Journalists vote athlete of the year 2010 - no cyclist makes it into the first 22!

[la.margna]

As a cycling fan, I am aware that I am biased, but isn't it ridicolous, that not even one cyclist did make it into the first 22 top athletes of the year?
Something's wrong UCI with the sport! Or a sign of the poor state of sports journalism? Incredible...

http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=news&cod=5359&tp=n

 

[Big Doopie]

As a cycling fan, I am aware that I am biased, but isn't it ridicolous, that not even one cyclist did make it into the first 22 top athletes of the year?
Something's wrong UCI with the sport! Or a sign of the poor state of sports journalism? Incredible...

http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=news&cod=5359&tp=n

frankly, a wary but accurate view of a sport where every single performance is in question.

perhaps this should be put in the clinic.

 

[jens_attacks]

it's the fault of the cyclists(cowards),uci(taking hits from all the other sports),journalists(retarted stupid people) and fans(not all of them,but the most youngsters who don't know shiit about sports & life).all of this elements are talking just about doping so yeah cyclists dope so no glory for them and no athlete of the year prize.but be happy my friends-you have a clean sport.i'll never understand you.

 

[The Hitch]

How is this "athlete of the year" with the following entry?

4 Sebastian Vettel (Formula 1) 470 (10,12%)


To have a driver (and not exactly a dominant one at that) ahead of cyclists in an ATHLETE catergory is a DISGRACE.

Call it celebrity of the year or something. Actually Vlasic coming ahead of skiers proves this to be the case.


But beware that there have been about a hundred of these in the last few days.

Nadal won most of them but one stupid American organisation gave it to David Villa because Spain won the wc and the guy who scored the most goals for the winners must therefore be the best player in the world, right ?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Or maybe it's that the one rider who won the one big event when the world's eyes were on the sport has a big grey cloud over his achievement?

Interesting how Lindsey Vonn gets 2nd overall for her Olympic gold and bronze + world cup title in the downhill, while Magdalena Neuner isn't there at all for her two Olympic golds and a silver + world cup title in biathlon - albeit a less watched sport, but Ole Einar Bjorndalen was able to make 7th in the men's list with a silver and a relay gold (Emil Hegle Svendsen got 2 golds and a silver including the relay, won the World Cup, and is leading the current one)...

 

[theyoungest]

Or maybe it's that the one rider who won the one big event when the world's eyes were on the sport has a big grey cloud over his achievement?

Interesting how Lindsey Vonn gets 2nd overall for her Olympic gold and bronze + world cup title in the downhill, while Magdalena Neuner isn't there at all for her two Olympic golds and a silver + world cup title in biathlon - albeit a less watched sport, but Ole Einar Bjorndalen was able to make 7th in the men's list with a silver and a relay gold (Emil Hegle Svendsen got 2 golds and a silver including the relay, won the World Cup, and is leading the current one)...

(Lack of) titles don't count, only fame. Lionel Messi got 2nd.

 

[roundabout]

Or maybe it's that the one rider who won the one big event when the world's eyes were on the sport has a big grey cloud over his achievement?

Interesting how Lindsey Vonn gets 2nd overall for her Olympic gold and bronze + world cup title in the downhill, while Magdalena Neuner isn't there at all for her two Olympic golds and a silver + world cup title in biathlon - albeit a less watched sport, but Ole Einar Bjorndalen was able to make 7th in the men's list with a silver and a relay gold (Emil Hegle Svendsen got 2 golds and a silver including the relay, won the World Cup, and is leading the current one)...

To be fair it's more difficult to master different alpine disciplines compared to biathlon where it's skiing and shooting in all events.

 

[The Hitch]

To be fair it's more difficult to master different alpine disciplines compared to biathlon where it's skiing and shooting in all events.

Not as difficult as it is to master driving around in a circle faster than 20 people, after being given a faster car than 18 of them.

It would be like giving Fabian Cancellara a motor live on tv and saying that he deserves to be the winner because his mechanics are better

But apparently this is enough in and of itself to get you 4th. It happens a few more times and theyll be giving him Laureus like they did to Schumacher twice.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

How is this "athlete of the year" with the following entry?

4 Sebastian Vettel (Formula 1) 470 (10,12%)

To have a driver (and not exactly a dominant one at that) ahead of cyclists in an ATHLETE catergory is a DISGRACE.

As a matter of fact, Vettel was named German male athlete of the year. Michael Schumacher also won the title in the past.

Susan

 

[The Hitch]

As a matter of fact, Vettel was named German male athlete of the year. Michael Schumacher also won the title in the past.

Susan

I know he was. I mentioned that being a disgrace in the other thread (Cancellra dissed.....)

They should have given it to André Lange

His bobsleigh was exactly the same quality as all the others

 

[roundabout]

Not as difficult as it is to master driving around in a circle faster than 20 people, after being given a faster car than 18 of them.

It would be like giving Fabian Cancellara a motor live on tv and saying that he deserves to be the winner because his mechanics are better

But apparently this is enough in and of itself to get you 4th. It happens a few more times and theyll be giving him Laureus like they did to Schumacher twice.

