Your Nation's Best Athlete(s) of the 2010's

[Topicmaster1010 6,574]

Who would you say your nations' best athlete(s) or teams of the past decade were? For  I would go with Sidney Crosby (ice hockey). 2 Olympic gold medals, 1 world championship gold, 1 world cup of hockey gold, 2 Stanley Cup wins (NHL championship trophy) and 8 individual NHL trophies.

[dcro 10,211]

For Croatia - in terms of total medals being won - Sandra Perković... 2 x Olympic champion, 2 x World champion, 5 x European champion.

 

But my personal favorite would be Igor Marenić. Guy who attended the same college as I and won an Olympic gold in sailing.

[heywoodu 16,460]

Sven Kramer would be high on the list, considering the insane things he did mostly in the early part of the decade (and the last few years of the previous one). Ranomi Kromowidjojo as well, and Michael van Gerwen. In terms of history, absolutely Max Verstappen, even though he didn't win a world title yet. His first Grand Prix win ever, first for any Dutch driver, is one of my all-time sports highlights without any form of doubt in terms of how awesome it felt.

[OlympicIRL 6,305]

Katie Taylor by an absolute mile. Best male would be Paul O’Donovan (probably the best lightweight rower in the world in the last few years with 4 successive gold medals at the world championships).

[Vojthas 949]

Tight battle between Stoch, Włodarczyk and Kowalczyk.

Stoch - triple Olympic Champion, leader of the Polish Ski Jumping after Małysz.

Włodarczyk - double Olympic Champion, absolute domination in women's hammer throw with her 80+ throws.

Kowalczyk - double Olympic Champion, once with a broken foot.

 

Kowalczyk had no rival in the Sportsperson of the Year plebiscite in the first half (five consecutive wins 2009-2013, so four in this decade), Then it was all between Stoch, Włodarczyk, Lewandowski (whom I do not mention as he gets his position thanks to popularity and results in clubs, with a totally understandable lack of successes in the NT) and in the years of volleyball Worlds golds Wlazły (2014) and Kurek (2018).

[hckošice 16,613]

Peter Sagan obviously.

 

Worldwide super star.

 

• 7 Tour de France edition Green Jersey competition overall winner (Absolute record)
• 125 Days in Green at Tour de France from the 148 he was competing during his 8 participations (Absolute Record) Only 23 days he was not wearing the green jersey but still was during them 4 days in yellow
• 45 Podiums at Tour de France, 12 stage wins, 22 second places.
• 3x World Champion in a row 2015, 2016, 2017 (Absolute Record)
• European Champion 2016
• Paris-Roubaix 2018 and Tour des Flandres 2016 winner
• Tour de Pologne 2011 and Tour of California 2015 overall winner

 

 

but depending only about Olympic performances

 

it´s obviuosly Anastasiya Kuzmina.

• The Only female biathlete to win 3 Gold Olympic medals at 3 different Olympics.
• Winner of the first ever Winter Olympic Gold since the independence, 7.5km W Sprint in Day 1 at Vancouver 2010 followed by silver in pursuit
• The only female biathlete to maintain her gold from Sprint, winning it also in Sochi 2014 four years later
• 3rd carreers Olympic gold arrived in PyeongChang 2018 at her 3rd Olympics, this time in Mass Start race, she won there 2 more silver medals in Pursuit and Individual.
• Finished her career this year by fullfiling her 2 missing dreams the very first World Champion title in Sprint and the only one time in her whole career won a race with a perfect 20/20 shooting in Oslo WC during her penultimate race

[Vic Liu 1,701]

For  China definitely goes to Li Na the tennis player. She is not an Olympic medalist but won 2 grand slam titles,  becoming the first asian ever to achieve this. She is very popular among Chinese fans and sponsors. Top1 influential and profitable athlete during the early decade.  And thanks to her, the tennis sports improve fast in China and becoming a popular one. There are lots of high level professional tennis events held in China now.

 

For the team goes to National Women's Volleyball Team. they won 2 time World Cup and the gold medal in Rio with several breath-taking games with Brazil, Netherland and Serbia, the process is very nervous. this is widely considered as the most important gold won in past two Olympics. 

 

BTW there will be two biographical films releasing next year in China respectively for Li Na and Women's Volleyball Team. these also are the only two sports biographical films until now, quite a privilege.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Vic Liu

[Cobi 1,025]

In Spain I have no doubt with Rafael Nadal (tennis). The top6 will be completed with:

• Pau Gasol (basketball): Silver at London 2012, bronze at Rio 2016. He defeated France at 2015 Eurobasket in one the best moment of Spanish sport of the decade + NBA career.
• Mireia Belmonte (swimming): The best Spanish swimmer ever with 4 Olympic medals (1xGold, 2xSilver, 1xBronze).
• Carolina Marín (badminton): Olympic champion and first woman with 3 World titles in a row.
• Javier Gómez Noya (triathlon): Silver at London 2012 and 5 times World Champion.
• Saúl Craviotto (canoeing): In Tokyo he could become the Spaniard with more Olympic medals.

 

In non-olympic sports, the best would be Marc Márquez (Moto GP).

 

The best team would be the men's national basketball team, followed by women's waterpolo and women's basketball.

[De_Gambassi 1,369]

Teddy Riner. I mean the guy only lost one fight the whole decade ant that was in 2010...

 

Martin Fourcade as a close second.

[hoversaBR 863]

In Brazil it's hard to say, but I can list the possible candidates:

• Isaquias Queiroz (Canoeing): 6 times world champion, 12 world championship medals, 3 Olympic medals. It is perhaps our best athlete at the moment.
• Bruno Rezende (Volleyball): Olympic Champion, twice silver in the world championship, currently holds all the possible titles that a volleyball player can win.
• Arthur Zanetti (Gymnastics): Olympic Champion, World Champion, Pan American Champion, South American Champion. He is for sure our best gymnast of this decade.
• Ana Marcela (Open Water): She has 11 world championship medals, is a favorite in any competition, a pity she has not yet had her Olympic medal. But Tokyo 2020 is her chance.
• Martine & Kahena (Sailing): World champions, Olympic champions, Pan American champions. They are extremely regular, almost never have bad results.

 

Of those above, I think Isaquias is the best of the decade.

Edited December 24, 2019 by hoversaBR