http://www.smh.com.au/executive-sty...test-athlete-in-australia-20130409-2hi21.html Who is the fittest athlete in Australia? Date April 10, 2013 The Logies have just wrapped, The Voice has begun, and My Kitchen Rules is still cooking in what feels like its 50th week of compe-kitchen-tition. Therefore, it's Boot Camp's turn to run an awards show. It's time to determine (drumroll please, maestro) ... who is the fittest of the fit in Australia? We could argue the semantics and definition of "fitness" until MKR cooks its final dessert, so let's keep it simple and describe being physically fit as possessing speed, muscular strength and quickness, along with cardio and muscular endurance. So who's the fittest athlete in Australia? The nominees are: This content is protected The Tour de France is a 21-day race, covering approximately 3200 kilometres. There are downhills with bends that flirt with death, steep climbs up mountains, sprints, and long endurance stretches that test riders to the limit. 2011's winner certainly deserves to be high on this list of the fittest of Australian athletes. This content is protected Winning five medals in the pool at the 2012 Olympics means Coutts is one of Australia's fittest swimmers ever. To compete and score medals in the freestyle, butterfly, and medley requires incredible technique, making her a master in the pool and one fit athlete. This content is protected A tennis player that can ready himself to battle five-set matches with the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer is damn fit. Tomic is Australia's top-ranked tennis player, and matches that include long baseline rallies, powerful serves, and sprints to the net require serious fitness throughout a gruelling international season. This content is protected To excel as an AFL athlete, one must display a repitoire of athletic skills combined with world-class fitness. To sprint, run medium distances, catch, kick, jump, catch, pass, and hit (on offence and defence) with success is a serious athletic feat. AFL athletes might not be known internationally, but their fitness demands athletes such as Ablett Jr be placed at the top of any Australian (or international) list. This content is protected CrossFit athletes aren't household names, but the sport's popularity is growing worldwide. Chad Mackay is one fit chap. In 2012, Chad finished 9th at the CrossFit World Games in the USA. CrossFit competitions are varied and unique, combining many (if not all) elements of an athletic endeavour, crowning the self-proclaimed 'Fittest on Earth'. This content is protected Middleweight boxing world champion Geale (sporting a 29-1 win-loss record) is at the top of Australian boxing. Preparing for 12, three-minute rounds of professional boxing is a bit more serious than entering boxing class at the gym. The strength, speed, and cardio fitness required to stand toe-to-toe for 12 rounds with a respected boxer like German Felix Sturm (and win) proves his incredible fitness. This content is protected A car driver? Yes indeed. Coping with shifting G-forces between three and five times your own body weight requires critical fitness, and Webber has done it for years. Historically, Formula 1 drivers partied throughout a season, but modern requirements dictate that drivers are lean, agile, endurance athletes with a level of fitness that cannot be ignored. This content is protected To play either code of rugby, you’ve gotta be strong, fast, agile, damn tough … and fit. Sonny Bill is all of the above, and playing for both the All-Blacks and The Roosters is an impressive feat. Add a pretty good start to a boxing career, and you’ve got one fit hombre. This content is protected World and Olympic 100m hurdle champion Pearson combines speed, power and brilliant technique like few others. She won the IAAF's 2011 Female Athlete of the Year Award, becoming the first Australian to receive it. Check her physique and watch her run and you gotta say 'that woman is fit'. This content is protected Meares' inspirational journey is a story in itself, and since we're here to talk about her fitness, you can't dismiss that she came back from a broken neck in 2008. Her sprint event is short, but the power and speed required to win Olympic Gold mirrors the fitness levels of top 100m sprinters. Meares' victory over the UK's Victoria Pendleton shows she is one strong, fit athlete. This content is protected At 188cm and 93kg, Te Huna is a Sydney-based Kiwi fighting as a UFC athlete. Opponents' fighting styles vary, and so will Te Huna's fitness requirements from match to match. UFC athletes kick, wrestle, and punch with the additional mental fitness required to handle "I might get my face kicked in". To enter a UFC octagon, you better be seriously fit – or you might be watching the morning news from a hospital bed. This content is protected The Hawaii Ironman is a race made up of a 3.86km swim, a 180.25km bike ride and a 42.2km run. Add some Hawaiian heat, and only incredibly fit competitors will even finish. Jacobs from Sydney's northern beaches is the 2012 champion, finishing with a 2hr 48min marathon. Incredibly fit. Certainly, this list could contain more names from the worlds of rowing and middle distance and marathon running. Women's soccer and cricket star Ellyse Perry is another, and then there's seriously fit Paralympic athletes such as Matthew Cowdrey (23 medals), Jacqueline Freney (eight gold medals) and Kurt Fearnley (gold and CRAWLED the Kokoda Track, if you don't mind). This shortlist remains open to debate. However … The envelope has arrived. Ripped open. And the award goes to? I would love to see an objective fitness competition between them all. Ultimately, I believe the AFL's best, a top UFC athlete, and Australia's top CrossFit competitor would be there in the end to fight - make that 'fit' - it out. To excel in those three sports, you must be the fittest in Australia. But this is a people's choice award, so it's really up to you, the readers. Who's the fittest athlete in Australia?
No Geale isn't.....Jacobs by a long shot..........that Hawian Ironman is a serious test for any athlete to just finish let alone win.
Talk to any personal trainer who knows his **** and the first thing he'll tell you is fitness is sport specific. Daniel Geale could not do an Ironman Triathlon, but it is very unlikely Pete Jacobs could fight at the pace Daniel Geale does for 12 x 3 minute rounds either.
Thing is we don't have a full understanding of what an F1 driver needs in the way of fitness and just how grueling a physical and mental test it is driving grand prix races. How many overweight grand prix drivers have you seen? They're not built like golfers that's for sure. If you've seen footballers or other elite level athletes do their first boxing session you'll understand how muscle specific and how aerobically demanding boxing is. You can't prepare adequately for boxing doing anything other than boxing as preparation.
Yeah of course. That's why I think these sorts of lists are pointless, Different sports, Totally different kinds of fitness required. So very very difficult to compare. All I know if that I couldn't do any of them
This content is protected That **** is crazy. Top elite ironman as well Anyone thinking Pablo Montoya was an elite athlete when he was driving F1 - Please!!!
True but you wouldn't trust a 'personal trainer' on anything. If they're also a strength and conditioning coach/exercise physiologist (i.e. a real qualification from a real education) then you would.
What those dumb arse nappy wearing tattoo wankers in blue shirts working for fitness first on every street corner? No thanks :-(
:yep I don't think they're pointless, I find them pretty interesting. The thread title question was rhetorical. But to be included in the list likely means a boxer is up there. The fittest would have to be the best all rounder. The athlete who would obviously be best at their choice of sport, and then still quite good at all the others. I think that might be an iron man and triathlon type. I think a boxer (and MMA) would be quite high, as an all rounder. F1 driver would be very low IMO.
You failed to read the key words >>> Talk to any personal trainer who knows his **** and the first thing he'll tell you is fitness is sport specific.
yeah i don't see a lot of point in these lists, as people have mentioned, fitness is sports specific, and extremely hard to gauge "the fittest" as our bodies are such versatile things therefore allowing us to be strong in some aspects and weaker in others.