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Top 6 Most Unlikely Sporting Heroes

TOP6 As we enter a Summer of Sport we thought it was perhaps time to share and celebrate a few unlikely legends of the sporting world who found fame MUST UNLIKELY despite adversity, SPORTING HEROES ERIC "THE EEL" MOUSSAMBANI 99 A wildcard system intended to support developing countries led to Eric The Eel finding himself both literally and metaphorically out of his depth in a 50m swimming pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On arriving in Australia and seeing an Olympic-sized pool for the first time Eric appeared very exposed in just a small pair of blue Speedos. Nevertheless he splashed his lonesome way through his heat with the two other competitors having been disqualified for false-starting. He swam a record (in the negative sense of a the word) time of 1 min 52 as it transpired that the training he undertook in a 20m hotel swimming pool in Malabo had failed to whip him into the required shape. Eric later commented "The last 15 metres were very difficult". From our point of view the whole 100 metres appeared extremely tortuous but who are we to argue. In March 2012 he was appointed National Swimming Coach of Equatorial Guinea. B ANDY FORDHAM Not every one of our unlikely sporting heroes actually made it to the top of their game (some didn't even make it to the bottom), but Andy Fordham was the number 1 in (you guessed it) darts - the world champ of 2004. This is despite tipping the scales at 31 stone and, legend has it, downing 25 bottles of lager prior to the match. Pretty incredible stuff and even those teetotalers among us must salute Mr Fordham's achievement. Of course such behaviour couldn't last and Andy collapsed that year with a suspected failure of the liver. Since then Andy has battled the weight and at one point following a stint on celebrity fit club successfully lost 15 stone. He has also given up on the booze. TheRankTank.com wishes him well. BILL WERBENIUK Another proponent of the who says drinking and sport can't mix' school of thought, "Big Bill" trail-blazed through the professional game of snooker in the 1980's and thought nothing of having a six-pint warm up prior to a game, following which by his own admission he generally drank "about one pint per frame". It's estimated that at his peak Bill could down around 50 pints per day but amazingly this didn't stop him from achieving maximum break (on the table) more than once and rising to number 8 in the world game. A cult figure - among the more amusing moments occurred when he was playing in the world championships and his trousers split as he lent over the table, causing much humour in the crowd. He took it in good spirits and is fondly remembered by his peers having passed away in 2003. STEVEN BRADBURY A master practitioner of the art of strategy triumphing over skill, his finest hour came during the 1,000m event in Salt Lake City. Bradbury progressed to the Quarters but wasn't surprised to finish 3d with only the first 2 qualifying. He was surprised however to hear that through a disqualification he'd made the Semis where yet again he trailed on the last lap (something he was very used to), only for 3 skaters to fall over thus landing himself a place in the final. With 5 people in the race he realised that if just 2 others collided he'd be on the podium so stated "obviously I wasn't the fastest skater.so I figured I may as well stay out of the way and be in last place". Yet again he was miles off the pace when a massive last-lap collision left the door open for Bradbury to glide through and take Gold. USA Today described the events as "The first winter gold medal in the history of Australia fell out of the sky like a bagged goose". SB His escapades led to an official 45-cent stamp being issued to mark his achievement. He decided not to defend his medal I retired immediately after the games. Funny that. S TOMAS BROLIN After a promising early start to his career as a star footballer in Europe, Brolin signed with Leeds United in 1995 where Howard Wilkinson soon accused him of "not pulling his weight". Taken literally had he pulled his weight, Brolin would have certainly continued to shine. One local pundit joked that Brolin had "given almost all of his £4.5 million fee back to the local catering industry with dedicated munching". Amazingly, having been given his marching orders by Leeds, Brolin found himself back in the English Premier League with Crystal Palace in 1998. Sadly the chip shop temptations continued and Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League. aged just 29. He has since commenced a career in business and has interests in catering as well as professional poker. Brolin returned to Sweden where he retired The Sagle EDDIE 5 THE EAGLE" The man that was reportedly scared of heights and admittedly scared of jumping was chosen to represent Team GB in the 70m and 90m ski-jump at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Michael 'Eddie The Eagle' Edwards soared to new heights on landing the longest-ever jump