Who knows how many people on the list made it without being naturally better than their peers.

 

[The Hitch]

Who knows how many people on the list made it without being naturally better than their peers.

Yes we all know numbers 1 and 2 are very suspicious. Given recent words (ahem Fuentes) 3 as well.

5 is a dead cert and 7 and 8 have asteriks next to their names.

But i still think far more of those than i do of 4.

 

[nobilis]

Well, if it interests you, Eurosport France are doing their own top 10 of the year.
And a cyclist is actually present there, Cancellara at 7th, ahead of Sneijder, Messi and Bode Miller and behind Marit Bjoergen, Iniesta, Vonn and Loeb, the first 2 still to be announced (it should include Nadal for sure and maybe Vlasic)
I think this classification makes more sense to me based on the different athletes performances in 2010.

 

[nobilis]

Or maybe it's that the one rider who won the one big event when the world's eyes were on the sport has a big grey cloud over his achievement?

Interesting how Lindsey Vonn gets 2nd overall for her Olympic gold and bronze + world cup title in the downhill, while Magdalena Neuner isn't there at all for her two Olympic golds and a silver + world cup title in biathlon - albeit a less watched sport, but Ole Einar Bjorndalen was able to make 7th in the men's list with a silver and a relay gold (Emil Hegle Svendsen got 2 golds and a silver including the relay, won the World Cup, and is leading the current one)...

I guess OEB is more mediatized than Svendsen, plus i think that they always take into account what he has accumulated over the years and still got it till now.
The same for Vonn, Alpine skiing has more publicity that nordic skiing, hence Vonn being there and not Neuner.

How about we start a thread about winter sports in the café?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

To be fair it's more difficult to master different alpine disciplines compared to biathlon where it's skiing and shooting in all events.

OK, I'll buy that. I also don't know about the size of the competitive field in the Alpine disciplines, which may be superior to biathlon (not to mention that the sprint field usually sets the start times for the pursuit, so having won the sprint silver put Neuner in a prime position for one of her golds).

But in that case... why is Vonn 2nd while Maria Riesch, who won two golds to Vonn's one gold and one bronze, is only 7th?

And of course, biathlon is a sporting competition comprised of two skills which are far more opposed to those used in the different forms of Alpine skiing - though those skills apply to all biathlon disciplines while Alpine skiing disciplines involve greater and lower quantities of each skill required.

Ole Einar Bjorndalen is rightfully a legend of the sport, I'm just struggling to see why he was included in the top 10 of the list when Emil Hegle Svendsen doesn't appear at all, when objectively both Svendsen and Neuner had much better years.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

How is this "athlete of the year" with the following entry?

4 Sebastian Vettel (Formula 1) 470 (10,12%)

To have a driver (and not exactly a dominant one at that) ahead of cyclists in an ATHLETE catergory is a DISGRACE.

Call it celebrity of the year or something. Actually Vlasic coming ahead of skiers proves this to be the case.
...

Agreed. It seems the journalists wanted to pay tribute to a multitude of sports whether or not the person was actually an athlete. C'mon... golf? Cricket? Dirk Nowitzki??? I know plenty of guys who are far better athletes than Nowitzki AND Kobe Bryant t'boot, even though Kobe deserves to be in the list (and Dirk doesn't). If you put together a list of the top 10 pro cyclists most of them should be able to nudge someone out of the journalist's list.

Also it appears the journalist's vote was an attempt at global consideration. But I'm a bit surprised some American football athletes did not make the list, even if they are not so well know globally. I'll just name ONE, Chicago Bears' Devon Hester... so elusive and fast opposing coaches get mad at their own kickers for kicking the ball to him because half the time when they do it ends up in a score for the Bears. I'm sure he rates higher than the golfers, cricket players and Kobe.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Let's be fair to motorsport drivers here... the physical punishment they take in the course of a race is incredible. You have to be very fit to withstand it. Now, of course the car is usually the deciding factor, but it's a misnomer to say that a driver doesn't belong in the list on sporting grounds, because their sport is incredibly physically demanding. It's just also one in which the eventual champion does about 2% of the work that gets them the championship.

 

[nobilis]

How is this "athlete of the year" with the following entry?

4 Sebastian Vettel (Formula 1) 470 (10,12%)


To have a driver (and not exactly a dominant one at that) ahead of cyclists in an ATHLETE catergory is a DISGRACE.

I don't they mean here by athlete of the year is the one with the highest physical fitness, otherwise they would rank according to VO2max and the one with the highest would win. And to be fair to F1 drivers, I think they all have excellent physical fitness. Jenson Button for instance achieved very decent Triathlon times.

 

[The Hitch]

Let's be fair to motorsport drivers here... the physical punishment they take in the course of a race is incredible. You have to be very fit to withstand it. Now, of course the car is usually the deciding factor, but it's a misnomer to say that a driver doesn't belong in the list on sporting grounds, because their sport is incredibly physically demanding. It's just also one in which the eventual champion does about 2% of the work that gets them the championship.

But what was Vettels achievment?

he won the f1 world championship from what i heard, by pretty close and he AUTOMATICALLY becomes one of the top 4 sportsmen of the year. Top 2 according to a lot of the awards.

