometimes you have to include a whole unit.
MMA: Anderson Silva and Fedor
NFL: Steel Curtain D, Ray Lewis, LT56, Dallas Cowboys '92-'96 O-line, Steve Young, Walter Payton, Tom fucking Brady, Peyton Manning, Dwight Freeney, Deion Sanders
NBA: Shaq, MJ, Kobe, Allen Iverson
MLB: Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Nolan Ryan, Dennis Eckersley, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, David Ortiz
PGA: Tiger
NHL: Lemieux, Gretzky
Track: Michael Johnson
Cycling: Lance Armstrong
Tennis: Pete Sampras, Serena Williams (she can dominate me any time)
I mentioned Wilt earlier but Shaq was also a dominant athlete in his prime- a total freak of nature. Oscar Robertson and Kareem dominated in their day too.
Mark Spitz(sp?) won like 7 gold medals in swimming one year (1972??)
What about the Ethiopean long distance runners? They dominate their sport.
Martina Natravalova(sp?) dominated women’s tennis for years.
Has Carl Lewis been mentioned yet?
The Iranian weightlifter is pretty dominant- (I’m not even going to try to spell his name.)
Why, because the second year he was one WSM, he beat out Mariusz, but never came back. And, correct me if I am wrong, but the last time that I checked, he was the record holder for the Circus Dumbbell lift. And watching the strongman competitions on 1+1 (Ukrainian Channel), he is always the one that the Ukrainian team can count on.