The Greatest British Sportspeople 90-81

90. Barry John (Rugby Union, 1960s-1970s)

 Hmm, Barry seems to be a popular name for top sportsmen doesn't it? I've seen little of Barry John, though I did used to feast on clips of the great games of the 70s, and Barry John stood out. Let's be honest, it was a different game back then, they were undersized amateurs, and it looks like a schoolboy game, albeit a brilliant schoolboy game.
John gets called the greatest fly half who ever lived, and who am I to argue? Well, I'm the guy writing this list who would argue. Retired at 27.

89. Douglas Lowe (Athletics, 1920s)

 This guy turned down 'Chariots of Fire'. Hmmph. Choosing not to support and be portrayed in the film, his name is not in legend like some of his contemporaries, but he was the Seb Coe of his day, a double Olympic 800m champion.

88. Chris Eubank (Boxing, 1980s-90s)

 Chris Eubank's very absurdity contributes to my high opinion of him as a sportsman. In the ring, he is the very opposite of his image - unbelievably brave, tough, strong, dignified, and that rare thing, humane. He doesn't get the recognition he deserves in the boxing pantheon because he never really fought the big Americans, but Britain had an unbelievable selection of boxers at his weight back then - Watson, Benn, Wharton, Collins, Thompson, Calzaghe - he certainly never ducked competition. He bested Benn, he tragically beat Watson (Watson was brain damaged, he has made a remarkable, albeit slow recovery, and the two are friends), an event which tinged the rest of his career, meaning he never had the killer instinct again, would spare opponents or call on the referee to step in.
He lost to Calzaghe, but the great Welshman says that was his toughest ever fight, the one that taught him the most about boxing. He had a chin of steel and, absurd as he seemed, made boxing bigger than it has been in the UK since.

87. Paula Radcliffe (Athletics, 1990s-2010s)

I chose a cruel photo but I could have chosen crueller. Type Paula Radcliffe into google images and the top result is, inevitably " ... takes a dump". Almost as mocked as Eubank, Radcliffe has had the most unlucky career imaginable, and will never win an Olympic medal, but someone needs to stand up for how great she was, so I shall.
Her 2003 London Marathon world record (2hr15mins) is statistically judged as the greatest performance by a female athlete of the last 20 years (or maybe of all time, I forget). It is amazing. Amazing. Hell, she even beat my brother.
She won 8 of her first 10 marathons, it just so happened the ones she didn't win were Olympic marathons. She has lately found out she ran with a cracked bone for most of her career. She may never run, even for fun, again. I don't think she deserves to be mocked.

86. Andy Murray (Tennis, 2000s)

  Perhaps this position is a hostage for fortune, but I don't necessarily think the next few days would change it that much. He deserves a high position, higher than some other tennis players who have so far won more Grand Slams. Why? Because he's up against the three best players in the history of the game - not necessarily the three greatest, but in turn Federer, then Nadal, then Djokovic, have taken tennis to new heights. I mean, by comparison, Grand Slams used to come cheap - Sampras beat Cedric Pioline in a Wimbledon final, Henman lost in a semi to Hewitt, who looked great then - when Federer came along and raised the bar, Hewitt didn't get worse, he just slipped down the rankings because his game couldn't cope. So people need to know ... Murray would cane those guys - if he'd come up at any other time, he'd have won many Grand Slams. Because he's not just excellent, he's steely-eyed - he never loses a match he deserves to win - he only ever loses if his opponent plays better than him. Sounds obvious, but it's not. I would love it if he went on to win 5 Majors, he deserves it, but even if not, he has risen to the challenge of being a major player in arguably the finest era of any individual sport there has ever been.

85. Gareth Thomas (Rugby union and league, 1990s-2010s)

So, you do get extra marks for doing something important, for being the first current player of a major British team sport to come out. And Gareth Thomas was a great rugby player too, winner of 100 Welsh caps, British Lions captain. He switched late to rugby league and was very good at that too. This major barrier, which sets macho sport back behind the rest of the world, is beginning to be chipped away, and really Thomas was one of the very first to make an impact, and sport will be very grateful to him.

84. Gary Lineker (Football, 1980s-1990s)

 He's become such a fixture on TV, an initially fresh presence which has gradually gone a little sour, that one forgets how very world-class he was. Top scorer in one World Cup, almost top scorer in another, 48 goals in 80 games for England, a relentless goalscoring presence wherever he went, he made scoring goals look more banal than almost anyone else. Aah, but that header he missed against Argentina in '86 ...

83. David Hemery (Athletics, 1960s-1970s)

 David Hemery won the 1968 Olympic 400m hurdles by over a second, 48.12 seconds, which was faster than the time in which David Greene won the 2011 World Championships. Great. And came third four years later. And was the King of 'Superstars'  when Superstars was a real competitive thing.

82. Shane Williams (Rugby union, 1990s-2010s)

 One of the highest try scorers in rugby history, Shane Williams was tiny, barely 11 stone, when he started, but though he bulked up, he never lost speed, elusiveness or the capacity to thrill. What was particularly great about him. I think, was that he really turned it round - he looked like he might be an unfulfilled talent, but then in the 2003 World Cup, when Wales started out frankly terrible, he turned them around, turned his career around, and gave them the impetus to be the best Northern Hemisphere team of the next decade.

81. Eric Liddell (Athletics, Rugby union, 1920s)

 Another rugby winger (he represented Scotland), but better known, obviously, as the guy that wouldn't run on a Sunday. Magnificent at the 100m and 200m, he ran the 400m at the 1924 Olympics and broke the World Record. Clearly one of the most naturally talented runners of the 20th century, he went back to being a missionary in China the year after his Olympic glory.