Ando's Sporting Champions

Jon Anderson

2011 was a bumper year in the world of sport with unbeaten streaks, smashed records and tales of personal triumph. Herald Sun Sports Journalist Jon Anderson rates his top sporting highlights.

WHETHER he is the best sportsperson on the planet or not, nobody can deny Kelly Slater’s place at the top of the sporting pops in 2011.

To win 11 world championships in an individual sport as 39-year-old Slater did in his chosen profession of surfing is basically unheard of.

Maybe Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics is compatible, or St George winning 11 straight rugby league premierships in what was then a Sydney-based competition. 

From a team perspective it’s hard to imagine a better unit than the current Barcelona soccer team, one that is basically the Spanish national side plus Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves.

So here goes, the best of the world and the best of Australia. Don’t reckon you will agree but isn’t that the beauty of these lists? 

Top Ten International Sporting Achievements 

1: Kelly Slater (US, surfing): He plays golf off plus 3, is comfortable either acting or playing in a band and lists Gisele and Pamela Anderson among past girlfriends. What can’t Slater do? Eleven world championships could easily be more given he retired for three years between 2002-2004. 

2: Barcelona Football Club (Spain, soccer): Arguably the greatest collection of footballing talent ever assembled and the results agree, Barcelona winning four of five trophies this year including the Champions League. With Lionel Messi up front, has there been a more exciting team? 

3: Novak Djokovic (Serbia, tennis): His season deserves to be rated with the very best of Roger Federer or even John McEnroe in 1984. Three Grand Slam titles and a win/loss record of 70/6 shows just how dominant the 24-year-old was. 

4: Sebastian Vettel (Germany, motor racing): The 24-year-old whiz kid defended his F1 championship in style winning 11 of 19 races, finishing second five times, with one third, one fourth and one no-finish. Not surprisingly the inevitable comparisons have started with Michael Schumacher. Vettel’s response? “I want to be the new Vettel”.

5: Yani Tseng (Taiwan, golf): At age 22, the youngest player - male or female - to have won five major
tournaments. She won 11 times in 2011, including seven on the LPGA tour with two majors, and twice in Australia.

6: Manny Pacquaio (Philippines, boxing): Stretched his unbeaten run to 15 fights and six years with two more wins in 2011, both at welterweight against Shane Mosley and Juan Manual Marquez. Still rated the finest pound for pound fighter in the world even if his aura waned a little. 

7: Yohan Blake (Jamaica, athletics): The IAAF obviously doesn't agree given it named Usain Bolt athlete of the year, a title that should have gone to Blake after he ran 19.26 for the 200m in Brussels, the second fastest time in history.

8: All Blacks (New Zealand, rugby union): Chronic under-achievers at the biggest tournament with just one previous win, the All Blacks just had to win in front of their adoring home crowd. They only just got there (8-7 over France)

9: Aaron Rodgers (US, gridiron): The Green Bay Packers quarterback is third only to Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln in recent US popularity polls. Never has a quarterback begun a season returning the numbers of Rodgers. 

Green Bay Packers stars Aaron Rodgers (right) and Clay Matthews celebrate the team's Super Bowl XLV win in Arlington, Texas

10: Sebastien Loeb (France, rally driving): Given our lack of exposure to rally car driving in Australia, he may well be Sebastien Who to many? In reality he is a two-handed superstar, the former gymnast having won eight straight world rally championships. 

Top Ten Australian Sporting Achievements

1: Cadel Evans (cycling): The boy from Barwon Heads will do me after becoming the first Australian and also the first man from the Southern Hemisphere to win the Tour de France.Let’s not forget he also won the Tour de Romandie and Tirreno-Adriatico in 2011.

2: Sally Pearson (athletics): To go through a European season with just one loss over the 100m hurdles was Cathy Freeman-like. That she added the world championship in a time of 12.28, the fourth fastest of all-time and best in 19 years, helped her in being named IAAF female athlete of the year.

3: Casey Stoner (MotoGP): When he won his first world title in 2007, we thought he was on the road to total domination of his sport. But a combination of reasons halted him until another championship this year, giving him 35 wins from 100 career starts. 

4: Brisbane Roar (soccer): To remain undefeated as long as this A-league team did is a credit to its coach and squad. Yes, it did have a few draws in its sequence but a draw has never counted as a loss. 

5: Sam Stosur (tennis): Finally the woman with all the talent transformed it into a Grand Slam victory when she crushed Serena Williams 6-2 6-3 in the final of the US Open, becoming Australia’s first female winner of a Slam since Evonne Cawley in 1980.

6: Anna Meares (cycling): Three gold medals at the World Championships in The Netherlands was just another chapter in the remarkable story of this 28-year-old cycling maestro from Blackwater in Queensland. Importantly, her win in the sprint was over arch rival Victoria Pendleton of England

7: Billy Slater (rugby league): Won the Dally M as the best player in the NRL and followed up with the Rugby League International Federation’s International player of the year, an award he also won in 2008. Now they are talking about Billy as the finest full back in rugby league history. 

8: Geelong Football Club (Australian Rules): Given this team’s remarkable winning consistency (105 of its last 125 matches) two Premierships was never going to be a true reflection of its greatness, so to dominate Collingwood for a third flag in five years was fitting.

9: Craig Alexander (Australia, ironman): The 38-year-old became the oldest winner of the Ironman World Championship and broke the 1996 race record by 12 seconds. He has now won the event in Hawaii three times. 

10: Australian Netballers: Continued their epic rivalry with New Zealand’s Silver Ferns at the 13th World Championships in Singapore. In the final the Ferns led by as much as six goals before the halfway mark before the Diamonds levelled to send it into extra time. Again all-square at the half-way mark before the Diamonds won vital possession to set-up a 58-57 victory.

Photos courtesy of News Limited