It's the sort of conversation that sports' fans up and down the country will bring up from time to time, but just who would get into people's top ten sporting Brits ? None other than double Olympic decathlon champion, Daley Thompson, decided to provide his own list for Talksport on Colin Murray's show and it proved to include a number of familiar stars, besides the omission of many household names that you might have expected to feature. In the first part of the countdown, here are numbers ten to six from Daley's list and some of the facts that possibly led to their selection.
10. Dame Kelly Holmes - The now retired middle distance runner had a troubled early family life, joined the British Army at the age of seventeen and battled for many years against injury when she decided to focus on Athletics. Aside from winning the Commonwealth Games 1500m titles in 1994 and 2002 (besides a handful of minor medals at other major championships), Holmes had frequently been seen as the 'bridesmaid' at the major events. She put all that right in a purple spell at the Athens Olympics of 2004 though, by claiming double gold over 800m and 1500m. Her legacy endures through her British records over 600m, 800m, 1000m and 1500m and the programme she set up called "On Camp with Kelly" to help young middle distance athletes to greater success.
She has also established the DKH Legacy Trust to help get young lives back on track.
9. Fred Perry - Long before Andy Murray came along and took British tennis back to the top, Fred Perry became a sporting hero and world number one. His Grand Slam (amateur) record of eight singles' titles and six doubles' titles included three successive Wimbledon singles' titles from 1934 - 36, and all of the Slams (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open).
It took until 2013 before Murray emulated Perry's Wimbledon victory, as if to emphasise the ability of the man. His hand and eye co-ordination also enabled him to become World Table Tennis Champion in 1929. His personal life was never far from the news with romantic links to such as the film star, Marlene Dietrich. He died in 1995, but his style and class live on through his clothing range and the bronze statue of him at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
8. Sir Chris Hoy - The Scottish track cycling hero of many an Olympic Games with a British record of six gold medals and one silver medal, plus a mammoth eleven World titles (25 medals in all at the Worlds) and two Commonwealth titles, has stats that speak for themselves. His longevity across four Olympics from 2000 up to London 2012 indicates the dedication he had to the sport and his lion hearted performances were never better exemplified than when he won the Keirin in 2012 after falling behind on the last lap, but somehow came back for the victory. His amazing feat of three golds in the one Games (Beijing Olympics of 2008) had last been achieved one hundred years before. A keen Hearts' fan, he will no doubt be hoping that they can get promotion back to the Scottish Premiership this season.
7. Lester Piggott - for many years, the name of 'Lester Piggott' was synonymous with the sport of horseracing as he racked up almost 5000 career winners and became Champion Jockey on eleven occasions . His nine Epsom Derby, five 2000 Guineas and eight St Leger victories amongst an amazing haul of thirty British Classic Race wins in all, truly elevates him to the pinnacle of an all time flat racing great. Starting as a jockey at a very early age, he had won his first Epsom Derby by the tender age of only 18, when Never Say Die was victorious in 1954. During his successful years he rode some of the best horses that the world has ever seen, with Sir Ivor, Nijinksy, The Minstrel and Teenoso forming part of his impressive curriculum vitae.
After a long career as a jockey he retired in 1985 to become a trainer, but only two years later he was in the news again for all the wrong reasons as he was convicted of tax fraud and served a year in prison, resulting in the decision to strip him of the OBE he had been awarded in 1975. Post-prison, Piggott returned to the saddle again but retired officially in 1995, not too bad for a man born in 1935! His name lives on in the horsing world through "The Lesters", awarded annually to jockeys.
6. Linford Christie - the man born in Jamaica who came to England at the age of seven and who was made as famous for his "lunchbox" by the Sun newspaper as for his on track abilities, Linford roared to victory in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona over the prestigious 100m event.
Despite the "dumbing down" of the victory by many in the sport due to the relatively slow winning time and perceived poor field, he came back to claim the World Championships' title the following year in Stuttgart with what was perhaps an even better performance and remains the British record holder for the distance. He also claimed two silvers in the Seoul Olympics of 1988 and five more minor medals across three World Championships (indoors and outdoors). Below the global Games' level, his medal haul was even more striking, with ten European medals indoors and outdoors (six golds) and five Commonwealth medals (three golds). Not surprisingly then, he is the most decorated male athlete for Britain of all time with 24 major championship medals in total.
In the twilight of his career he was given a two year ban for taking a performance- enhancing substance, which Christie has always denied and seemed an odd occurrence when he was no longer competing in major championships by that time. His legacy has been to transfer his energies to the coaching side of the sport in recent years, assisting both Katharine Merry and Darren Campbell to medal at the Olympics.
Part two of the countdown, covering numbers five down to one will be coming soon.
