Sorry mate was that going to be your suggestion? He was a real superman of the sport, I can't think of any other team sport that one man has dominated for so long. I was out in Alberta, Canada in '88 when he was traded to LA. It was like a national mourning. There are some great answers on this thread btw. How yo determine who was better than who will take some doing. Maybe a poll?
some people will say number of titles but that doesn't mean anything, hardly anyone has Schumacher as the best ever driver despite the number or win and championships. same goes for Redgrave, he won a lot but was he so far ahead of the rest like Gretzky was? thats not easy to do, especially in a team sport.
I somehow prefer Mario Lemioux before Grezky but icehockey (even if it is a great sport) is a very small sport compared to football or athlete.
Max Woosnam, simply the most amazing all-round sportsman ever... http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/max-woosnam-the-king-of-sport-635938#.UuKr2hBFCM8
An impossible question to answer as we all prefer different sports & have have different perceptions of greatness. Ali, for me must be near the top. From athletics, Owens or Lassi Viren (The Finn who won the 5000 & 10000 in consecutive olympics). Redgrave for his longtivity. Bradley wiggins for his range of cycling events & Pele for his sheer brilliance. Tony McCoy & Vettal are incomparable in their own field as well. However, I must agree with an earlier answer. How Alf Tupper won all his races after starting half a lap behind, living on a diet of fish & chips & doing no training is the mark of true greatness!
Do you know why he broke the world record 35 times? genuine question? As for the answer to the OP...so many diffrent sportmen & women Daley Thompsom, Steve Redgrave, Chris Hoy, Macenroe, Bjon Borg, Boris Becker, Schumaker, Viv Richards, Warne, and I suppose if you call darts a sport theres Eric Bristow & Phil the Power Taylor.... Thats just the men.... Anyway KDH..see if you can work it out and let us know
They used to give big cash payments at the major meets for world records. He could beat the WR by about 50 cms but did it two or three cms at a time.
Bubka broke the world record for money, usually one centimetre at a time, a very controlled and lucrative way of making a living...
Spot on guys, so in reality he would have only ever beaten his own world record 3 or 4 times. I believe the payment was around $10k ever time he beat it. Must have had Mark Hughes negotiate that contract for him
...and he gave thousands of people the experience of seeing an athletics world record broken, which hardly happens every day, in the process. Probably not his main motivation, but good for him in my view.
Rest assured mate, If i had that contract I'd have done exactly the same.(if i'd been clever enough?) Credit to him, i remeber seing him break it numerous times. First time anyone actually took any notice of Pole Vaulting really. Much prefered watching the 2 female pole vaulters (American & Russian-i think) who used to battle it out in the late nineties though. Cant remember thier names...
