v2 G.O.A.T Round 2 Group 3

The v2 GOAT made its comeback on Friday and kicked off with two groups of 4, the first group was contested between Federer, Owens, Rice and Edwards and after a full day of voting it was the Grand Slam tennis champion that prevailed with 63% of the vote, he will be joined in the last 16 by Jesse Owens who bagged 28% of the vote.

Elsewhere Diego Maradonna, Shane Warne, Steffi Graf and Michael Jordan battled out for the next 2 spots in the last 16 with Jordan topping the group and Maradonna finishing second.

Today’s first group see’s four iconic competitors square off for your votes, representing Athletics, Cricket and Baseball.

Please vote for the participant you believe has achieved the most in sport

Please leave a comment as to why you voted.

Michael Johnson- Track & Field- Championed by 88chris05

"I was eight years old in 1996 and, as a result, the Atlanta Games of that year are the first Olympic Games I can remember properly - and for any sports fan, that's a serious footnote in your memory. It says much about the greatness of the man I'm writing about here that, whenever I think back to that summer of 1996 and the Olympics, the first thing to enter my head is never the Games themselves, and nor is it a collection of moments. Instead, it's just one name which crops up instantly - Michael Johnson.

It took some nerve - or, you might even say, some well-placed arrogance - to wear those golden running spikes, and it must also have taken a large helping of self-belief and stubbornness to ignore the plethora of coaches who had told him right throughout his college and junior career to abandon his unusual 'duck' style of running in favour of the traditional high knee lift, long strides and pumping arms which we usually associate with sprinting. But both the running spikes and that unique style had me hooked from 1996 onwards and I became determined to find out all I could about the man who came away with three gold medals on the track from those Games.

With the emergence of Usain Bolt in recent times, it's easy to forget that, just ten to fifteen years earlier, there was one man on the track who blew everyone's mind and redefined the parameters just as much as the brilliant Jamaican. In fact, I'd argue that Johnson, in many ways, redefined them even more than Bolt has.

For starters, his dominance of the 400m throughout the nineties must be right up there with the greatest spells of dominance in any one event in history. Before Johnson, whose incredible feats earned him the nickname 'Superman', no man had ever won the 400m title at back to back Olympics. Johnson did this at a canter, taking the gold medal in the one lap event at Atlanta in '96 and at Sydney four years later. He won four successive world titles at that same distance, too, from 1993 right up until 1999. His fifty-four consecutive 'finals' wins in the 400m is, of course, a record - so far ahead of his peers in that event is he, that comparisons are pretty pointless.

But there were more notable 'firsts' in Johnson's career. The 100m-200m double is, of course, a rare achievement, the sort which only the giants of sporting history (Owens, Lewis, Bolt etc) have managed. But do you know what's been an even rarer achievement in men's track and field? The 200m-400m double. Because once more, before this remarkable Texan came along, absolutely nobody had managed to win the two events together at the Olympics - or at any major championships, for that matter. Not content with making history once by doing so at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Johnson made it two 'doubles' in as many years at the following summer's Olympics. And which man has replicated this feat since? That's right - absolutely none of them.

Usain Bolt's double of the 100m-200m (or even his 'double double' of doing the 100m-200m act at two successive Olympics, a feat which he controversially shares with Carl Lewis) make him one of a few, but Johnson's achievements really do make him one of a kind.

I think it's key to remember, also, that the 400m takes on a very different dynamic to the shorter sprints. Unlike the 100m or the 200m, the 400m discipline takes a different type of training, a large amount of kidology and tactics. There is no element of just running flat out as fast as you can; pacing yourself, the concept of even-paced running, adapting to running two bends ect all make it a different ball game. Genuinely, I feel that Johnson's ability to adapt so perfectly to both events make him a serious contender to be considered the finest track athlete the world has ever seen.

Johnsons' gold medal tally in the 200m (two World Championships, one Olympics) doesn't read quite as staggeringly (but is still only surpassed by a certain Mr Bolt, mind you!) but, as I mentioned above, I genuinely think that Johnson expanded the ideas of what was possible in this event more than anyone else has thus far in his own way. In track and field, particularly in the sprints, you seldom see a world record which lasts more than three or four years, generally speaking. It's amazing what the human body can do when you're setting its every faculty towards a certain mark - for instance, Roger Bannister's four minute mile in 1954 was considered superhuman and, almost, a case of someone doing the impossible, and yet it lasted as a world record for a mere six weeks.

