I saw the twitter feud going on concerning grant versus NFL players. This kid was getting blasted for saying "Grant isn't a world class athlete". In one sense I agree with the kid. Grant is a world class hurdler obviously, he is currently the best in the world. However, does this make him a world class athlete? To me a world class athlete would be someone like LeBron James. You could take Lebron James and move him to other sports, such as football or baseball, and he probably could learn to be good or even great at them. Could Grant move sports and still be great? Probably not. Being an athlete requires some hand eye coordination along with a great mind to be able to analyze sports that require decision making. Running doesn't require any decision making, knowledge of the game, or hand eye coordination. Running also doesn't present the opportunity to be a leader and lead a team to a victory when all adversity and a crowd is against them. Therefore, in my opinion runners can't be world class athletes. Don't get me wrong they can be the best in the world at what they do but I wouldn't consider them world class athletes. I only think there are a few world class athletes currently out there right now.
LRC note. H ere are soem of the tweets he's referring to from the twitter feud.
https://twitter.com/JWhilihan/status/1324448626920349699
https://twitter.com/JWhilihan/status/1326628239977091074
Grant Holloway isn't a word class athlete; change my mind.
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A world-class athlete is someone who is the best in the world as their athletic endeavor
Best all-around athlete is different -
I disagree. An athlete is anyone who participates in athletics of any kind. Therefore, a world class athlete is someone who is overall great at all athletics. What you are describing is once again the worlds best hurdler. Big difference.
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He was a national caliber football recruit and is dominant at long jump, high jump, 60, 400, and hurdles. To say he is not a world class athlete is absurd, he could shift to other sports and do quite well.
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That is a good point. He has the athletic talent. However, we have no idea about his durability, ability to handle stress/pressure, a sports mind to analyze and dissect situations such as Tom Brady/Lebron, ability to lead a team, ect. All of those traits are arguably more important to a world class athlete.
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He had football offers from Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Oregon, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Penn State, Michigan, U Miami, and Clemson. What I am trying to say is, you're wrong.
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Hurdling is niche. Like pole vault. I'm never impressed by the world leaders in niche sports. Bobsledding? Lol.
How many people dedicate themselves to niche sports, 100? Like 50-500 people? Usually with wealthy families that enable their pursuit of the niche sport.
Great. you're the best out of a few hundred people. Good job. -
Yes, I know that. That means he could maybe shift well to football. However, even from those power 5 schools, most players from those schools don't go to the NFL, and a lot end up not even playing at those schools. Being able to play at the highest level of division 1 football doesn't make you world class. Also, I imagine he played wide receiver, which we could also argue is a position that doesn't have the traits I described.
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OP is clearly a troll, but sadly I suspect many people think that way.
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I am not trolling. I respect what runners do, I ran in college at a high level. However, WORLD CLASS ATHLETE is a little much for runners. Our sport doesn't require a lot of key aspects in athletics that other sports do.
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Brooks Sucks wrote:
You could take Lebron James and move him to other sports, such as football or baseball, and he probably could learn to be good or even great at them.
Does this even happen? I don't mean people who grew up being two-sport athletes like Bo or Deion. I'm just thinking Michael Jordan, Gwen Jorgensen, rugby star Jarryd Hayne.
I remember Wilt because a legend at volleyball after his NBA career but blanking on other success stories. -
Brooks Sucks wrote:
Running doesn't require any decision making, knowledge of the game, or hand eye coordination.
Are you the American 4x100 coach? -
Patrick Mahomes, Lebron James come to mind easily as World Class Athletes. I agree with original post world class hurdler is way different than world class athlete. Grant is amazing but not in same category as Patrick or Lebron.
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pumpking wrote:
Hurdling is niche. Like pole vault. I'm never impressed by the world leaders in niche sports. Bobsledding? Lol.
How many people dedicate themselves to niche sports, 100? Like 50-500 people? Usually with wealthy families that enable their pursuit of the niche sport.
Great. you're the best out of a few hundred people. Good job.
Football or basketball is mostly an American sport. You have people training in high school, though many just train for it during the season and they play other sports in the other times of year. Then a certain number of Americans go to NCAA and keep playing football, and then a certain number are able to go on to the NFL. Track and field is the same, I'll give you that they may have a little bit smaller number of people who go all-in during high school, but they have the same number that go all-in in college. But here's the kicker, the entire world has track and field clubs, you have entire countries in Africa where their most popular sport is running. Not many African football players. So to me, the depth in track and field is more than football. And what makes you think that Grant Holloway wouldn't be good at football? He's faster, taller, and possibly more athletic than Devin Allen who was a pretty high level NCAA receiver. I imagine Holloway would've had a chance to be better if he tried and possibly gone to NFL. There's no reason to think Lebron would be good at baseball, hitting a 95mph pitch is something specific and not all about athletic ability, most baseball players are slow and can't jump very high. But they have that niche ability to quickly hit a fast pitch with a bat. The true most challenging sport is probably soccer, since that's the most popular sport in more countries around the world, meaning a higher percentage of people in the world try to go all in for soccer. -
Come on man, grabbing a baton...... let’s calm down calling that hand eye coordination skills lol
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We can agree Lebron is more athletic than Michael Jordan? Michael was a marginal MLB player, and I think most would think Lebron could do better. I would assume Lebron could play baseball at a high level with a little practice.
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Word class .... Hahahaha
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cramister wrote:
A world-class athlete is someone who is the best in the world as their athletic endeavor
Best all-around athlete is different
A world class athlete is someone that is competitive at the top level of whatever it is they do...they don't have to be THE best to be considered world-class. It would make no sense to say this guy isn't world class because the isn't competitive doing sports that are not his own.
I agree that best all-around athlete is a different beast altogether. -
Its tough because running isn't really a skill based sport, it is mostly genetic. Hurdling does require skill, but it also requires mostly a good genetic build. So it is tough to be a considered a "world class athlete" when a lot of the sport is determined at birth.
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So only a decathlete or Bo Jackson?
