Very glad to hear that.
Best Irish sporting achiever EVER
- Thread starter Duke of Marmalade
- Start date
Very glad to hear that.
Doesn't belong in this thread and in any sporting achievers thread
Why? she did win after all. She surely had been tested then after each race. Whatever happened afterwards is of no consequence.
Duke of Marmalade
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You're missing the plot there. AOB has had more stable jockeys than Italy has had prime ministers. I want to change tack a little. Ireland is a World Super Power in horse racing. Driven mainly by AOB but also Bolger and Weld. We are punching way, way above our weight, and yet a very modest outperformance by our soccer team, consisting of Irish emigrant descendants managed by an Englishman got far more recognition.
RTE Sports Personality of 2008 will undoubtedly be PH, fair enuff, but AOB won't even get a look in, double shame
.Rubbish. She was a drugs cheat just like Marion Jones. She wasn't caught at the time either but what happened afterwards showed her up for what she was. Just like Michelle de Bruin. And I speak as someone who was Michelles biggest fan at the time while living abroad and having to defend her corner while people doubted her achievements. How innocent I was!!
Back to topic, why do we have this desire to name someone Irelands best ever sports person. I never hear other countries do it after someone achieves success. It is very difficult to compare competitors from different eras never mind across different sports. Why don't we just enjoy what Padraig has achieved? It was a staggering achievement. We don't get many of them so just enjoy it.
Rubbish? Would she have been tested after every gold medal win? If so, then she won them fair and square.
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Why? Marion Jones was tested after every gold medal in Sydney and passed but admitted later she was drugs. Did she win them fair and square?
How did she pass a dope test?
I think given the resources Alex Ferguson has anything less would mean he is under achieving ,Given that Wenger has been his main rival for the last 10 years and Ferguson has had on average spent 15 million Euro more each season than Wenger,Ferguson has spent over 145 million Euro more than Wenger, Now do you really think he deserve's such huge credit .Unless all managers have the same resources than I would not be to keen to give credit, now if they bought a player for say 500K like Arsenal did with Anekla and sold him for 23 Million and went on to buy more players with that profit than that is good business, but to be able go out and buy for eg Ferdinand for 30Million,Veron for 25Million+ that I would not think is something to be all that proud of,
COme on, even the dog on the street know's she was guilty, the sunday times a few years ago did a great interview with a young canadian swimmer who was hot favourite for one of the races de bruin won, the canadian girl never swam again afterwards and she said in the interview all other swimmers were very wary of de bruin's sudden blossoming.
i think paul kimmage wrote that article.
she was a cheat and an embarrasement to this country.
Sean Kelly, probably the greatest classic rider ever, Paris-Nice 7 consecutive races, Paris-Roubaix x 2, 4 x Green Jersey in Tour de France, 193 pro wins in total!
It'll be a very long time before we have a cyclist of his stature again.
It'll be a very long time before we have a cyclist of his stature again.
Ceist Beag
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Definitely Kelly was an infinitely better cyclist than Roche, just a shame he never won the Tour but his green jerseys record in that race alone is fantastic (2nd in table of most winners). Agree with FredBloggs about it being hard to compare across sports and also I don't like to reflect on Harringtons career just yet - he will win a lot more before he hangs up the clubs! However I think it's fair to say that his achievements to date are absolutely fantastic and he is a truly great ambassador for the country.
ubiquitous
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Well said. How can one meaningfully compare Sonia O'Sullivan to Barry McGuigan? Or Peter Canavan to Ronnie Delaney? Or Roy Keane to John Treacy? It doesn't make sense.
Alex Ferguson has been achieving a lot longer than just his time at old Trafford, he won european and league medals in the face of Celtic/Rangers dominance. When he took over united these sums of money were never around and the club was a mess now they always in with a shout for the top prizes.
Wenger did good business with Anelka, but how does that compare with developing Giggs, Scholes , Beckham, Nevilles, Butt etc United didn't do too badly from selling Beckham to madrid having cost them nothing.
Ferdinand has proven his worth, Veron didn't work out, Wenger has his expensive duds too - Jeffers, Reyes, Walcott (to be decided).
Regarding great sporting achievers then Denis Irwin is the most decorated Irish soccer player and of course himself and Roy earned the fabled treble. Roy would go down as the greatest in my book but thats prob another debate in itself.
I think the issue with recognising the achievements of AOB is that horse racing has too long been regarded as less than honest so it does colour the achievements, plus people tend to get behind a sport they have access to as kids hence the popularity of soccer, gaa etc
I think the issue with recognising the achievements of AOB is that horse racing has too long been regarded as less than honest so it does colour the achievements, plus people tend to get behind a sport they have access to as kids hence the popularity of soccer, gaa etc
R
rmelly
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All of these pale into insignificance when you consider the achievements of Michael Phelps - 11 olympic gold medals (and a couple of bronze), 3 more finals to come in the 2008 games with World Records set in each of the 5 medal winning performances - and he's only 23.
Are you sure?
Ronnie Whelan & Mark Lawrenson of the dominant Liverpool teams of late 70s and 80s may dispute this. And they played in a era with 1 substitute on the bench and only those who played getting medals, not the whole squad of 30+ as during Irwins career.