League of extraordinary gentlemen
RARE BLEND Sporting superstars come together to talk about their perfect moment in sport and more
The strongest chess player in history, the man chasing the tag of the greatest distance runner, the most versatile batsman in cricket and a winning hockey player and coach rolled into one. When Garry Kasparov, Mo Farah, AB de Villiers and Ric Charlesworth come together, it is but inevitable the discussion is about sporting perfection. All acknowledged how difficult it still is, in a promotional event for Royal Stag on Saturday. Briton Mo Farah, only the second athlete in history to achieve the 5,000-10,000 Olympic double twice, has made a smooth transition to marathon, winning in Chicago this month. “For me, it had to be London 2012 just because running in front of your home crowd, having 75,000 people behind you.” For de Villiers, smashing the fastest ODI century at the Wanderers in 2015, against West Indies, takes the cake. For GM Kasparov, the perennial Russian anti-establishment figure, it was his sensational comeback in the 1984-85 title match against Anatoly Karpov. With the latter 5-0 up and needing one win to seal it in a marathon match, Kasparov rallied to 3-5 when the then FIDE chief controversially abandoned the battle. And for Charlesworth, winning the 1986 World Cup as player and coaching the Aussie women’s team, Hockeyroos, to world domination took him to that rarified zone.