OT: Quebec's all-time best athlete?

[BenchBrawl]

Best athlete Mario Lemieux

Greatest athlete Maurice Richard

Richard was probably the hockey player who played under the most pressure in the history of the sport.How did he respond? He became known as one of the most clutch player of all-time, a Top 5 all-time playoff performer with a case for #1.That's greatness and transcends mere talent and domination.

Mario Lemieux famously said he wouldn't be able to play in Montreal because he cared too much about his private life.Meanwhile, Maurice Richard played here and lived here all year long.

Actually, is there any name, in any field of activity, that is bigger than Maurice Richard in Quebec? Who would that be?

A politician? I doubt it.Rene Levesque or Robert Bourassa or Jean Lesage or Maurice Duplessis or Pierre-Elliot Trudeau and a few others are probably the most well-known, and even they can't compete with Rocket Richard in terms of star power.This will be increasingly true as time passes and more and more prime ministers are part of history.IMO, for a politician to attain Richard's significance in Quebec, he would need to oversee a major war or something like that.

An artist? Biggest name is easily Celine Dion.I doubt her name will have as much staying power as Maurice Richard, but we shall see (or our children shall see).

Another hockey player? Jean Béliveau was great but he is no Maurice Richard in terms of importance.But Béliveau can certainly compete with all the names mentioned above, and maybe even beats them.Guy Lafleur? Can't compete with Richard neither.

 

[Kriss E]

You do understand that you are actually arguing sport vs sport, not the athlete versus his own sport? Don't you even see how illogical you are?

Again, best athlete can comprise many qualities, because we define any person doing a sport, an athlete.

Would you get less wound up if we called it best sports person? That's not the terminology for sports. We have to use, best athlete, but then people like you seem to get things confused.

Precisely why I asked what are the points of measurements.

I get confused because a bunch of people who don't know the slightest thing about athleticism argue over who's the best one. Why is Lemieux a better athelete than GSP?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Precisely why I asked what are the points of measurements.

I get confused because a bunch of people who don't know the slightest thing about athleticism argue over who's the best one. Why is Lemieux a better athelete than GSP?

Can GSP do what Lemieux does. Can Lemieux do PLG does. Can PLG do what Kingsbury does? And so on. The answer is NO in every case. You can't compare the athleticism of an athlete of one sport to another because you are then simply comparing sports and in the end what should happen? The sport that is the most athletic will always have the "best" athletes?

 

[Kriss E]

Can GSP do what Lemieux does. Can Lemieux do PLG does. Can PLG do what Kingsbury does? And so on. The answer is NO in every case. You can't compare the athleticism of an athlete of one sport to another because you are then simply comparing sports and in the end what should happen? The sport that is the most athletic will always have the "best" athletes?

To me it's fairly simple after decades of working in the fitness industry, the best athletes are bar none, gymnasts.
GSP is the closest thing to that then any of the other guys listed.

 

[BeastMode420]

To me it's fairly simple after decades of working in the fitness industry, the best athletes are bar none, gymnasts.
GSP is the closest thing to that then any of the other guys listed.

I agree. A Gymnast at cirque du Soleil is 10x what Mario Lemieux was as an ATHLETE not a hockey player.

I mean it's rediculous, of course people deying it have NEVER been an athlete. A gym subscription at Econo Fitness or spinning classes is not what makes you an all around athlete lol.

A gymnast will always be better at different sports from the start than a 1 sport guy. Their core strenght is tremendous

 

[Mrb1p]

Precisely why I asked what are the points of measurements.

I get confused because a bunch of people who don't know the slightest thing about athleticism argue over who's the best one. Why is Lemieux a better athelete than GSP?

Athlete does not mean athleticism... "Whos the most athletic athlete in quebecs history" vs "whos the best athlete" Tbh I don't even understand why you're arguing this it's so obvious it's painful.

 

[Mrb1p]

I agree. A Gymnast at cirque du Soleil is 10x what Mario Lemieux was as an ATHLETE not a hockey player.

I mean it's rediculous, of course people deying it have NEVER been an athlete. A gym subscription at Econo Fitness or spinning classes is not what makes you an all around athlete lol.

A gymnast will always be better at different sports from the start than a 1 sport guy. Their core strenght is tremendous

I've played the 2nd highest level of football in canada, what about you ?

(mod) You have a difficulty understanding semantics and it's the only reason there's a debate.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

If we're gonna get all wound-up about athleticism, guys like PLG and Kingsbury are also incredibly athletic. The amount of cardio, coordination, agility, flexibility and presence of mind involved in both their sports puts them close to gymnasts.

But all of that is beside the point.

There's Tony Hawk in Vert and after that, there's PLG. Even Bob Burnqvist couldnt beat PLG.

 

[Mrb1p]

If we're gonna get all wound-up about athleticism, guys like PLG and Kingsbury are also incredibly athletic. The amount of cardio, coordination, agility, flexibility and presence of mind involved in both their sports puts them close to gymnasts.

But all of that is beside the point.

LOL THEY USE SKIS THO

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

LOL THEY USE SKIS THO

Lol

PLG's a skater.. still

 

[Mrb1p]

Lol

PLG's a skater.. still

I know, I'm not sure skating takes much athleticism though, it's a lot more coordination and practice. Pretty sure Tony never exercised once in his career

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I know, I'm not sure skating takes much athleticism though, it's a lot more coordination and practice. Pretty sure Tony never exercised once in his career

Vert skaters do train, especially at that level. Same for snowboarders. Street skaters are probably the ones who don't train much other than practicing their sport. Vert pros don't really have a choice to train both cardio and legs as vert can be extremely hard on the legs. Have you ever tried vert? It's excrutiating on the legs. Same as olympic skiiers.