So then, let's keep in mind that Pietro Mennea's 200m world record of 19.72 seconds had stood for a whole seventeen years by 1996, remarkable in a sport which is pitted so often against the clock. At the Olympic trials that year, Johnson edged it out with a 19.66, a fantastic feat in itself, but what he did in the Olympics themselves in that event will stay with me forever. Even as an eight year old, I knew I was watching something remarkable. But it's only looking back that I can fully appreciate the magnitude of Johnson's gold medal winning performance.

Johnson won the gold in a staggering 19.32 seconds, a whole .34 of a second ahead of his own personal best (by an absolute mile the most that anyone has improved a short sprint record since the introduction of electronic timing in the sixties), and .36 ahead of second-placed Frankie Fredericks who, just weeks earlier, had beaten Johnson and was fancied by many to do so again (a shell-shocked Fredericks remarked after the race, ""If I'd have known that Michael was going to run 19.32, I wouldn't have bothered showing up.""). Ato Boldon, who took the bronze medal, went to Johnson after the race and bowed, later commenting that Johnson's race that night was ""fifty years ahead of its time.""

Now, I know what you're all thinking. Rather than fifty, the record 'only' lasted for twelve years (still a hell of a long time by track and field standards, of course) before Usain Bolt narrowly beat it with his wonderful 19.30 in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. But as I said before, it's amazing what can be done by the human body when its sole focus is on a time which you have the luxury of shooting for. Basically, if someone can run a 19.32, you know that it's a real possibility and, in many ways, inevitable that someone can eventually go 19.30 or better, like Bolt has. Edging a world record out like that is the norm.

However, totally obliterating one like Johnson did most certainly isn't. With Mennea's 19.72 came the realisation that humans could and eventually would be running in the 19.6 bracket. With Johnson's 19.66 three months before Atlanta came the realisation that maybe, just maybe, we could see a high 19.5 time in our lifespan if we were lucky. Absolutely nobody, however, would have ever dared conjour up the the thought of a man eating up 200m of track in a low 19.3 time. It boggled the mind, tore up all logic and left a world-wide audience, including BBC commentator David Coleman, saying ""this man surely isn't human!""

When Bolt broke the 200m world record, there were loud cheers in my house. However, when Johnson ran that 19.32 in Atlanta, there was nothing but a stunned silence, followed by a series of glances which seemd to be asking, 'Did I really just see that?'

And of course, Johnson's 400m world record still remains intact at 43.18 seconds, despite thirteen and a half years having passed since he finally set it at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. Again, it's worth noting that, in track and field, world records that can last a decade or more come at a premium. From the top of my head, I do believe that Michael Johnson is the only man to have set a world record lasting a decade or longer in two individual events since the introduction of electronic timing, and it says a hell of a lot about the man's accomplishments that you have to scroll a fair way down his CV to find a fact as impressive as that!

In all, Johnson stepped on to a podium to collect thirteen medals at either the Olympic Games or World Championships during his career - and ever single one of them was gold.

And as if his towering accomplishments weren't enough, he still manged to show what sportsmanship should be all about in 2008 when, after his relay team mate Antonio Pettigrew admitted under oath that he had used performance enhancing substances throughout the late nineties and early twenty-first century, Johnson voluntarily returned his Gold medal won with Pettigrew and two others in the 4x400m relay at the Sydney Olympics of 2000. In an age where far too many are adopting a relaxed attitude to doping in sport, Johnson's gesture, to me at least, added to his greatness even more, if that were at all possible.

It's a terrible shame that, a certain Mr Carl Lewis aside, track and field athletes have often struggled to receive their dues over in the States, because in Michael Johnson they really did have one of the finest sportsman to have graced the planet. To me, Johnson is everything a sporting great should be.
"

MtotheC - can you please put up the write up I previously provided for Sobers. Thanks.