Just by winning one

By default.

Did he win it by some particular domination. Did he absolutely crush all the other competitors. Was he so special that he would have won it regardless of the car?

No. He merely won it, and that Automatically gets him a place because its the blue ribbon of a sport which has the most money.

At the winter olympics you had thousand of athletes, 90% of whose sports are far more physically, mentaly challenging, require far more talent, training 4 years for that one moment of glory. You had hundreds of gold medal winners who had spent their life training for that 1 chance, and when competition time came, having to push their body to the ABSOLUTE limit.

And NONE of them was ranked higher than the guy who gets in by default for winning the sport with the most money even though he was given a tremendous headstart over all but one of his competitors.

Think of all the other sports. What did Vettel do that Javier Gomez didnt? Actually Gomez won his world championship by being the best and pushing himself through pain and adversity through passion.

He like every athlete other than Vettel on the list relied on their body and their mind. They push their body to the limit and THEIR performance rather than the car is what they are judged on.

Why doesnt every other world champion get a place on the list. Why only the guy with the most external factors contributing to his win?

I don't they mean here by athlete of the year is the one with the highest physical fitness, otherwise they would rank according to VO2max and the one with the highest would win. And to be fair to F1 drivers, I think they all have excellent physical fitness. Jenson Button for instance achieved very decent Triathlon times.

Im not denying theres skill to it. But like i said, just being the f1 champion should not automatically make him called one of the top athletes.

And theres more to sport than Vo2 max. The others are all being assesed on something to do with them. Vettel is being assesed on his car. Sure a lot of skill is needed to be there in the first place and he had to do well to drive it to 1st but it wasnt his athletic ability that got him first place. Thats the case with everyone else but with him there are other factors.

 

[maltiv]

How is Ole Einer Bjørndalen 7th? He wasn't even the best in biathlon this season, and the best, Emil Hegle Svendsen, isn't even on the list (Emil had an olympic gold and silver in addition to winning the worldcup overall + a couple of wins, Ole Einar just had olympic silver and a couple of wins). Clearly, this list is just rubbish.

Also ridiculous that Marit Bjørgen isn't on the list, with 3 olympic golds, 1 bronze, 1 silver and she has won 10 world cup races in a row.

 

[The Hitch]

How is Ole Einer Bjørndalen 7th? He wasn't even the best in biathlon this season, and the best, Emil Hegle Svendsen, isn't even on the list (Emil had an olympic gold and silver in addition to winning the worldcup overall + a couple of wins, Ole Einar just had olympic silver and a couple of wins). Clearly, this list is just rubbish.

Also ridiculous that Marit Bjørgen isn't on the list, with 3 olympic golds, 1 bronze, 1 silver and she has won 10 world cup races in a row.

I would have ranked Marat Borgen (even though the polish girl let her win 2 of the events, because she knew she wud win the main one ) but im not a sporting journalist so i clearly dont no much about such things

The sporting journalists are world renowned experts in their field and geniuses. They are far more cleverer than us lesser humoids.

They do after all earn much more than real journalists which means they are beterer. Who cares about peace, democracy, war poverty, love and curing cancer when all the worlds greatest journalistic minds are focused on telling us how wonderful messy is and how sports stars are better than us and deserve money more than talentless poor people.

They are right. I heard Walter kronkite wanted to be a baseball journalist buyt he was bullied at school so had to work for cbs sports weak sister station i cant remember what its called.



That was a weak wonderlance attempt type post. Im being sarcastic. Oh and this does not apply to any journalists who work for cycling news. At least not the ones who are mods on the forum

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hitch, you're right on it being a bit preposterous that Vettel is the one who gets mentioned. After all, if we're going to go with somebody from motorsport then Alex Zanardi wins every year hands down for greatest sportsman - that guy's a true inspiration.

Maltiv - great shout on Bjørgen. Justyna Kowalczyk too - lots of winter Olympians whose achievements eclipse those of Vonn.

I'm not entirely sure what Blanka Vlašić has done this year that merits being put above all of Clijsters, Riesch and Neuner, but I'm not all that au fait with athletics and I don't know what esteem the world Indoors and European Championships are held in or if she's done something fantastic inside or outside of her sport that would justify being given the award, but the choice of winter Olympians seems rather arbitrary.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Many may disagree with me here but I don't really classify any competition that has a motor in it as a sport. I will probably get hounded down but just my view.

 

[maltiv]

I would have ranked Marat Borgen (even though the polish girl let her win 2 of the events, because she knew she wud win the main one ) but im not a sporting journalist so i clearly dont no much about such things

A bit offtopic, but Marit Bjørgen losing the 30 km in the Olympics is one of the biggest tactical failures I've seen. First she pulled back her own teammate who had attacked, then she continued to pull on the front the whole way, with the polish "girl" behind her, until the sprint, where Marit also screwed up by using the wrong technique. Nonetheless, she should definitely be on this list.

 

[bobbins]

Which sporting events do 'journalists' have more fun at?

F1 with the freebies, beers and girls

Cycling with the vittel, cycling journalist parasites and 'girls'


You do the math