Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

JLightnin' stated in another post "I've heard that Bubka has run a 10.5 100 meters. With that in mind, could he have competed as a world-class decathlete?"

I'm gonna take that question and run with it. Which athletes could have been great decathletes and why. I'll offer some candidates: Bubka, Bo Jackson, Jim Brown, Valery Brumel, Roger Kingdom.

[jhc68]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

I nominate Sam Cunningham... NFL size, strength (California prep shotput champ), speed, coordination and do you remember USC's unstoppable play with Cunningham sailing over both lines every time his team got inside the five yard line? If memory serves, Sam ran a decathlon during his freshman year in college one weekend when he didn't have spring football and collected an impressive total (was it at Mt. Sac?)

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

As I posted early this fall, I have long felt Jim Brown would have been an Olympic caliber decathlete had he pursued athletics full-time. He had the speed, the stamina, was seldom injured in sports, and he performed well in his first national decathlon.

Bijan

[Vince]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

I'm thinking Carl Lewis had the innate talent. With some weight training, he might have been a great decathlete.

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Uhh, Carlton Lewis had absolutely no chance at being an 8500+ decathlete. He was like many sprinters...one dimensional. By this I mean that he was superb at moving in one direction. A great decathlete needs to be spatially aware of his body when rotating about the long (vertical) axis and about the axis through the hips. Lewis would've easily scored over 7000 pts without much work. However, after 7500 pts it takes ability to coordinate applications of force about many vectors during the course of the events. I don't think Lewis was going to score over 7500+ period, let alone 8500+. I've seen too much of athletes like him. I don't say this to knock him. Good grief, he's already proven himself in the short sprints and long jump. The decathlon, however, is an entirely different animal altogether.

Kurt

[BBCAC]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Edwin Moses had a combination of speed, endurance, hurdling ability,and was rarely injured.

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Willie Mays. Roberto Clemente. Mickey Mantle.John Stockton.Marcus Allen.Michael Vick.Jackie Robinson.Craig Brigham... Jan Zelezny.Bob Roggy.Lawrence Johnson.Charles Fonville.Don Bragg.
(and dozens more, who probably chose the right sport, even if they could've won Olympic decathlon gold.)

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Dave Winfield - had offers to play PRO baseball, basketball, and football.

Bo Jackson - probably best pure athlete in last few generations.

Quincy Watts

Walter Payton (with The Fridge sneaking in as his body double to handle the throws).

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

"JLightnin' stated in another post "I've heard that Bubka has run a 10.5 100 meters. With that in mind, could he have competed as a world-class decathlete?"


I'm pretty sure that Bubka actually ran faster than that; 10.2 if I remember correctly.

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Clemente and Mays are astute nominations. Roberto triple jumped 45 feet and some change, and several biographies say that would have qualified him for his national track team in Helsinki had he not signed w/ the Dodgers ('56 he was stronger and perhaps faster, he filled out in the 1960's). Maybe he'd have been a good jav man w/ training. Small waist. Mays could punt 40-45 yards in h.s. (flexibility & leg strength), and like Clemente, had great hip action in his throws from the o.f.

Bo knows everything. Wonder how a man as heavy as Kellen Winslow would have performed in the HJ? Hurdles? Maybe the wrong body type, but W. Germany had hefty decathletes, and Daley Thompson was a bulky sort.

Bijan

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Has anyone posted Jackie Robinson?

Great genes..(Mack Robinson was his brother)
Intelligent (UCLA grad)
Fast and quick (I believe he was a 25'1" long jumper and he lettered in track at UCLA
Strong (I beleive he lettered in football
Great Baseball player although his career was sadly short as he got a late start due to segregation.

Question I pose often is does Jackie belong in Cooperstown? I think he is one of the greatest all around athletes of all time but I think he only played 11 years in the big leagues for the above reasons and his career stats are not impressive unless you took into account the environment he was playing in (ie segregated, racist baseball world)

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

#1 of all-time: Junior Seau!

Hugely fast, strong, coordinated, tough, adaptable. Usually great football players have all the tools to be decathletes, but not the patience to learn the technique or to stand the mind-numbing ennui of distance training, but Junior is not the usual great, he transcends the great with the passion to excel, whatever it takes. He would have been 9000 easy!

[wsatch]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

Brother Juice could have been awesome .

[wsatch]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

>Brother Juice could have been awesome .

[wsatch]

Re: Could _______________ have been a great decathlete?

null