Garfield Sobers- Cricket- Championed by Guildfordbat

"Before anyone exclaims ''Not another cricketer!'', let me begin with a few words from Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize winning playwright, dramatist and actor. Pinter said, ''I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn'too bad either.''

Now I don't set myself the near impossible task of convincing you of that but I do hope to show you that Garry Sobers was a great cricketing all rounder and sportsman who deserves your vote today. The cricket writer Lawrence Booth described him as ''a master of all trades and jack of none''. In my view, Sobers certainly merits at the least a place at the business end of this contest. Assuming he gets that far, one of his rivals will undoubtedly be Sir Donad Bradman. I make no claim either way today as to whom was the greatest cricketer - that hopefully will be a challenge to come that both will relish. Bradman himself referred to Sobers as ''the five in one cricketer''.

The Don's description referred to Sobers' prowess in batting, fielding and bowling in three distinct styles. This was further explained by the much respected writer, commentator and former Australian captain Richie Benaud: ''Sobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin.'' Benaud added that Sobers was the greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen.''

Garry Sobers was born in Barbados in July 1936. There was perhaps a hint then that there was to be something unusual about him; at birth he had an extra finger on each hand, subsequently removed in early childhood. When Sobers was only five, his father died at sea in WWII when his ship was torpedoed by a U-boat. Despite this tragedy and little money, Sobers generally enjoyed his formative years and excelled in ball sports - football, basketball and especially cricket. At the age of just sixteen he was selected to play for Barbados against the touring India team as a spin bowler and took seven match wickets.

Just one year later Sobers made his Test debut at seventeen. It was the beginning of a Test career that was to last twenty years and bring him 8,032 runs, 235 wickets and 109 catches from 93 matches. With so much Test cricket played today, those stats do not reflect how far ahead of his peers Sobers was. To some extent, I will try and show that. However, it needs to be noted that personal averages were never of concern to Sobers. In the words of the late Tony Greig, ''In my experience, every single thing he did, he did in the interests of the game .... he never thought about averages in any aspect of his game.''

I do not have the time and you do not have the patience for me to list all Sobers' cricketing accomplishments, so just a few to give a flavour of his all round abilities:

* In 1958, he not only scored his maiden Test century against Pakistan in Kingston but went on to amass an undefeated 365 in an innings that lasted over ten hours. It broke the world record Test score of 364 set by England's Len Hutton in 1938. At 21 years and 216 days, he is the youngest player to break the individual scoring record in Tests and remains the youngest triple-centurion. When Sobers' highest individual Test score was finally broken thirty-six years later by Brian Lara, Sobers was at the ground in Antingua to witnesss it and was one of the first to congratulate him.

* Sobers scored another twenty-five centuries in his Test career. Three of these came in the Test series in England in 1966 where he enjoyed spectacular success and was dubbed ''King Cricket''. As the late Christopher Martin Jenkins confirmed, ''he dominated the '66 series''. In the five Tests Sobers scored 722 runs at an average in excess of 103. For me, his greatest batting display that summer was an uncharacteristic innings at Manchester where he reined in his natural attacking instincts to rescue his side from a perilous situation. It has been said on this thread that a true GOAT for all his artistry needs at times to ''guts it out''; this was when Sobers did just that. In their second innings, the West Indies were in desperate trouble at 95-5, leading by just 9 runs. With Sobers at the crease was his young and nervous cousin David Holford in only his second Test. After Holford had played and missed at his first two balls, Sobers went down the pitch and said words to him along the lines of, ''Relax, it's just a game. Now think of how we used to play back home ...''. From there, the tide started to turn. The partnership between Sobers and Holford remained unbroken with the West Indies being able to eventually declare and snatch a draw from the proverbial jaws of defeat. Sobers scored an undefeated 163. Whilst he clearly deserves credit for that, he deserves even greater praise for having coaxed and encouraged his partner to an undefeated maiden Test century of 105 not out. It was the only Test century of Holford's career and would not have possible without Sobers' calming presence.

* Due to the apartheid regime, South Africa were banned from Test cricket at the start of the 1970s. In place of the proposed tour to their country of South Africa in '71/'72, Australia played a Rest of the World side captained by Sobers. In the Third (unofficial) Test at Melbourne, Sobers played an innings of 254 which was described by Bradman as ''probably the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia''.

