Britain's greatest ever sportsman/woman

[ADVILLAFAN]

There are loads you can make a case for based on their ability in one sport, but it's why Fry strolls it for me. Played in an FA Cup final and for England in football, played for the Barbarians in rugby, scored a test century for England in cricket, held the world record for long jump and was also an accomplished sprinter, hurdler, javelin chucker, ice skater and golfer.

Shit at curling though

[Ron Manager]

...anyhow, the answer is CB Fry

I agree . At Midlands level however it would have to be our captain, legend, leader John Devey. Football Cricket,Baseball, Athletics he excelled at them all.

[PeterWithesShin]

No CB Fry for me.  It should be someone who is the best at their sport. Not someone who is quite good at lots of sports.

Like being a world record holder?

[cdbearsfan]

Loads of people have done that. Roy Castle's show would've only had one episode otherwise.

[cdbearsfan]

Also, he only shared the record and it was beaten within a year.

[PeterWithesShin]

That's some quality barrel scraping! 

[UK Redsox]

Going by cd's reading (which also rules out Daley Thompson) and also ignoring pub games / competitive arts, is there any British person who is the best ever in the world at their main sport ?

[PeterWithesShin]

Seb Coe? Then again he did different distances so he's out!

[paul_e]

I think professionalism is the important thing, people before the professional era of sport just can't be counted for me because they were competing in such a  niche era that their achievements are impossible to compare to modern athletes.  For that reason I personally wouldn't include anyone from before WW2 in the discussion.

[PeterWithesShin]

To me that's a bit like saying only football after 1992 counts as the level of professionalism now is so far ahead of what it was even in the 80s. You can only compete with what's around you at the time. No one in any era has come close to achieving what Fry did. I don't agree with dismissing Fry just because of when he was born when he was without doubt a superb sportsman. You may as well dismiss Devey, Walker etc as amongst the best ever to play for Villa because of when they were playing. 

[cdbearsfan]

Going by cd's reading (which also rules out Daley Thompson) and also ignoring pub games / competitive arts, is there any British person who is the best ever in the world at their main sport ?

It doesn't rule out Daley Thompson as he was the best at one sport, albeit one with lots of elements.

I'm not sure I'd go for him though. He had the advantage of competing in the boycott era, not sure if any Commie/Yank athletes would've beaten him otherwise though.

Anyway. I think the correct answer may be Steve Redgrave. Five gold medals in a format that only realistically allows one medal per event (not like, say, swimming where they give out medals like sweets) is some going.

Or maybe Jonathan Edwards. World record and Olympic Champion.

[paul_e]

To me that's a bit like saying only football after 1992 counts as the level of professionalism now is so far ahead of what it was even in the 80s. You can only compete with what's around you at the time. No one in any era has come close to achieving what Fry did. I don't agree with dismissing Fry just because of when he was born when he was without doubt a superb sportsman. You may as well dismiss Devey, Walker etc as amongst the best ever to play for Villa because of when they were playing. 

As I say it's a personal opinion but I just think the differences are too big.  Take cricket players from the era of uncovered pitches had to deal with completely different circumstances, trying to compare the 2 is almost impossible.  How about cycling, athletics and swimming performance levels are almost universal in an upward trend in those sports, does that mean the current competitors are the best ever or does the enhancements in equipment and training techniques give them an advantage that was unavailable in the past?

In many sports comparing the current generation to the previous one is tough, going back a century or more and it becomes near impossible to be entirely subjective about your decision. If you add to that the differences in the availability and quality of footage it becomes a near impossible task.

For example who's the best out of Yashin, Banks, Schmeichel and Buffon? Making a case between the last 2 becomes fairly simple because you could probably find footage of 70-80% of their careers if you really wanted to.  For Banks you might have 40-50 games and for Yashin there's probably 10-15 games worth of usable footage.  If You can categorically say Banks was the best of those then he becomes a name for this discussion but I honestly don't think it's possible.

[ACVilla]

Mark Cavendish would be a much more widely celebrated sportsmen in many other countries.
What he has come back to achieve this year has elevated him to the highest levels of sporting greatness.
If he can get himself gold in Rio he should be a very real contender in this list.

[Exeter 77]

Going by cd's reading (which also rules out Daley Thompson) and also ignoring pub games / competitive arts, is there any British person who is the best ever in the world at their main sport ?

It doesn't rule out Daley Thompson as he was the best at one sport, albeit one with lots of elements.

I'm not sure I'd go for him though. He had the advantage of competing in the boycott era, not sure if any Commie/Yank athletes would've beaten him otherwise though.

Anyway. I think the correct answer may be Steve Redgrave. Five gold medals in a format that only realistically allows one medal per event (not like, say, swimming where they give out medals like sweets) is some going.

Or maybe Jonathan Edwards. World record and Olympic Champion.

Daley Thompson won gold at the 1983 World Championships which weren't boycotted and his main rival was Jurgen Hingsen, a West German who was in Los Angeles in 1984 but not Moscow in 1980. I agree about Steve Redgrave and Jonathan Edwards though.  Edwards' clean world record still standing after 21 years is quite an achievement.

[curiousorange]

The sign I pass every day on New Road cricket ground - R.E. 'Tip' Foster, the only man to captain England at football and cricket. He's got to deserve a nod just for that. Or a tip of the hat, if you will.