And you might be able to find a youtube clip when Hawk shows his home, he mentions training a lot, has a gym in his home.

Flexibility and agility are two cornerstones of athleticism. Skateboarding requires plenty of that.

 

[Mrb1p]

Vert skaters do train, especially at that level. Same for snowboarders. Street skaters are probably the ones who don't train much other than practicing their sport. Vert pros don't really have a choice to train both cardio and legs as vert can be extremely hard on the legs. Have you ever tried vert? It's excrutiating on the legs. Same as olympic skiiers.

And you might be able to find a youtube clip when Hawk shows his home, he mentions training a lot, has a gym in his home.

Flexibility and agility are two cornerstones of athleticism. Skateboarding requires plenty of that.

Really ? Didn't know that. I used to skate a lot when I was a teen, yeah. I think the only spot that had a pipe was at the SouthParc in brossard and I don't think it was a full size, anyway. I seem to recall a big one in Jarry, too but I'm not sure if that was a half/11 foot one. I never pumped as hard as they do though, so that might be a reason why I didn't find it that hard.

 

[Kriss E]

Athlete does not mean athleticism... "Whos the most athletic athlete in quebecs history" vs "whos the best athlete" Tbh I don't even understand why you're arguing this it's so obvious it's painful.

So what makes one the “best athlete” if not for his athleticism?

 

[Mrb1p]

So what makes one the “best athlete” if not for his athleticism?

Athlete is just used to describe people that practice a sport, most often times at a high level.

That means the better you are in your sport the better athlete you are.

 

[Habsfunk]

No it doesn’t. You have like 5 countries that legitimately put money into hockey and only middle class+ families in those countries can afford to have their kids play. And in half of Mario’s time, Europeans weren’t even in the league.

There are way more MMA fighters in the world and GSP is arguably the best ever.

No there isn't. According to this article, there's roughly 1,000 MMA fighters competing worldwide. Now, I assume there's thousands more amateurs out there, but even if you compared that 1,000 number pales in comparison to the number of professional hockey players.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

So what makes one the “best athlete” if not for his athleticism?

- Dominance versus their peers, both historically and in their own time.

- Size of talent pool of sport in question

- ambassador to their sport

- inspiration to the public

And there quite a few name who fit all those and they've mostly all been named. The rest is mostly personal bias.

Size of talent pool is why id chose Rocket or Lemieux over the others.

 

[le_sean]

No there isn't. According to this article, there's roughly 1,000 MMA fighters competing worldwide. Now, I assume there's thousands more amateurs out there, but even if you compared that 1,000 number pales in comparison to the number of professional hockey players.

It’s ridiculous to just look at MMA. You have to look at martial arts separately as the fighters need to become the best at their respective martial arts to even consider themselves good enough to try MMA.

 

[peate]

Athlete is just used to describe people that practice a sport, most often times at a high level.

That means the better you are in your sport the better athlete you are.

False, skill is what makes you the best. All are athletes, and I'm sure there were players on the Pens who were in better shape than Mario, but none had the skills.

 

[Mrb1p]

False, skill is what makes you the best. All are athletes, and I'm sure there were players on the Pens who were in better shape than Mario, but none had the skills.

A lot of you guys have trouble with semantics it seems.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Really ? Didn't know that. I used to skate a lot when I was a teen, yeah. I think the only spot that had a pipe was at the SouthParc in brossard and I don't think it was a full size, anyway. I seem to recall a big one in Jarry, too but I'm not sure if that was a half/11 foot one. I never pumped as hard as they do though, so that might be a reason why I didn't find it that hard.

Xgames Vert is 14 feet. 20 feet for launch slides.

Regular verts are 11. There used to be one in St-Bruno in the Rabastaliere school grounds. I lived on the north shore and around 99 you could find 11 foot Verts in almost every city on the north part of the thousand island river.

Jarry park was great though, think it was just a foot more than usual. Loved going there and at the Big O too.

 

[Mrb1p]

It’s ridiculous to just look at MMA. You have to look at martial arts separately as the fighters need to become the best at their respective martial arts to even consider themselves good enough to try MMA.

Thats not true though.

 

[Mrb1p]

Xgames Vert is 14 feet. 20 feet for launch slides.

Regular verts are 11. There used to be one in St-Bruno in the Rabastaliere school grounds. I lived on the north shore and around 99 you could find 11 foot Verts in almost every city on the north part of the thousand island river.

Jarry park was great though, think it was just a foot more than usual. Loved going there and at the Big O too.

By the time I started skating in the 00s there wasnt anything left

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

By the time I started skating in the 00s there wasnt anything left

You mean in StB?

They removed it in the mid 90's.

 

[ZUKI]

Athlete does not mean athleticism... "Whos the most athletic athlete in quebecs history" vs "whos the best athlete" Tbh I don't even understand why you're arguing this it's so obvious it's painful.

NHL = +- 100 years
Most of hockey players around the world don't even make it to this league because they are not enough good .
+- 700 hockey players are playing in the NHL each season
Mario Lemieux is the 2nd best player of all time in that league and he did that with back pains and a cancer that left him out for a while

GSP 28 fights 8 ko , 6 submission 12 judge 2 defeats