* Sobers will probably be best remembered for being the first batsman to hit six sixes in a over in first class cricket. This was achieved in August 1968 when he was captaining Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in Swansea. The unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. Typically of Sobers when interviewed by cricket writer Grahame Lloyd about the day, he did not criticise Nash's bowling nor talk of his own exploits but spoke of what was really important to him - the game: ''Malcolm tried to do the right thing - he was trying to get me out.'' This tally of 36 runs in an over broke a record of 34 runs that had stood for fifty-seven years and its impact at the time cannot be overestimated. I was on holiday then in the Scilly Isles. In this pre internet age, we had to rely far more on newpaper reports and I still recall one cricket fixated holidaymaker at our guest house going early to the quay to wait for the boat that brought the papers. Ok, the guy was probably a bit of a nutter but it was nonetheless definitely a national talking point. This world record was equalled in 1985 by Ravi Shastri playing for Bombay. However, in the words of Grahame Lloyd, ''It would be 17 years before another batsman would be similarly blessed by the cricketing gods but no subsequent hitting of six sixes in an over would ever be able to match the first one.''

* Sobers' Test average was a mighty impressive 57.78. As a bowler, his stats are not so stunning although in the words of Cricinfo ''he was more than handy with his ability to bowl various styles''. Whilst never taking 10 wickets in a Test match, he took 5 wickets in an innings on six occasions. Particular bowling highlights were at Headingley in 1966 when he returned figures of 5-41 and 3-39 to take West Indies to victory over England by an innings and at the Gabba two years later where his orthodox left-arm spin gave him a second innings haul of 6-73 and the West Indies victory over Australia by 125 runs.

* During his peak as a Test match bowler between January 1961 and December 1968, Sobers took 125 wickets in 33 Tests at an average just under 28. His overall Test bowling average was a shade above 34, still almost 24 less than his batting average. That is bordering statistical freakery. The only past or present player I'm aware of who is on a par is Jacques Kallis of South Africa. For all his strengths of dependability and determination, I don't place Kallis on such a high pedestal as Sobers. For me, Kallis has less of the natural match winning talent and entertaining flair that characterised so much of Sobers' game.

* Far more than Kallis and any other cricketers, Sobers was able to deliver his excellence with bat and ball in the same series. Scoring 300 runs and taking 20 wickets in a Test series is a very considerable achievement. It has only been achieved fifteen times in the entire history of Test cricket. Sobers managed it on three of those occasions, twice against England and once against India. The Australian all rounder Keith Miller did it twice but no one else has achieved it more than once. Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and Shaun Pollock were among those who did it once each. The mighty Imran Khan never managed it and the same still applies to Jacques Kallis.

* As a close to the wicket fielder, Sobers made fielding an artform. For several years, Lance Gibbs was the world's leading Test match wicket taker. A fair number of those wickets were attributable to catches by Sobers. Gibbs readily acknowledged the part played by Sobers, ''His anticipation was incredible.'' In the words, somewhat over ridden with awe, of former West Indies Test batsman Charlie Davis, ''Garry could catch a blur you know. He used to be close at leg slip, at the back pocket of the batsmen, and catch blurs. Once a batsman flicked hard off Lance and Sobers just plucks his hand out and takes it so easily. The batsman couldn't believe it ... He could catch a bur. He is not normal. He is definitely not normal.''

* ''As a captain, Sobers was a mixed bag'' - Cricinfo. I think that is definitely true although I wouldn't condem him too heavily for this. Following initial captaincy success, he was roundly criticised for a declaration against England at Port-of-Spain which resulted in defeat for the West Indies. Whilst Sobers' declaration was overly generous to the away team, he was keen to keep the match alive and believed that gave his own side the best chance of victory. The former West Indies paceman Michael Holding has suggested that Sobers was too respectful towards the abilities of others in his team, ''Perhaps Sir Garfield Sobers thought others within the team had the ability of Sir Garfield Sobers.'' This is rather echoed by Charlie Davis, ''Garry was too modest. He didn't know how special he was. He expected us to bat like him. And catch like him. He thought all of us were like him you know.''