by a Brit whilst also managing to stoop to the lowest possible low by coming last in both of his two events. Eddie managed to instill a heart-in-mouth feeling when commencing his jumps, most probably due to the realisation that for once there was a real possibility that the man who flies through the air with the aerodynamic properties of a brick would be very lucky to land on his own two skis. Eddie left his permanent mark on the world of sport when in 1990 the International Olympic Committee introduced the Eddie The Eagle Rule which required Olympic wannabes to be placed in the top 30% (or top 50 competitors) in international competitions in order to cut the mustard. In other words, to stop the likes of Eddie slipping through the net. A true British icon. RANK WWW.THERANKTANK.COM TWITTER.COM/THERANKTANK .COM "If you're ever at a loose end (who isn't at some point) and want to have a nose around the latest best selling products in the UK then come and visit us at TheRankTank.com. We use factual data to tell you what the latest products are that are flying through the tills and becoming No.1 sellers. Toys, moisturiser, cameras, TV's - you name it. We also blog about fads, crazes and Top10's so come and say "hello". Goodbye." © TheRankTank.com Ltd TOP6 As we enter a Summer of Sport we thought it was perhaps time to share and celebrate a few unlikely legends of the sporting world who found fame MUST UNLIKELY despite adversity, SPORTING HEROES ERIC "THE EEL" MOUSSAMBANI 99 A wildcard system intended to support developing countries led to Eric The Eel finding himself both literally and metaphorically out of his depth in a 50m swimming pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On arriving in Australia and seeing an Olympic-sized pool for the first time Eric appeared very exposed in just a small pair of blue Speedos. Nevertheless he splashed his lonesome way through his heat with the two other competitors having been disqualified for false-starting. He swam a record (in the negative sense of a the word) time of 1 min 52 as it transpired that the training he undertook in a 20m hotel swimming pool in Malabo had failed to whip him into the required shape. Eric later commented "The last 15 metres were very difficult". From our point of view the whole 100 metres appeared extremely tortuous but who are we to argue. In March 2012 he was appointed National Swimming Coach of Equatorial Guinea. B ANDY FORDHAM Not every one of our unlikely sporting heroes actually made it to the top of their game (some didn't even make it to the bottom), but Andy Fordham was the number 1 in (you guessed it) darts - the world champ of 2004. This is despite tipping the scales at 31 stone and, legend has it, downing 25 bottles of lager prior to the match. Pretty incredible stuff and even those teetotalers among us must salute Mr Fordham's achievement. Of course such behaviour couldn't last and Andy collapsed that year with a suspected failure of the liver. Since then Andy has battled the weight and at one point following a stint on celebrity fit club successfully lost 15 stone. He has also given up on the booze. TheRankTank.com wishes him well. BILL WERBENIUK Another proponent of the who says drinking and sport can't mix' school of thought, "Big Bill" trail-blazed through the professional game of snooker in the 1980's and thought nothing of having a six-pint warm up prior to a game, following which by his own admission he generally drank "about one pint per frame". It's estimated that at his peak Bill could down around 50 pints per day but amazingly this didn't stop him from achieving maximum break (on the table) more than once and rising to number 8 in the world game. A cult figure - among the more amusing moments occurred when he was playing in the world championships and his trousers split as he lent over the table, causing much humour in the crowd. He took it in good spirits and is fondly remembered by his peers having passed away in 2003. STEVEN BRADBURY A master practitioner of the art of strategy triumphing over skill, his finest hour came during the 1,000m event in Salt Lake City. Bradbury progressed to the Quarters but wasn't surprised to finish 3d with only the first 2 qualifying. He was surprised however to hear that through a disqualification he'd made the Semis where yet again he trailed on the last lap (something he was very used to), only for 3 skaters to fall over thus landing himself a place in the final. With 5 people in the race he realised that if just 2 others collided he'd be on the podium so stated "obviously I wasn't the fastest skater.so I figured I may as well stay out of the way and be in last place". Yet again he was miles off the pace when a massive last-lap collision left the door open for Bradbury to glide through and take Gold. USA Today described the events as "The first winter gold medal in the history of Australia fell out of the sky like a bagged goose". SB His escapades led to an official 45-cent stamp being issued to mark his achievement. He decided not to defend his medal I retired immediately after the