Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

[wsatch]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

>>>I find it inappropriate to criticize the many posts naming Saneyev one
>of
>the
>premier field athletes ever by mentioning his nationality in the
>post.
>What has
>that to do with it? I'm also offended at the aspersion that
>he
>drinks/drank
>excessively. While you have every right to object to
>his
>ranking, let's limit
>our comments to what these greats did on the track
>and
>in the
>sand.

Respectfully,

Bijan C. Bayne

hey
>man
>lighten up on a brother

[wsatch]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

>
I guess
>you need to win 5 straight golds to be better than some rummy
>Russian hop skip
>and jumper ,Steve is not only a dweeb but also dumb who
>should stick to HJ.

I vote for Bubka, Lewis then Zelezny.

There's another
>board that's more appropriate for your ignorant comments above, it's called
>letsrun.com. Steve is without doubt one of the most knowledgeable posters here
>and your insults merely show yourself to be an idiot.

[wsatch]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

>asmuch as I respect Oerter, my vote goes to Carl. His won loss record in
>in the LJ must be fantastic although he never held WR outdoors he will
>probably have it for a long time indoors
HeySTeve mind your own business OLD SATCH can take of hisself FUB

[jhc68]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Bubka's marks were incredible, but was he more dominating than Corny Warmerdam?

[Guest]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Ralph Boston was among my top 10.

[stevehj197]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

I know I earlier said that Saneyev was # 1. But with further thought, I switch to Carl Lewis. It's unfair to penalize him because of one jump in 1968 in Mexico City. Saneyev #2, Lewis # 1.

[wsatch]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

>I know I earlier said that Saneyev was # 1. But with further thought, I switch
>to Carl Lewis. It's unfair to penalize him because of one jump in 1968 in
>Mexico City. Saneyev #2, Lewis # 1.

YOU are getting smarter but still a ?

[Guest]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

>Bubka's marks were incredible, but was he more dominating than Corny Warmerdam?

Yes.

Warmerdam's WR reign lasted 17 years ('40-'57)...Bubka's has lasted 19 years so far ('84-'03) and there's no one on the horizon with a shot a breaking it anytime soon. (Vigneron did take the WR away from Bubka for 10 minutes in '84, and Gataullin did take the indoor WR away briefly in '89).

Warmerdam raised the WR a total of 17 cm (4.60-4.77)...Bubka raised it a total of 30 cm (5.85-i6.15)

Warmerdam's WR run lasted 3 years (1st WR in '40, last WR in '42)...Bubka's WR run lasted 11 years (first WR in '84, last WR in '94).

Titles...Warmerdam 0...Bubka 1 OG Gold...6 WC Gold.

And don't give the lame "WWII got in the way" excuse for Warmerdam. Sh!t happens to everybody and that's life.

[Guest]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Cooter:

I seem to have video tape from the '86 and '87 indoor seasons showing Billy Olson snatching the indoor WR quite a few times from Bubka. Joe Dial got in on the act, too, with his 5.91m clearance at Columbia, MO.

See, you've got to know your history just a little better. Too many of us out here have GOBS of field and track memories and can call you on the spot!

Kurt

[jhc68]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Well, Cooter, I agree that Bubka was fantastic, the best of the era and probably all time, but I'm not sure he was incomparable. In fact, I don't think old man Warmerdam has to give up too much to the Russian.
By my math (based on your performance data), Warmerdam raised the WR @3.7% over three years time, while Bubka raised it 5.1% over eleven years. Hmmm, let's see, that means that the old guy improved the WR at the rate of @1.23% per year during his career and Bubka raised the WR at the rate of @.46% per year. So, hands down, Warmerdam was way better!!!

[Guest]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

The main problem with this post is that NO DEFINITION was given as to just what "greatest FIELD athlete" actually means! How does one define it? How do you compare one event vs. another? Is it based on win-loss records? # of World Records? Performance in the "big meets"? So far, I haven't seen anyone address this issue. To me, the greatest field athlete means the best ever at multiple events. After all, the title "greatest field athlete" by my understanding encompasses more than one event. So, by my standards, "Multiple" Mac Wilkins would fill that bill as I mentioned above. World class in THREE (had to retire from the javelin prior to what he could've actually accomplished) (3) events and national class in another. On top of that you throw on multiple world records in his main specialty, the discus, and an Olympic Gold and I think you have the makings of the most complete (and greatest) FIELD athlete ever to this point.

Anyway, would be interesting to try and develop some criteria for this category. Get rid of the subjectivity. Sounds like a project for a field-nerd out there

Kurt

[Per Andersen]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Kurt,
You make a good case for Mac but not good enough in my opinion.
O'Brien's S.P. career is much superior to Wilkins's Discus career. Let's go to the second event for both. O'Brien top 10 ranked about 6 times in the disc and was 1st in 1957. Wilkins in the top ten no more than once in the S.P.
Wilkins of course had Hammer and Jav. but around 210 in the Hammer and 257 in the Jav was hardly worldclass. Yes, Wilkins had more range and they were both tremendous athletes but I think O'Briens superiority in his two events outweighs Mac's versatility.

[Powell]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

The thing about Warmerdam is that he competed during WWII, when athletes in most countries apart from the US that meant something in world athletics (i.e. most of Europe) could not train and compete normally. The level of competition in the first decade after WWII was also affected negatively by the effects of the war, which is why most of the pre-1945 records did last a long time. You simply can't compare that time to the period when Bubka was competing. IMHO, if it's between these two, it's Bubka hands down.

[Guest]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Who cares.Get a life, Clay.

[jhc68]

Re: Who is the greatest FIELD athlete ever?

Hey, no one (as in no one) who posts at all on here has any standing to tell someone else to get a life !!! :-O