Anyway, that's more than enough from me. Just to finish off with a few comments from others who know much more.

''His stroke range was phenomenal. He had an array of shots and incredible energy. '' - Alan Davidson, Australia Test seam bowler.

''The best ever. You were in awe of him.'' - Cive Lloyd, West Indies batsman and captain.

''The complete all rounder''- Ian Botham, England all rounder and captain.

''The greatest born cricketer probably of them all.'' - Christopher Marin Jenkins, cricket writer.

''Whatever the level, he played it as it was just a game. He was relaxed in everything he did, whatever the situation.'' - Tony Cozier, West Indian cricket broadcaster and writer.

''Forget about all the other things, a great batsman and a great human being.'' - Ian Chappell, Australia batsman and captain.

''A genius. He could do everything. The complete cricketer.'' - Sunil Gavaskar, India captain and opening batsman.

A final comment from Tony Cozier which I consider particularly apt as we seek the ultimate GOAT: ''I have a firm belief that people are put here to do certain things. Like Pele to play football and Ali to box, Sobers was put here to play cricket and he played it magnificently.''
"

Sir Garfield. Simply awesome.

Thanks, MtotheC. Reading that again reminds me just how great Sobers was!

Edwin Moses- Track & Field- Championed by 88chris05

"122 races, spread over 9 years, 9 months and 9 days.

That's how long Edwin Moses went undefeated in the 400m hurdles. It is by far the most awe-inspring, dominant and lasting winning streak in the history of track and field, and must surely still rank as one of the most remarkable feats in the history of any sport. Michael Johnson in the 400m, Jan Zelezny in the javelin, Keninesa Bekele in the 10,000m - there have been some athletes who have made an even their own, but none of them managed it to the same extend that Moses did.

Edwin Moses, born in Ohio in 1955, was just that little bit different to many other track athletes of his era, or indeed of any other. He was a vegan, first off, and he insisted on keeping a trademark 13-stride pattern to his running between hurdles, waiving the convential technique of either 14 strides or, at least, adapting from 13 to 14 for the bends. He was also a demonstrative campaigner (rather than just a saying but never doing one) against the use of PEDs in sport; indeed, as an athletics administrator, he played a key role in the developemtn and introduction of out-of-competition testing.

Some athletes covered in this process have left an indelible impression on sport through their colourful personalities or roundabout political influence as they have through their purely physical achievements. Granted, Moses' appeal lies solely in his consistent excellent on the track and not much else more, but what an incredible level of excellence it was. He was the Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles in Montreal in 1976, and again in 1984 in Los Angeles. Sure things seldom exist in sport, but it would have required a rival of Moses' to scale some incredibly long odds to deny him a gold medal in Moscow in 1980 as well, had the USA not boycotted the Games. However, even aged thirty-three and certainly a few years removed from his prime, Moses was able to add a bronze medal in the 1988 final in Seoul. He is one of only four men to have won the Olympic 400m hurdles title twice (again, the it's worth repeating that it was surely only America's 1980 boycott which prevented him from standing alone in this regard), but absolutely nobody else has won a medal in three separate Olympic finals in the event.

Moses was also the world champion twice in his discipline, striking gold at the inaugural edition of the championships in 1983 in Helsinki and again in 1987 in Rome. Once more, nobody has outdone Moses' two world titles in the 400m hurdles, despite the fact that he first World Championships didn't take place until Moses was well in to his career and also that Moses competed in an era where these Championships took place only once every four years, rather than the once every two years schedule that we see today.

However, as with all of the great track and field athletes, the medals alone don't quite convey what Moses meant and still means to his event. Just as men like Usain Bolt and Sergei Bubka have expanded the parameters of what sports fans thought was possible the the 100m and pole vault respectively, Moses helped usher in new targets for the 400m hurdles which, by convention wisdom, just shouldn't have been achievable in his time. Before Moses' arrival on the world scene, the Everest of 400m hurdles running was to break the 48 second barrier. Only one man, in fact, had ever done this; John Akki-Bua of Uganda, who had clocked a world best of 47.82 seconds. However, by the time Moses was done, 400m hurdles runners were daring to dream of cracking the 47 second barrier. To the uneducated eye, one whole second seems like nothing. But as anyone in the know can tell you, to reduce the expected gold standard of a one-lap event, hurdles or no, by such a margin and in such a short amount of time is a wonderful feat.

