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How many countries in the world have a footballer as their best ever male sportsman?


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I know the moose molesters like their ice hockey and even I've heard of Gretsky but Ben Johnson is probably the most famous Canuck athlete if only for the wrong reasons.
I think Gretzky's fame is far more enduring. I once said "Well if eating's cheating, consider me Ben Johnson." to a group of folk born around the time of his disgrace. None of them got the reference.

Ben Johnson had his wallet pickpocketed in Rome while he was the personal trainer of Muammar Gaddafi's son (who was on the books at Perugia at the time). The thief outran Johnson and he never recovered his wallet. Al-Saadi Gaddafi failed a drug test soon after and was released from Perugia.
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1 hour ago, tamthebam said:

I know the moose molesters like their ice hockey and even I've heard of Gretsky but Ben Johnson is probably the most famous Canuck athlete if only for the wrong reasons.

The topic is "best" though, not most famous. 

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4 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

 

Canada have absolute shite. Alphonso Davies will easily win this in a few years but for the time being Dwayne De Rosario - Wikipedia seems the best option. I'll wait for @senorsoupe's input.

 

If we are only considering Men's football, then Alphonso Davies is probably our most naturally talented player.  De Rosario was the best of his generation but Davies has already achieved more major honours than any other Canadian Footballer.

If we are talking Canada's best ever footballer then Christine Sinclair wins hands down.  187 goals in 301 appearances for our Women's national team, the goals being an all time record for international goals (men or women)

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2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

The topic is "best" though, not most famous. 

Ben Johnson wasn't even Canada's best 100M sprinter, that honour goes to Donovan Bailey.  Wayne Gretzky is indeed our best overall athlete, a lot of his records will never be broken. 

That being said, his drinks line is pretty average, the Wayne Gretzky Cabernet Sauvignon is decidedly mediocre, while the Wayne Gretzky whisky is about $10 too expensive (and it's not all that expensive.  Wayne Gretzky Premium Lager is alright, but not amazing. 

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15 hours ago, Nightmare said:

I don’t think all sports are comparable and it’s not just as simple as looking at Murray’s grand slam total, Faldo’s major wins, Hendry’s world titles, etc. For me what Murray has achieved in tennis is superior to what Faldo did in golf, or indeed what Hendry did in snooker.

I’m not anti-golf in any way and will happily sit and watch the majors, but golf is a sport where you’re basically playing yourself, and the competitive element is minimal compared to tennis. Tennis is hard physical competition against other elite athletes, and Murray regularly competed against three of the best (if not THE three best) in the history of the sport, beating each of them numerous times and winning 3 majors (5 if you count the Olympics).

Fair enough if you think tennis is higher in the pecking order than golf but you described it as a "belter" to compare Britain's most successful post war golfer to Andy Murray. It's utter bollocks to say they're not comparable.

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44 minutes ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Fair enough if you think tennis is higher in the pecking order than golf but you described it as a "belter" to compare Britain's most successful post war golfer to Andy Murray. It's utter bollocks to say they're not comparable.

They're comparable, but I think what makes Murray more impressive is that he got to the top of a sport which isn't really played to any serious level in his home country outwith his own family.

What he achieved is genuinely remarkable in the way that a successful British golfer isn't really. Faldo won more, but he was hardly unique in being a major winner from Britain.

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10 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

 

Canada have absolute shite. Alphonso Davies will easily win this in a few years but for the time being Dwayne De Rosario - Wikipedia seems the best option. I'll wait for @senorsoupe's input.

All of this is irrelevant because there are about 50 hockey players I could pick, but Wayne Gretzky - Wikipedia is the obvious winner.

  

Donovan Bailey was the world's fastest man in 1996. Thrice world champion and double Olympic champion (1 of those in the relay). Pretty decent shout imo 

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5 hours ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Fair enough if you think tennis is higher in the pecking order than golf but you described it as a "belter" to compare Britain's most successful post war golfer to Andy Murray. It's utter bollocks to say they're not comparable.

I think that’s what made it a belter from pep, his claim was that Faldo was absolutely miles ahead of Murray. Which is obviously ludicrous. 

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10 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

If we are only considering Men's football, then Alphonso Davies is probably our most naturally talented player.  De Rosario was the best of his generation but Davies has already achieved more major honours than any other Canadian Footballer.

If we are talking Canada's best ever footballer then Christine Sinclair wins hands down.  187 goals in 301 appearances for our Women's national team, the goals being an all time record for international goals (men or women)

but unlike Paul Pechisolido he's never shagged Karren Brady. 

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5 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

In 1995, Peschisolido married Karren Brady, who was at the time managing director of Birmingham City F.C. The couple have two children, daughter Sophia and son Paolo.[

Unless the kids are really Steve Claridge's.... 

I meant prove that De Rosario never

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Bermuda also have Nakhi Wells who’s played a wee bit in the EPL, and a fair amount in the Championship so Bermuda are doing really  well by the usual standards of diddy Caribbean islands. Goater still takes it though.
For Bhutan, and purely so we can name someone that isn’t a footballer, they have a boxer (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigyel_Phub) who won a silver medal in the south Asian games, which seems to be a more tangible achievement that finishing 87th in the Olympic archery or whatever. 
Flora Duffy might disagree - she's just about to win the Women's Triathlon at the Olympics. First ever gold for Bermuda.

Has a phenomenonal record in this event - something of a Bermudan legend.Screenshot_20210727-003129_Chrome.jpg.cb09aa2fd24d452f476b59762d39fd27.jpg
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