Pros and other sports?

mm1
mm1 Posts: 1,063
edited July 2014 in Pro race
Warching Oscar Pereiro in the dare to be advert on the Cycle Show has me wondering how many other pros went into another sport at a high level after cycling? Pereiro played professional football for a bit.

Only other example I can think of is Ian Hallam, who became a world class windsurfer.

Several examples in the other direction (excluding triathlon). Damiano Cunego was Italian schools cross country running champion, Indurain ran 400m and was a javlin thrower. Tyler Hamilton was a collegiate skier.
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Comments

  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Pedro Delgado was a world class donkey jockey.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    edited July 2014
    Greg van Avermaet used to be the youth team goalkeeper for KSK Beveren, a Belgian second division team.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Mark Cavendish was champion ball room dancer (that is a sport right? If ice dancing is in the Olympics, I'm having ballroom dancing as a sport).
    Correlation is not causation.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Matthew Busche was a good class collegiate cross-country runner
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    Lance......? :mrgreen:
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    A few the other way around - Rebecca Romero got silver in quad-sculls in Athens and then gold in individual pursuit in Beijing.

    Dame Sarah Storey is another - hat full of swimming golds before moving on to two wheels.
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Maurilo Fischer of FdJ is currently playing centre back for Brazil.

    (Not really but he couldn't be any worse what they've actually got)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Daley Thompson - football with Mansfield and Stevenage after retiring.

    All sorts have taken to motorsports, but I get the impression that it's a rich boys play thing/publicity stunt rather than being talented drivers. Chris Hoy, Fabian Barthez, Barry McGuigan, Luc Alphand...

    Julian Dicks got on the European Golf Tour after retiring from football.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    This guy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yT8RIFEYIk
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Oscar Freire was Spanish Scalextic champion when he was a kid.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    Greg LeMond - a fairly handy skier by all accounts prior to taking up cycling. He also enjoyed the sport of shooting, although "enjoyed" might not be quite correct given what happened that fateful day.

    DD.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    There's a wiki page answering this exact questions. I wasn't aware Cameron Wurf rowed in the Olympics before becoming a pro cyclist - although it reflects the Rebecca Romero rower power house to cyclist transformation.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    hammerite wrote:
    There's a wiki page answering this exact questions. I wasn't aware Cameron Wurf rowed in the Olympics before becoming a pro cyclist - although it reflects the Rebecca Romero rower power house to cyclist transformation.
    Chris Hoy rowed for the Scotland junior team, too.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Carl Lewis was drafted by the Chicago Bulls for Basketball and by the Dallas Cowboys for American Football in the same year! Now it's highly possible he was drafted due to his speed as they love stats in the draft.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    edited July 2014
    hammerite wrote:
    Carl Lewis was drafted by the Chicago Bulls for Basketball and by the Dallas Cowboys for American Football in the same year! Now it's highly possible he was drafted due to his speed as they love stats in the draft.
    Or as a publicity stunt.

    Plenty of athletics stars have made it big in the NFL though. Including some Olympic champions.

    In Wales, Nigel Walker switch from being an Olympic hurdler to rugby.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    World Track Medallist Caroline Ryan is one of the leading lights on the Irish Women's Team. She was a rower prior to taking up the bike and won an event at Henley.

    DD.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Kurt Anders-Fostervold. 12 years as a professional footballer including some Champions League performances. Retired due to injury then represented Norway at the World Champs in the TT. Podiumed in the national champs behind Thor, Kurt Asle Arvesen and EBH.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    RichN95 wrote:
    hammerite wrote:
    Carl Lewis was drafted by the Chicago Bulls for Basketball and by the Dallas Cowboys for American Football in the same year! Now it's highly possible he was drafted due to his speed as they love stats in the draft.
    Or as a publicity stunt.

    Both drafts would have been before the LA Olympics, but yes he was already World Champion from the previous year.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    edited July 2014
    Eddy Merckx was supposedly a very good footballer and basketball player. Though as good at billiards as some think.

    Greg LeMond was another junior skiier.

