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So you’re walking down the street with your hand on your johnson cracking a smile, in the immortal words of Hitman, and then from no where the Devil himself pops up! BOOM!

 
“So you think you could get it away with it?” he says cackling away.

 
You’re very confused, having no idea what hes on about despite a life of rather dubious activities.

 
“I’ll give you one shot at staying above ground: You can pick one athlete, and he will play his sport for your life, if he wins, you live, if he loses, your with me!”

Now that may seem like a pretty crazy situation to find yourself in but it does raise a good point; who is THAT good at their sport in crunch time that you would actually consider betting your life on it?

Here is my criteria:

  • Athlete must play an individuals sport. this rules out any team sports, including cycling. Lance Armstrong would be in here but his team in Le Tour helps way to much, he won the 2005 title while winning only one stage, doesn’t really make sense to me!
  • To be eligable for this list, the athlete has to have sustained at least five years of these types of performances. Thus ruling out, at present, Usian Bolt and other recent dominant athletes
  • Wrestlers do not count as athletes for this discussion, that is another column.
  • Engine based sports are allowed
  • These guys are judged on their PRIME, not who is currently active in these events, please don’t compare eras.
  • Crunch time equals: MAJOR international sporting events, the best of the best. Majors, Grand Slams, World Champs, Olympics. Events where you have a limited time to achieve these accolades.
  • Please feel free to add your own in comments, this is my opinion only and i have supported it as best I can.
  •  A clutch player is a player who has the ability to perform in the most pressure  filled situation time after time. They show no nerves in the most important situations.

 
Here are my top four, in no particular order:

Rafael Nadal:

How you doin?!

Rafa is in here as his clutch tennis is exemplary. He plays in the era of a man, Roger Federer, who is supposedly the greatest tennis player of all time. Yet he holds a commanding 14-7 head to head over him, including a 6-2 Grand Slam mark and a 12-5 mark in finals against him (GS and Masters Series). Nadal spends more time on court than anyone, digging deeper than more naturally gifted tennis players, like Fed, to eek out victories from the jaws of defeat.

 
In 2008 he not only won the Roland Garros/Wimbledon double but also the Olympic Gold Medal. Three straight major titles, including the Gold which Federer has never won. His 81 match win streak on clay will never be broken, and just this year he won all three Clay Masters Series titles and Roland Garrosfor the fifth time, a feat never before achieved and one only he could possibly emulate. 22-0 this year on that surface. Add to this his epic five set win against Fed in the 09 Aussie Open, and his overall finals record of 40-12 (77%) and we have a man who I would trust with my life on his racket.

Michael Phelps:

The water is freeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzing!!!!!

A man who can only really be described as a human fish. Born with hyper-mobile ankles and reportedly double jointed ankles and elbows, the man was born to swim. 9 (14) Olympic Gold Medals including 5 (8 breaking Mark Spitz record of 7) in Bejing, equalling  the previous record of 5 individual medals by any athlete at one Olympics, 28 (37) World Records, 12 (21) World Champ Golds and the man is still only 25! He will compete in the 2012 London Olympics to further extend his record Olympic haul. Possibly his finest swim was his victory in the 100m butterfly final, beating out Milorad Cavic by 1/100 of a second for his 7th Gold of the Games.

 
No one has been this dominant in a pool, not even the great Ian Thorpe had the repertoire of Phelps who swims freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and the medleys at an elite level. A once in a generation athlete for sure.

Tiger Woods:

I hate it when my balls go wayward....

Eldric Woods. Legend from age 3, putting for the whole of America. Simply put the man is a freak. 14 Major titles, only trailing Jack who has 18. Going into the final round he has lead or tied for the lead 15 times, only losing once.  97 world wide titles including 71 on the PGA Tour. This total includes 16 World Championships. The Youngest player to ever win all four Majors, and the first to hold all four at once. Not even The Golden Bear could do that.

 
Possibly his most remarkable feat in amongst all of these was his last major title in 2008. He won the event in an 19 hole playoff AFTER rupturing his ACL and playing with a double stress fracture in his leg. An epic feat and testament to him that shone a whole new light on the sometimes suspect athletic abilities of golfers. It may ‘only’ be golf but i dare you to play 91 holes of golf on basically one leg, let alone a Major Championship.

 
An overall win percentage of near on 29.1% in the PGA is light years ahead of any other professional to ever walk the fairways of the world.

 
If I need a putt, here’s my boy.

Carl Lewis:

Run like an Egyptian.....

A controversial choice I know considering the apparent cover-ups by the US Athletics Associations regarding possible drug infractions, but his body of work is also of the highest calibre in The Big Show. Voted Athlete of the 20th Century by the IOC, Lewis’ name stands in the history books next to two of the biggest feats in Olympic history. First, although slightly tainted by the lack of Soviet States at the LA Olympics in 84, he became only the second man ever to win 4 Track & Field gold medals as he took the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and anchored the 4 x 100 meter relay. The other man? One Jesse Owens who stuck it to Hitler back in 1936, destroying his Aryan boys.

 
Lewis other record, possibly just as impressive if not more so: Lewis is only the third man ever to win the same Olympic title in four successive Olympics. His long jump titles in 84, 88, 92 and 96 are almost unprecedented, only Al Oerter in the discus and a Danish sailor had achieved this previously.

 
Add to these feats his five individual World Champ golds (including the 100 metre and long jump double in both 83 & 87) and you have a man who performs when the going is toughest. Testament to this is his epic 100 meter effort at the 91 World Champs, defeating the two fastest men in the world at the time (Leyroy Burrelland Raymond Stewart) and reclaiming his World Record in 9.86. Following this up was the most epic Long Jump final ever witnessed where both he and Mike Powell broke Bob Beamons long standing record set in the 68 Olympics. Powell went on to take the title with an epic jump of 8.95 meters, marking Lewis first loss in 65 long jump competitions, dating back over a decade.

 
If you need a man to run or jump for your life, hes the man.

Mr B Bird
Sports Enthusiast/Reporter
McBird Enterprises
A Partner of When in Rome Bro

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