games. Funny that. S TOMAS BROLIN After a promising early start to his career as a star footballer in Europe, Brolin signed with Leeds United in 1995 where Howard Wilkinson soon accused him of "not pulling his weight". Taken literally had he pulled his weight, Brolin would have certainly continued to shine. One local pundit joked that Brolin had "given almost all of his £4.5 million fee back to the local catering industry with dedicated munching". Amazingly, having been given his marching orders by Leeds, Brolin found himself back in the English Premier League with Crystal Palace in 1998. Sadly the chip shop temptations continued and Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League. aged just 29. He has since commenced a career in business and has interests in catering as well as professional poker. Brolin returned to Sweden where he retired The Sagle EDDIE 5 THE EAGLE" The man that was reportedly scared of heights and admittedly scared of jumping was chosen to represent Team GB in the 70m and 90m ski-jump at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Michael 'Eddie The Eagle' Edwards soared to new heights on landing the longest-ever jump by a Brit whilst also managing to stoop to the lowest possible low by coming last in both of his two events. Eddie managed to instill a heart-in-mouth feeling when commencing his jumps, most probably due to the realisation that for once there was a real possibility that the man who flies through the air with the aerodynamic properties of a brick would be very lucky to land on his own two skis. Eddie left his permanent mark on the world of sport when in 1990 the International Olympic Committee introduced the Eddie The Eagle Rule which required Olympic wannabes to be placed in the top 30% (or top 50 competitors) in international competitions in order to cut the mustard. In other words, to stop the likes of Eddie slipping through the net. A true British icon. RANK WWW.THERANKTANK.COM TWITTER.COM/THERANKTANK .COM "If you're ever at a loose end (who isn't at some point) and want to have a nose around the latest best selling products in the UK then come and visit us at TheRankTank.com. We use factual data to tell you what the latest products are that are flying through the tills and becoming No.1 sellers. Toys, moisturiser, cameras, TV's - you name it. We also blog about fads, crazes and Top10's so come and say "hello". Goodbye." © TheRankTank.com Ltd TOP6 As we enter a Summer of Sport we thought it was perhaps time to share and celebrate a few unlikely legends of the sporting world who found fame MUST UNLIKELY despite adversity, SPORTING HEROES ERIC "THE EEL" MOUSSAMBANI 99 A wildcard system intended to support developing countries led to Eric The Eel finding himself both literally and metaphorically out of his depth in a 50m swimming pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On arriving in Australia and seeing an Olympic-sized pool for the first time Eric appeared very exposed in just a small pair of blue Speedos. Nevertheless he splashed his lonesome way through his heat with the two other competitors having been disqualified for false-starting. He swam a record (in the negative sense of a the word) time of 1 min 52 as it transpired that the training he undertook in a 20m hotel swimming pool in Malabo had failed to whip him into the required shape. Eric later commented "The last 15 metres were very difficult". From our point of view the whole 100 metres appeared extremely tortuous but who are we to argue. In March 2012 he was appointed National Swimming Coach of Equatorial Guinea. B ANDY FORDHAM Not every one of our unlikely sporting heroes actually made it to the top of their game (some didn't even make it to the bottom), but Andy Fordham was the number 1 in (you guessed it) darts - the world champ of 2004. This is despite tipping the scales at 31 stone and, legend has it, downing 25 bottles of lager prior to the match. Pretty incredible stuff and even those teetotalers among us must salute Mr Fordham's achievement. Of course such behaviour couldn't last and Andy collapsed that year with a suspected failure of the liver. Since then Andy has battled the weight and at one point following a stint on celebrity fit club successfully lost 15 stone. He has also given up on the booze. TheRankTank.com wishes him well. BILL WERBENIUK Another proponent of the who says drinking and sport can't mix' school of thought, "Big Bill" trail-blazed through the professional game of snooker in the 1980's and thought nothing of having a six-pint warm up prior to a game, following which by his own admission he generally drank "about one pint per frame". It's estimated that at his peak Bill could down around 50 pints per day but amazingly this didn't stop him from achieving maximum break (on the table) more than once and rising to number 8 in the world game. A cult figure - among the more amusing moments occurred when he was playing in the world championships and his trousers split as he lent over the table, causing much humour in the crowd. He took it in good spirits and is