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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Remember Ray Ewry?
With the Olympic Games about to kick off in Beijing, the Times newspaper of London has come up with its list of the top 100 Olympic athletes of all time, using a complex points system. It’s no surprise that many of the greatest athletes — at least according to the paper — are American.
Here are the top 10:
1) Raymond Ewry (United States) 120pts born 1873 Lafayette, Indiana; died 1937 Long Island, New York
2) Paavo Nurmi (Finland) 108pts born 1897 Turku; died 1973 Helsinki
3) Carl Lewis (United States) 105pts born 1961 Birmingham, Alabama
4) Martin Sheridan (United States) 104pts born 1881 Treenduff, Ireland; died Manhattan, New York
5) Eric Lemming (Sweden) 94pts born 1880 Gothenburg; died 1930 Gothenburg
6) Ville Ritola (Finland) 75pts born 1896 Peraseinajoki; died 1982 Helsinki
7) Merlene Ottey (Jamaica/Slovenia) 70pts born 1960 Hanover, Jamaica
8) Meyer Prinstein (United States) 65pts born 1878 Szczuczyn, Poland; died 1925 New York
9) Ralph Rose (United States) 64pts born 1885 Healdsburg, California; died 1913
10) Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States) 63pts born 1962 East St Louis, Illinois
