Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Lighthouses - best in your own country at your sport by ridiculous levels

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #26
    There would be quite a few names if you consider small countries and swimming. Anthony Nesty of Surinam, Danyon Loader of NZ and Michelle NoLongerMentioned of Ireland.
    Last edited by tee rex; 14-03-2019, 20:14. Reason: names

    Comment


      #27
      Robin Seymour was Irish mountain bike champion for 15 years in a row from 1993 to 2008 and 20 times in total, he was also cyclocross champion 18 times.

      Comment


        #28
        I am learning surprising strength in depth at chess due to this thread.

        Comment


          #29
          Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
          Hence my specific reference to men's tennis
          Sorry, should have been clearer as to why I posted. My understanding is that there was an investment in tennis in Serbia resulting in both men's and women's tennis doing well. There were a couple of other men who did reasonable well at the same time but injuries hampered their progress. Serbia won the Davis Cup in that period and Janko Tipsarević was a top ten player.

          Comment


            #30
            Do they have to be champions in their sport or effectively the only competitor from a country? Did Eddie the Eagle have any British rivals?

            Comment


              #31
              Wasn't Marie-Jo Perec the French record holder at every distance from 100m to 800m.

              Comment


                #32
                Originally posted by Wouter D View Post

                Jari Litmanen.
                Litmanen was a contemporary of Sami Hyypia though who won a lot of medals and player/team of the year awards at a high level

                Comment


                  #33
                  Originally posted by tee rex View Post
                  There would be quite a few names if you consider small countries and swimming. Anthony Nesty of Surinam, Danyon Loader of NZ and Michelle NoLongerMentioned of Ireland.
                  Great call... Ireland's most successful Olympian by a country mile, never mind Ireland's most successful swimmer by a couple of turbo-powered legnths of the pool. That's all we need to know about Michelle Smith, move along now.

                  Comment


                    #34
                    Jonathan Edwards.

                    Comment


                      #35
                      George Best.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                        George Best.
                        What about Pat Jennings?

                        Comment


                          #37
                          True

                          Comment


                            #38
                            Sprinter Kim Collins (5 World championship medals, Commonwealth winner, Olympic finalist) may be the most famous thing about St Kitts and Nevis. And Frankie Fredericks, I'm guessing, is a bit of a stand out in Namibian sprinting circles.

                            Comment


                              #39
                              Sergio Parisse.

                              Comment


                                #40
                                Krisztina Egerszegi

                                Comment


                                  #41
                                  Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                  Unless Les or anyone else can correct me, I suspect Qatar hasn't produced any rally drivers who can hold a candle to Nasser Al-Attiyah.
                                  Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                  Though actually wiki throws up Saeed Al-Hajri and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari as having competed at a high level for a bit.
                                  Saeed Al-Hajri was half decent - I saw him driving for Rothmans Porsche in the 80s when he had legendary Cork man Billy Coleman as his team mate, and he went to Ireland to do a few tarmac events, earning the affectionate local nickname of 'Sid Hedgerow'.

                                  If I were to choose an outlier in the world of rallying I'd say Markko Martin, the first, and at the time only Estonian competing at a significant level in the WRC. But for the tragic accident on Rally GB in 2005 which claimed the life of his co-driver and abruptly finished Markko's career, he'd have overlapped with Urmo Aava's very brief stint at the top level, but it's only now with Ott Tanak beginning to dominate that Estonia have another star to follow.

                                  I was wondering about Egon Muller as Germany's only speedway world champion, but although he won a few long track titles as well, he wasn't a consistent threat to the top riders from more established speedway nations, and he did have a few team mates of reasonable standard (Alois Wiesbock, Georg Hack, Karl Meier, Gerd Riss).

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    For Germany, it could possibly be Dirk Nowitzki. I don't know much about basketball, but apparently he's quite good.

                                    Closer to home for me, my daughter was at primary school with the daughter of Frankie Fredericks, who's got to be a candidate for this thread as well. See also Kim Collins.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by Alderman Barnes View Post
                                      For Germany, it could possibly be Dirk Nowitzki. I don't know much about basketball, but apparently he's quite good.
                                      Germany seems to produce one good basketball player per generation. Before Dirk "Dirk The Work" Nowitzki, there was Detlef "Det The Threat" Schrempf, and now there's Dennis "Dennis Schröder" Schröder.

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Oh yeah, Detlef Schrempf, I'd forgotten about him. He certainly hasn't had such a blinding career in banking adverts, so he can be discounted. I had to look up Dennis Schröder because I'd never heard of him (because I stopped paying attention to anything about 20 years agio).

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          He's the reason I didn't nominate Nowitzki, who is a class better than Schrempf. It is very early, but Schröder is a real talent.

                                          Comment


                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                            He's the reason I didn't nominate Nowitzki, who is a class better than Schrempf. It is very early, but Schröder is a real talent.
                                            It's not that early. The Dennis Schr,öder's what, 25, 26? The Threat and The Work were much better at that age.

                                            Comment


                                              #47
                                              Have we had Katie Taylor yet?

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                Tony Hand MBE. British ice hockey.

                                                Comment


                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by multipleman78 View Post
                                                  Krisztina Egerszegi
                                                  Tamás Darnyi was a contemporary of Egerszegi. I guess it depends on whether we, like with the same question in the tennis category, consider men's and women's swimming to be somehow different

                                                  Comment


                                                    #50
                                                    Dougie Lampkin absolutely dominated motorcycle trials riding.
                                                    In a similar sport but without the engine, Danny MacAskill

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X