fondly remembered by his peers having passed away in 2003. STEVEN BRADBURY A master practitioner of the art of strategy triumphing over skill, his finest hour came during the 1,000m event in Salt Lake City. Bradbury progressed to the Quarters but wasn't surprised to finish 3d with only the first 2 qualifying. He was surprised however to hear that through a disqualification he'd made the Semis where yet again he trailed on the last lap (something he was very used to), only for 3 skaters to fall over thus landing himself a place in the final. With 5 people in the race he realised that if just 2 others collided he'd be on the podium so stated "obviously I wasn't the fastest skater.so I figured I may as well stay out of the way and be in last place". Yet again he was miles off the pace when a massive last-lap collision left the door open for Bradbury to glide through and take Gold. USA Today described the events as "The first winter gold medal in the history of Australia fell out of the sky like a bagged goose". SB His escapades led to an official 45-cent stamp being issued to mark his achievement. He decided not to defend his medal I retired immediately after the games. Funny that. S TOMAS BROLIN After a promising early start to his career as a star footballer in Europe, Brolin signed with Leeds United in 1995 where Howard Wilkinson soon accused him of "not pulling his weight". Taken literally had he pulled his weight, Brolin would have certainly continued to shine. One local pundit joked that Brolin had "given almost all of his £4.5 million fee back to the local catering industry with dedicated munching". Amazingly, having been given his marching orders by Leeds, Brolin found himself back in the English Premier League with Crystal Palace in 1998. Sadly the chip shop temptations continued and Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League. aged just 29. He has since commenced a career in business and has interests in catering as well as professional poker. Brolin returned to Sweden where he retired The Sagle EDDIE 5 THE EAGLE" The man that was reportedly scared of heights and admittedly scared of jumping was chosen to represent Team GB in the 70m and 90m ski-jump at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Michael 'Eddie The Eagle' Edwards soared to new heights on landing the longest-ever jump by a Brit whilst also managing to stoop to the lowest possible low by coming last in both of his two events. Eddie managed to instill a heart-in-mouth feeling when commencing his jumps, most probably due to the realisation that for once there was a real possibility that the man who flies through the air with the aerodynamic properties of a brick would be very lucky to land on his own two skis. Eddie left his permanent mark on the world of sport when in 1990 the International Olympic Committee introduced the Eddie The Eagle Rule which required Olympic wannabes to be placed in the top 30% (or top 50 competitors) in international competitions in order to cut the mustard. In other words, to stop the likes of Eddie slipping through the net. A true British icon. RANK WWW.THERANKTANK.COM TWITTER.COM/THERANKTANK .COM "If you're ever at a loose end (who isn't at some point) and want to have a nose around the latest best selling products in the UK then come and visit us at TheRankTank.com. We use factual data to tell you what the latest products are that are flying through the tills and becoming No.1 sellers. Toys, moisturiser, cameras, TV's - you name it. We also blog about fads, crazes and Top10's so come and say "hello". Goodbye." © TheRankTank.com Ltd TOP6 As we enter a Summer of Sport we thought it was perhaps time to share and celebrate a few unlikely legends of the sporting world who found fame MUST UNLIKELY despite adversity, SPORTING HEROES ERIC "THE EEL" MOUSSAMBANI 99 A wildcard system intended to support developing countries led to Eric The Eel finding himself both literally and metaphorically out of his depth in a 50m swimming pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On arriving in Australia and seeing an Olympic-sized pool for the first time Eric appeared very exposed in just a small pair of blue Speedos. Nevertheless he splashed his lonesome way through his heat with the two other competitors having been disqualified for false-starting. He swam a record (in the negative sense of a the word) time of 1 min 52 as it transpired that the training he undertook in a 20m hotel swimming pool in Malabo had failed to whip him into the required shape. Eric later commented "The last 15 metres were very difficult". From our point of view the whole 100 metres appeared extremely tortuous but who are we to argue. In March 2012 he was appointed National Swimming Coach of Equatorial Guinea. B ANDY FORDHAM Not every one of our unlikely sporting heroes actually made it to the top of their game (some didn't even make it to the bottom), but Andy Fordham was the number 1 in (you guessed it) darts - the world champ of 2004. This is despite tipping the scales at 31 stone and, legend has it, downing 25 bottles of