CHARLTON HAS TO MAKE CUT
I READ with interest Daley’s list, but with respect to some of those named, I am not looking at the sports that are more extreme in nature. I also think it is impossible to overlook the achievements of someone who has been in a team.
MY TOP 10 MEN
MO FARAH THE greatest track Olympian this country has produced. unbeatable over multiple distances and has dominated his sport for five years. IAN BOTHAM WHEN I was growing up, he was the only cricketer anyone wanted to be. It felt like he could do anything with bat or ball and the fact we still call the 1981 series ‘Botham’s ashes’ says it all. He even managed to play football for scunthorpe! BOBBY CHARLTON DALEY said he could not include anyone who had been in a team, but everyone in the world watches football and charlton (below), the driving force behind our 1966 World cup success, is the greatest player england have produced. ANDY MURRAY THREE grand slams, two gold medals and one constant source of inspiration. His exploits will be talked about in 30 years. BRADLEY WIGGINS I’M NOT diminishing chris Hoy or chris Froome but it feels like Wiggins conquered two sports, excelling in a velo- drome and becoming the first Briton to win the tour de France. STEVE REDGRAVE GOLD medals in five consecutive Olympics. say that again and you appreciate the magnitude of what he achieved. think of the dedication and sacrifice over two decades. SEBASTIAN COE THE 1984 Olympics is the first I really remember and he won the 1500m; it was a golden age of British running and coe set 11 world records during his career. He was an exceptional athlete. NICK FALDO I NEVER played golf like other footballers did but I recognise how much Faldo elevated his sport in the eyes of the public and how he dominated with his six majors between 1987 and 1996. TONY McCOY I’M NOT a racing fan but I do know Mccoy rewrote the record books tothe extent that his sequence of 20 consecutive Jockeys championships will never be beaten. LENNOX LEWIS THE undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the last man to hold that title, a man who dismantled Mike tyson. the best we have produced.
MY TOP 10 WOMEN
JESSICA ENNIS-HILL GOLDEN girl of London 2012. DENISE LEWIS FOUGHT through the pain to win the heptathlon gold medal at sydney in 2000. VICTORIA PENDLETON ANOTHER who helped make the summer of 2012 so memorable. SALLY GUNNELL STANDS apart for winning the Olympic and world titles in the 400m hurdles and breaking the world record. PAULA RADCLIFFE can you imagine the training she had to do to win the London and new York marathon three times each and set a world record? LAURA DAVIES HER 85 titles, including four majors, make her the greatest female golfer in British history. LAURA TROTT NO other British woman has won four Olympic gold medals — she might not yet be finished, either. REBECCA ADLINGTON CAME from nowhere to win two gold medals, one in a world record time. KELLY HOLMES We all remember her double in athens in 2004, she has been a fantastic ambassador. VIRGINIA WADE as the last woman to win a grand slam in 1977, she continues to set the bar for female British tennis.