TargetTalk

The world at large would have us think that Mr Bolt is the greatest Olympian.Why? Ok he can run fast but why not buy a car and save the energy..Or perhaps Mr Phelps cos he can swim a bit quicker than the next guy? Why swim when you can buy a boat?

I at this stage would like it considered that the endurance sports are the ones we should be thinking of.

The 3P shooters surely would be on the top of the list.And then theres Sergei Martynov. This man walks on water in my book!

There is only one:
LONES WIGGER

Wigger and Martynov are OK I suppose, they did have two chances to medal at each Olympics with prone and 3P.

Neither progessed past rifle shooting to the highest form of shooting though (that's pistol shooting for those who don't already know).

Ralf Schumann with 3 Gold and 2 Silver while only competing in only 1 event per Olympics is by far the most sucessful Olympic shooter.

Then you do not know Wigger.
He is the greatest rifle shooter ever.
Just winning medals in the Olympics, does not make you a great athlete.

I would put thousands of Olympians ahead of Bolt on a list of Great Olympians.

I think to be great one needs to be a good citizen and be humble.

There are so many different sports and lots of factors to consider. If you just go by medal count it is easy but that does not make one great or the greatest. Wigger would be high on the list.

I am sure there are many who are great and they finished far from first place but they embody the spirit of the Olympics and moved mountains just to get to the big game and had a smile the entire time even though they did not get a medal or may have hardly been noticed.

dontshootcritters wrote:The world at large would have us think that Mr Bolt is the greatest Olympian.Why? Ok he can run fast but why not buy a car and save the energy..Or perhaps Mr Phelps cos he can swim a bit quicker than the next guy? Why swim when you can buy a boat?

I at this stage would like it considered that the endurance sports are the ones we should be thinking of.

The 3P shooters surely would be on the top of the list.And then theres Sergei Martynov. This man walks on water in my book!

Using your logic, why shoot 3P when you could bolt the rifle to a solid platform?

Define "greatest", even if only considering shooters.

How about those who have won back-to-back golds in their discipline like Cooper, Jin, Schuman, Takacs, Guo, Hancock, etc etc.

Or winning 2 golds at one Olympics like Jin.

What about shooting in 9 Olympics like Kuzmins.

What about the great Hungarian rapid fire shooter Takacs, gold medal 1st Olympics, lost right arm in an explosion, then won gold in the next Olympics with his left arm, all this before Paraolympics were though off.

Anonymous wrote:What about the great Hungarian rapid fire shooter Takacs, gold medal 1st Olympics, lost right arm in an explosion, then won gold in the next Olympics with his left arm, all this before Paraolympics were though off.

I think it was not the first Olympics (1896), but 1948 and 1952 Olympics, both well after the 1938 grenade accident

Spencer wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the great Hungarian rapid fire shooter Takacs, gold medal 1st Olympics, lost right arm in an explosion, then won gold in the next Olympics with his left arm, all this before Paraolympics were though off.

I think it was not the first Olympics (1896), but 1948 and 1952 Olympics, both well after the 1938 grenade accident

Perhaps he meant that it was his first olympics. Yes, they were both post accident, but it is still an epic victory. Goes to show how much shooting is a mental challenge.

Joel

How about an athlete winning gold in five consecutive Olympics (Kim Rhode). Or winning a gold at age 60, and being the oldest Olympic competitor at age 72 (Oscar Swahn).

Pat McCoy as guest

Pat, allow me to correct your data, as I was longtime amazed by Mr. Swahn feats.

In fact, he won a Gold medal at 60 (london 1908). But he didn't rest after that, as he took another Gold at Stockholm in 1912 at 64 y.o., and topped that eight years (and a World War) later at Antwerpen 1920 where he won a Silver Medal at 72 y.o!!!

He is no only the oldest Olympian, he is - by far - the oldest medalist in sports!!! (there are records of an older medalist in the artistic competitions attached to the Games until 1948)

Anonymous wrote:How about an athlete winning gold in five consecutive Olympics (Kim Rhode). Or winning a gold at age 60, and being the oldest Olympic competitor at age 72 (Oscar Swahn).

Pat McCoy as guest

5 medals but not all gold. 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.

Schumann still beats her...

what about people who have competed at the Olympics in 2 completely different sports. Does anyone know if someone has competed in 2 different sports at the one Olympics

This is just an extract off another forum.

In the very earliest modern Olympics when in some events you could win a medal just for turning up because there were only three competitors. For example Morris Marshall Kirksey won 100m silver, 4x100m gold, and rugby gold for the US in 1920, but the rugby tournament was actually a single match.

I don't believe that anyone has had success in two 'disconnected' sports at a single Games since Kirksey, and it's difficult to establish whether anyone has even tried it.

Fanny Blankers-Koen won 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and the 4x100m relay in 1948. She didn't compete in either the high jump or the long jump, despite holding the world record in both. Now *that* could have settled the 'greatest Olympian' question once and for all!

There are a few of people who have excelled at different sports at different Olympics. In the UK we have Rebecca Romero, who one silver in the quad sculls (rowing) in 2004 and gold in the individual pursuit (cycling) in 2008.

Tim Shaw of the US won silver in the 400m freestyle in 1976 and another silver in water polo in 1984, which strikes me as a particularly impressive 'transition'.

In Canada there's Clara Hughes: two cycling bronzes in 1996; gold, silver and two bronzes in speedskating between 2002-2010. She actually competed in the cycling road race a few days ago, at the age of 38. You go, girl.

There are three other winter/summer double medalists in boxing + bobsleigh, ski jump + sailing, and another speedskating + cycling (Christa Luding of East Germany, who in 1988 became the only person to win medals in winter/summer Olympics in the same year).

I guess when I started this topic I was thinking only of the present day athletes.Having said that I had forgotten about M Cooper.What a loss he was to the shooting world.And as far as pistol shooting goes well that is just loonacy.How the heck the weapon is held still without sling or brace just amazes me so yes I take my hat off to the great pistol shooters.And obviously N Campriani was the hero of the 3P this year and for what Ive seen of him on You Tube/ISSF interviews etc he seems to be a totally likeable bloke.
Sergei still walks on water tho!

And one more thing I dont remember seeing any of our shooters involved in doping unlike so many others sports these days.

Great commenting, historical info and posts here guys even if it was from pistol shooters...lol

Only one for me and he is not a shooter. Jesse Owens

Trooperjake wrote:Just winning medals in the Olympics, does not make you a great athlete.

Hmmm! Now you've got my attention, I'm desperate for the explanation...

joel wrote:

Spencer wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the great Hungarian rapid fire shooter Takacs, gold medal 1st Olympics, lost right arm in an explosion, then won gold in the next Olympics with his left arm, all this before Paraolympics were though off.

I think it was not the first Olympics (1896), but 1948 and 1952 Olympics, both well after the 1938 grenade accident

Perhaps he meant that it was his first olympics. Yes, they were both post accident, but it is still an epic victory. Goes to show how much shooting is a mental challenge.

Joel

...and as the story goes, he had his winner's speech written out and in his pocket when he won with his left hand!!!