lager prior to the match. Pretty incredible stuff and even those teetotalers among us must salute Mr Fordham's achievement. Of course such behaviour couldn't last and Andy collapsed that year with a suspected failure of the liver. Since then Andy has battled the weight and at one point following a stint on celebrity fit club successfully lost 15 stone. He has also given up on the booze. TheRankTank.com wishes him well. BILL WERBENIUK Another proponent of the who says drinking and sport can't mix' school of thought, "Big Bill" trail-blazed through the professional game of snooker in the 1980's and thought nothing of having a six-pint warm up prior to a game, following which by his own admission he generally drank "about one pint per frame". It's estimated that at his peak Bill could down around 50 pints per day but amazingly this didn't stop him from achieving maximum break (on the table) more than once and rising to number 8 in the world game. A cult figure - among the more amusing moments occurred when he was playing in the world championships and his trousers split as he lent over the table, causing much humour in the crowd. He took it in good spirits and is fondly remembered by his peers having passed away in 2003. STEVEN BRADBURY A master practitioner of the art of strategy triumphing over skill, his finest hour came during the 1,000m event in Salt Lake City. Bradbury progressed to the Quarters but wasn't surprised to finish 3d with only the first 2 qualifying. He was surprised however to hear that through a disqualification he'd made the Semis where yet again he trailed on the last lap (something he was very used to), only for 3 skaters to fall over thus landing himself a place in the final. With 5 people in the race he realised that if just 2 others collided he'd be on the podium so stated "obviously I wasn't the fastest skater.so I figured I may as well stay out of the way and be in last place". Yet again he was miles off the pace when a massive last-lap collision left the door open for Bradbury to glide through and take Gold. USA Today described the events as "The first winter gold medal in the history of Australia fell out of the sky like a bagged goose". SB His escapades led to an official 45-cent stamp being issued to mark his achievement. He decided not to defend his medal I retired immediately after the games. Funny that. S TOMAS BROLIN After a promising early start to his career as a star footballer in Europe, Brolin signed with Leeds United in 1995 where Howard Wilkinson soon accused him of "not pulling his weight". Taken literally had he pulled his weight, Brolin would have certainly continued to shine. One local pundit joked that Brolin had "given almost all of his £4.5 million fee back to the local catering industry with dedicated munching". Amazingly, having been given his marching orders by Leeds, Brolin found himself back in the English Premier League with Crystal Palace in 1998. Sadly the chip shop temptations continued and Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League. aged just 29. He has since commenced a career in business and has interests in catering as well as professional poker. Brolin returned to Sweden where he retired The Sagle EDDIE 5 THE EAGLE" The man that was reportedly scared of heights and admittedly scared of jumping was chosen to represent Team GB in the 70m and 90m ski-jump at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Michael 'Eddie The Eagle' Edwards soared to new heights on landing the longest-ever jump by a Brit whilst also managing to stoop to the lowest possible low by coming last in both of his two events. Eddie managed to instill a heart-in-mouth feeling when commencing his jumps, most probably due to the realisation that for once there was a real possibility that the man who flies through the air with the aerodynamic properties of a brick would be very lucky to land on his own two skis. Eddie left his permanent mark on the world of sport when in 1990 the International Olympic Committee introduced the Eddie The Eagle Rule which required Olympic wannabes to be placed in the top 30% (or top 50 competitors) in international competitions in order to cut the mustard. In other words, to stop the likes of Eddie slipping through the net. A true British icon. RANK WWW.THERANKTANK.COM TWITTER.COM/THERANKTANK .COM "If you're ever at a loose end (who isn't at some point) and want to have a nose around the latest best selling products in the UK then come and visit us at TheRankTank.com. We use factual data to tell you what the latest products are that are flying through the tills and becoming No.1 sellers. Toys, moisturiser, cameras, TV's - you name it. We also blog about fads, crazes and Top10's so come and say "hello". Goodbye." © TheRankTank.com Ltd

Top 6 Most Unlikely Sporting Heroes

shared by theranktank on Jun 26
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As we enter a summer of sport, TheRankTank.com takes a look at the unlikely sportsmen that have become sporting heroes against all odds.

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