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Message: [QUOTE="Flutterby, post: 2103703, member: 1853"] Another demonstration of how the media can manipulate the public perception. I'm not saying Susie O'Neill isn't one of the best all time athletes - she certainly did achieve great things. But trust me on this, she did not have to work as hard to get there most people think and certainly no more than any other swimmer (probably less hard than quite a few). My favourite all time athlete is Jesse Owens. Black man competing in a time when rampant and overt racism was perfectly acceptable, was quite poor, pretty tough upbringing in terms of his family situation and won at the highest level across a number of events - 100, 200, 400, long jump. Another fave is Emil Zatopek - one of the greatest distance runners ever. Won gold in 5Km, 10Km and Marathon at the 1952 Olympics (only decided to enter the Marathon at the last minute, pretty much the day before and after he had already done the other races). First athlete to break the 1hr barrier for 20Km and the 29 minute mark for the 10Km. Also Louise Suavage. Has won gold at Paralympics / World Champs at every distance from 100m through to Marathon, and really is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet (know this from personal experience). I have a great admiration for most swimmers - seriously getting up that early every single morning to swim up and down seeing nothing but a black line - that's fairly awesome. Have heaps of others as well. [b] Most[/b] of my favourite athletes are not modern day. I admire more the achievements of athletes from the past when it really was all them - no modern technology, sports science, equipment to help them along. Also most had a full-time job as well and weren't able to get time off for training/competitions, so had to take unpaid leave (or quit) - I know there are a number of sports today where athletes are in the same situation as well, but I think it was harder back in the early days. [/QUOTE]

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