    After retirement Laurent Jalabert did very well at Ironman triathlon (qualified for the World Champs in Hawaii)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    hammerite wrote:
    Kurt Anders-Fostervold. 12 years as a professional footballer including some Champions League performances. Retired due to injury then represented Norway at the World Champs in the TT. Podiumed in the national champs behind Thor, Kurt Asle Arvesen and EBH.

    It must have been a big podium!!! :lol: *

    DD.

    *Sorry, couldn't resist.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Dolan Driver wrote:
    hammerite wrote:
    Kurt Anders-Fostervold. 12 years as a professional footballer including some Champions League performances. Retired due to injury then represented Norway at the World Champs in the TT. Podiumed in the national champs behind Thor, Kurt Asle Arvesen and EBH.

    It must have been a big podium!!! :lol: *

    DD.

    *Sorry, couldn't resist.

    Not in the same year :lol:
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Slightly off topic, but people in recent weeks have been comparing cycling to football saying how cyclists don't roll around and complain injuries.

    On the flip slide though, if Brazil were a cyclist they would have abandoned after 25 minutes.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    S'all about incentives.
    _
  • southdownswolf
    southdownswolf Posts: 1,525
    Julian Dicks didn't qualify for the European Tour. He turned Pro and was given a wildcard to a tournament where he came last, but didn't get through tour school.

    Ian Botham - Played football for Yeovil, then Scunthorpe, whilst still a cricketer for Somerset.
    He was also a fantastic golfer. I was lucky enough to play a game with him and Graeme Hick when he joined my local golf club, whilst playing cricket for Worcestershire. It helped that my Dad was Club Captain :-)
    http://www.stuartmole.co.uk/
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,325
    RichN95 wrote:
    Slightly off topic, but people in recent weeks have been comparing cycling to football saying how cyclists don't roll around and complain injuries.

    On the flip slide though, if Brazil were a cyclist they would have abandoned after 25 minutes.

    If Brazil were a cyclist, the broom wagon would have rolled straight over them.
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    RichN95 wrote:
    Eddy Merckx was supposedly a very good footballer and basketball player. Though as good at billiards as some think.

    Greg LeMond was another junior skiier.

    After retirement Laurent Jalabert did very well at Ironman triathlon (qualified for the World Champs in Hawaii)

    As did Udo Bolts, and slightly more recently Magnus Backstedt.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    ShinyHelmut wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    Eddy Merckx was supposedly a very good footballer and basketball player. Though as good at billiards as some think.

    Greg LeMond was another junior skiier.

    After retirement Laurent Jalabert did very well at Ironman triathlon (qualified for the World Champs in Hawaii)

    As did Udo Bolts, and slightly more recently Magnus Backstedt.

    World Championships in triathlon are very different to World Champs in say cycling. There's elite championships and then age group. Yes you still need to be operating at a relatively high level to qualify, but it's almost like an amateur world champs.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    hammerite wrote:
    ShinyHelmut wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    Eddy Merckx was supposedly a very good footballer and basketball player. Though as good at billiards as some think.

    Greg LeMond was another junior skiier.

    After retirement Laurent Jalabert did very well at Ironman triathlon (qualified for the World Champs in Hawaii)

    As did Udo Bolts, and slightly more recently Magnus Backstedt.

    World Championships in triathlon are very different to World Champs in say cycling. There's elite championships and then age group. Yes you still need to be operating at a relatively high level to qualify, but it's almost like an amateur world champs.
    Yeah, I know. I wasn't claiming he was a long lost Brownlee brother.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • GGBiker
    GGBiker Posts: 450
    Just goes to show how a huge vo2 max can be applied to many sports!

    I do wonder about cyclists post retirement, Roche, Merckx, lemond, they all must have doubled their body weight! Perhaps the high calorie diet needed while riding is hard to kick in retirement?
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,810
    Just remembered it happens all the time in American sports.

    Off the top of my head Johnny Manziel, this year's NFL draft "star" was also drafted in the MLB and Colin Kaepernick, QB for the San Francisco 49ers, was involved in basketball to a very high level.

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