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Seeing double: Who are the best multi-sport athletes?

Ellyse Perry celebrates taking a wicket. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
20th April, 2020
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The name Deion Sanders might not be the most familiar in the sporting world, but Sanders remains the only player to hit a baseball home run and score a touchdown in the same week.

Sanders was a dual sporting prodigy at the same time. The era of athletes who participate in two sports simultaneously or even as the season’s change seems to be almost dead and buried, with very few such athletes in the present day.

The most recent was women’s cricketing superstar Elyse Perry who represented Australia at both a cricket and a football world cup and excels at both. Perry chose to play cricket full time in 2014 after finding it difficult to train for football and losing her world-class skill at the round ball game.

The last of dual athletes goes well above the plethora of team sports with the likes of Carl Lewis being one of the fastest runners to ever grace this planet as well as winning Olympic gold in the long jump.

The strain on modern-day athletes to maintain training routines and keep up to the set standards on physical as well as mental strength to play more than one sport has become too big in the present day, with talented athletes deciding to focus on only one sport.

The real question remains are the viewers and spectators losing out on the right to see their favourite athletes on a different stage showcasing a new facet of their skill. The way that sport has evolved and will continue to evolve has almost certainly put a nail in the coffin of those trying to pursue more than one sport.

The era of Sanders, Perry and Lewis might be in the past for now but the emergence of quicker sports like Big Bash cricket and fast four tennis might provide the opportunity for more dual-sport athletes.

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