In fact, Moses' world record reign of sixteen years remains one of the longest in the history of track and field. He started off with a 47.64 in the Montreal Olympics of 1976, improved on that mark with 47.45 the following year, took it down further to 47.13 in Milan in 1980 and then, finally, ran a barely believable 47.02 in 1983. As of today, Moses has run 25 of the fastest 400m hurdles times ever recorded - and this is a full quarter of a century after his retirement, in a sport where times considered world class in their own era are usually not good enough to even threaten such status a decade and a half later.

Consistency, continuity and forward-thinking were the key, and Moses was a pioneer in the latter, helping to bring about eligibility reforms for Olympic athlets in 1979. Without his input, it's likely that many subsequently great athletes the world over would have had to cut their careers short due to financial pressures, ala Mark Spitz who was forced to leave the sport of swimming after bagging his historical seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games. But with the drive of Moses and his desire to help bring about change, Olympic athletes were henceforth able to gain funding and backing to help their careers blossom and also help them concentrate on their athletics full time.

So then, if Moses was a phenomenon on the track, he was pretty damn handy off it, as well.

To put the magnitude of Moses' times and consistency in to context, he remains the second fastest man ever over the 400m hurdles - a claim no other man on the track can still make more than three decades after his peak, I believe) and only one Olympic final since 1983 has been quicker than his best mark of 47.02 seconds.

There have been some great winning streaks in sport; Australia's sixteen victorious test matches on the spin in cricket (done twice, between 1999 and 2001 and then again from 2005 to 2008), Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer both managing five consecutive Wimbledon triumphs in the men's singles and Real Madrid being crowned as champions in the first five editions of the European Cup from 1956 to 1960. But I genuinely believe that Moses' streak from 1977 to 1987 belongs right up there with them.

My favourite Moses highlight is the 1987 World Championship 400m hurdles final from Rome. Past his magnificant best, facing off against the young generation of Danny Harris (the man who, only weeks before, had ended his incredible run) and Harold Schmidt and coming under severe pressure in the final 50m, Moses kept his head, his form and his cool to set a new championship record in one of the best track races you'll ever see. That was Moses past his best - so just how incredible does that make a Moses at his peak? Incredible enough to be virtually untouchable for a decade, that's how incredible!

There have been some great names from track and field already mentioned so far in this 'tournament'.....Could Edwin Moses be perhaps the greatest of them all?"

guildfordbat wrote:Thanks, MtotheC. Reading that again reminds me just how great Sobers was!

No problems GB- thanks for the write up its top notch!

Interesting how the draw has changed and that this is going to affect my voting - previously I put Johnson through and hadn't voted for Sobers (iirc, was against Pele).

GBs write up sums up Sobers - the most complete cricketer the game has ever seen. All time great batsman (his career average is about the 7th best ever, in the high 50s), good Test standard left arm fast / fast-medium bowler who was originally picked as a conventional left arm spinner, and who could also bowl very effective wrist spin. Oh, and by reputation one of the very best slip fielders of his era. For me, if you put him against Bradman, the Don comes out ahead, but against any other cricketer the quality and the range of his skills puts him comfortably ahead.

Moses and Johnson are much of a muchness for me - outstanding in their disciplines and appear to be amongst the 'good guys' in a sport that sometimes elevates those who are less good either in character or in their willingness to cheat to win. However, against Sobers I have them both a little behind.

Ruth suffers from not having a write-up and from not being really within the consciousness of British sports fans. My understanding is that he was something of the baseball equivalent of Sobers - initially a pitcher who developed into probably the greatest all-round hitter (based on a combination of home run hitting power and on average). Clearly a legend, hence his elevation to a figure of popular culture, but difficult to put into context.

