After some animated banter around the office, and having laughed off the usual suggestions that the fittest of the fit play the sport you play, an expansive web search noted that cross-country skiers are the world’s fittest athletes.
The problem is, not many Australians bother with cross-country skiing given the abundance of sun and dirt, so in the proud interests of parochialism, which group of Australian athletes would be the fittest?
A broad range of athletes emerge from our domestic competitions, from AFL, rugby league, rugby union, football, tennis, basketball, motorsport, squash, and Olympic endeavours.
Consider our triathletes, cyclists, ironmen, swimmers, rowers, boxers, gymnasts, motor racers, and even those walkers who we cheer for vigorously every two years or so at the Commonwealth Games or Olympics.
I’ve previously pretty strongly argued that Formula 1 drivers are right at the peak. Nowadays, I’m sad to say that Formula One is no longer at absolute peak of demand, with drivers nowadays forced to race in more of an endurance style to preserve tyres, rather than flat chat.
Who remembers Grand Prixs of old when drivers had to be dragged, covered in sweat, from their cars? The current crop look like after a quick pop of an oversized champagne bottle that they’d be good to go again. Perhaps that plays to increasing fitness, but certainly, Formula One has changed.
A key aspect to elite sport in general is an ability to maintain peak performance even after hours or even days of punishment, be it weeks of the Tour de France, playing in a Grand Slam for 11 hours (Wimbledon’s legendary Isner vs Mahut match), or being belted in tackles for 80 minutes and then going to extra time.
A common fitness factor tested across the board is ‘VO2 max’ or millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute.
This is universally recognised as the maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and use oxygen during exercise, reflecting physical fitness.
Cyclists regularly top the charts – indeed, Cadel Evans famously had the highest test result the AIS had ever seen, superior even to Lance Armstrong’s VO2 max result.
Wikipedia suggests fitness refers to key areas of cardiovascular efficiency, muscle-to-fat ratio, strength, agility and flexibility.
However, any one of these aspects without the others does not represent physical fitness: a dedicated marathon runner is likely to be comparatively weak, but a powerful wrestler is unlikely to have significant endurance.
Boxing is a curious mix of both, while elite AFL midfielders are said to run the equivalent of a half-marathon every game.
Many agree that cyclists are probably the fittest set of athletes, and face mental challenges across days and weeks of torture unlike many other sports. Boxing is compared to cycling in terms of the sheer will required to respond to the demands being asked and to just not give in – and even though it’s just minutes of a round compared to thousands of kilometres, the same battle is being waged.
The fittest and perhaps physiologically freakiest ever cyclists come down to three men: Eddie Merckx, Miguel Indurain and Greg Lemond. As The Roar‘s cycling expert Lee Rodgers told me, there’s all kinds of claims about Indurain’s heartrate and lung capacity, while Merckx was an “absolute monster”.
Tyler Hamilton’s biography talks about being one of the fittest athletes in the world, but protecting himself by taking only small strides when walking down the street to food markets – much to the chagrin of his wife at the time.
Boiling it all down – there’s legendary stories and arguments on all sides.
But who are Australia’s fittest set of athletes, and why?
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MJ
Guest
Even though I don't consider myself totally fit given I've done 4 marathons this year (best time a 4:10), the physical and mental fitness required to go through 42km (or further for those doing ultras) is something else. Obviously it's behind an ironman triathlete who needs to be fit across the disciplines but to be able to complete one with the training involved can take a physical and mental toll.
Pirate
Guest
Professional squash players are the fittest athletes I've ever seen. They play brutal matches which generally last between 60-90 minutes, with only 90 seconds break between sets. Recently retired David Palmer's fitness training involved doing five consecutive beep tests up to 15, with 90 seconds break between each one, along with his court training. They have incredible stamina, recovery time, speed and agility.
matth
Guest
Basically an impossible argument to win for anybody. There are arguments for many different sports. Some random contenders: - Male gymnasts are incredibly fit, but is there the endurance? Try spending 2 minutes on the rings holding the classic "crucifix" pose. - Middle distance runners have to have the endurance and then the will and strength for the big kick finish - AFL mid fielders run a half marathon, but also have to withstand body knocks, get their head over the football, kick it a mile and have the core strength to run and kick accurately at full speed after 120 minutes - But Billy Slater ran them all down in the "Australia's greatest Athlete" tests a few years back - I'd reckon an Olympic decathlete might have to be pretty fit.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
That *is* an unusual one bryan, but great anecdotes, had me laughing at the PE teacher belting everyone and then jogging home. Great stuff.
bryan
Guest
I'll throw up an unusual one. Soccer referees. I always heard the myth that the Beep test used to only get to 18.0 until Ryan Giggs broke it. But I reckon I know someone who was even fitter in his prime; I used to train with Ben Williams maybe 10 years ago now. We used to have a number of tests we ran on a regular basis to see how our fitness was going, one being a 12min Run with the aim of 3.2k or so. Ben used to absolutely sprint the first lap/ lap and a half off the AIS track and catch up the pack by the time the rest of us mere mortals were 200-300m in, then play trainer to push us all to make the 3.2k. The bloke was a PE teacher who ran 10k to refs training, then preceded to run us all into the ground, before running home. My absolute best PB in a beep test was 15.9, and I was shattered after finishing it. I actually couldn't stand for about 10-15mins after. Ben was the only other bloke still in at that point, pushed it up to a straight 16.0, and stopped barely puffing. He then preceded to lead the group in a series of sprints, with forced decision making afterwards, to train us to not only be fit, but be able to still make the right decisions while you were so out of breathe you can barely stand. Thats the big difference with Soccer refs vs players. They have to cover as much, if not more ground than a box to box midfielder, but still be able to make numerous decisions while doing it, which will be extensively replayed afterwards. I'll also mention squash players. Their movement is ridiculous.
Simon Smale
Roar Guru
Ironman Triathletes take some beating... The World Ironman Championships in Kona were the result of some similar banter between cyclists, runners and swimmers to discover who was fitter. So they combined three existing endurance events, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km, and the Honolulu Marathon to create an Ironman Triathlon. The argument I'd make for Ironman Triathletes is that the transition between swimming (an mostly anaerobic exercise) to cycling and then running punishes the body like no other. These guys need the strength to be able to swim 3.9km in the ocean and then the endurance to cycle and run. These guys and girls complete a cycling race equivalent to a typical Tour de France stage after having swum for the best part of an hour through rough water, and follow it up with a marathon. Extraordinary. Just the training required to reach a high level in all three sports is unbelievably punishing. Mirinda Carfrae has been a champion for Australia up until this year when she pulled out after succumbing to injuries suffered after being hit by a car while training... She holds the women's course record around Kona at 8 hrs 52 mins 14 sec, and also has the fastest marathon time of 2 hrs 50 mins 26 sec. Aussie Craig Alexander holds men's course record, 8 hrs 3 mins 56 sec. These two should certainly be mentioned in the conversation. To throw a spanner into my own argument though - I've always considered recovery to be the truest test of fitness. This would suggest that Grand Tour cyclists are the champions because they can and do keep going for an entire three weeks of competition.