Sobers

Wow this is a tough one. Gone for Ed Moses today, but might ave picked Johnson or Sobers on another day. All three were supreme at what they did but Moses just edges it in my mind. While i appreciate Babe Ruth is a big name (probably the biggest) in baseball, i admit i dont really know much about what he actually achieved. So without a write up, i cant vote for him.

I have no problem with anyone voting Johnson here, but nobody has dominated a track event as much and for as long as Moses, so he gets my vote.

For me this one boils down to a decade of dominance from Moses versus the stunning 200/400 double achievements/records (and longevity of the records) of Johnson.

Just Johnson.

Voted johnson because one is a cricketer and the other is a fat man.

And the other is from the bible presumably?

kwinigolfer wrote:And the other is from the bible presumably?

When people see Babe Ruth, does Sloth from The Goonies immediately leap into their head shouting 'hey you guyyyyssss'?

Or is that just me?

Just you, Tino, just you. Now how about voting for Sobers?

guildfordbat wrote:Just you, Tino, just you. Now how about voting for Sobers?

It was a Babe Ruth chocolate bar that Chunk threw at Sloth when they were locked in the basement, wasn't it? It's been a while.

Sorry Guildford, although your writeup is superb (one of the best I have seen on here, easily) my vote has to go to Johnson on this one.

Cheers, Tino - at least my man hasn't drawn Pele this time!

Johnson, 19.32 is still my greatest ever sporting moment.

for me it has to be between Johnson and sobers, was expecting sobers to be walking it so went for Johnson to hopefully make sure he went through as well. surprised at Johnson leading by so much.

suppose it makes a difference that Johnson was seen by many on here in his peak in 96

Sobers.

compelling and rich wrote:for me it has to be between Johnson and sobers, was expecting sobers to be walking it so went for Johnson to hopefully make sure he went through as well. surprised at Johnson leading by so much.

suppose it makes a difference that Johnson was seen by many on here in his peak in 96

Compelling - you can always change your vote!

guildfordbat wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:for me it has to be between Johnson and sobers, was expecting sobers to be walking it so went for Johnson to hopefully make sure he went through as well. surprised at Johnson leading by so much.

suppose it makes a difference that Johnson was seen by many on here in his peak in 96

Compelling - you can always change your vote!

doesn't look like its needed, both going through fairly comfortably at the moment

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Just you, Tino, just you. Now how about voting for Sobers?

It was a Babe Ruth chocolate bar that Chunk threw at Sloth when they were locked in the basement, wasn't it? It's been a while.

Sorry Guildford, although your writeup is superb (one of the best I have seen on here, easily) my vote has to go to Johnson on this one.

I think you mean a Baby Ruth bar, which the makers always denied was named after Babe Ruth (to avoid a lawsuit probably)

super_realist wrote:Voted johnson because one is a cricketer and the other is a fat man.

To be fair Babe Ruth doesn't weigh half as much now as he used to.
(Like the old joke after Elvis died - Good news for Elvis fans - he's losing weight)

Sobers (followed by Johnson)

I'm fascinated by the fact that 13 people have jointly chosen to vote for either Babe Ruth or Ed Moses but not one of them have bothered to leave a reason why.

Me I go for Johnson. The fact that he was beaten by a cockroach in a Question of Sport event shouldn't count against him.

I went with Sobers in the end, but it was close between him and Johnson. Sobers is the most complete cricketer of all time, while Johnson produced some magical moments as well as sustained dominance (especially in the 400, a tough tough event to run in). Moses equally if not more dominant, but in a more niche event.

Hibbz wrote:I'm fascinated by the fact that 13 people have jointly chosen to vote for either Babe Ruth or Ed Moses but not one of them have bothered to leave a reason why.

Me I go for Johnson. The fact that he was beaten by a cockroach in a Question of Sport event shouldn't count against him.

I voted Moses for the sheer domination of his sport for such a long time - no-one else comes close to that.

Hibbz wrote:I'm fascinated by the fact that 13 people have jointly chosen to vote for either Babe Ruth or Ed Moses but not one of them have bothered to leave a reason why.

Me I go for Johnson. The fact that he was beaten by a cockroach in a Question of Sport event shouldn't count against him.

Might want to re read the thread...

I voted for Johnson. But was very tight between him and the pure dominance of Moses