Deledio to star in tv series 'Australia's Greatest Athlete'

[Ox]

 an exciting series..........

[the_boy_jake]

Most boring thing on telly

Watching sportsmen speak for an hour 

[julzqld]

I don't know - seeing them all bare chested was pretty good.

[one-eyed]

The last episode is up. Lids is in Ep. 8 part 4.

http://www.greatestathlete.com.au/#/episodes

[one-eyed]

Not sure where to put this but it comments on Lids' all-round athletic ability...[/b]

AFL athletes keep the pace in other sports
Daniel Hoy | April 16, 2009 12:00am

LANCE Franklin is triple-jump world champion. Adam Cooney holds the world record in the 400m and Ben Cousins is Olympic 1500m champion.

Gary Ablett is a sprinter, Adam Goodes tackles the hurdles, Trent Croad competes in high jump and Jonathan Brown in the discus.

They could be the best in world athletics, but we'll never know.

Any number of AFL players could have represented Australia on the world's biggest sporting stage, according to a leading biochemist who works with Olympians, AFL players, Formula One drivers and elite athletes from the Victorian Institute of Sport, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Storm.

Melissa Arkinstall, from Exercise Research Australia based at Monash University, is perfectly placed to compare the codes and judge who are the best athletes.

"From testing that we have done with AFL clubs, there would certainly be some players that are genetically predisposed to sprinting," she said.

"Even though he has trained specifically for football, someone like Brett Deledio would most likely run in the low 11 seconds for a 100m sprint due to his superior leg power and speed.

"So it would be interesting to see what he could do with specific sprint-based training as I am sure it would be close to those required for national selection."

The breakneck speed of the AFL today requires players to be fast, strong, athletic, and have good endurance.

They are among the most well-rounded athletes in the world, but how do they stack up against elite athletes from other sports?

To find out, the Herald Sun had their endurance, strength, vertical leap, skinfolds and flexibility tested.

So which sportsperson ruled the roost?

"That is a really hard question to answer as each sport has its own unique physical qualities that need to be developed in order for an athlete to perform at the elite level," Arkinstall said.

"It would be a little unfair to pit Brett against (rower) Drew (Ginn) on the Yarra or (cyclist) Peta (Mullens) in a road race and vice versa as most high-performance sports require a combination of both physical and technical expertise.

"If you take a step back and look at the functional activities that most of us perform day to day, such as running, jumping, pushing and pulling, then I do believe a team sport athlete such as Brett would excel as an allrounder due to the nature of his training."

One of the best ways to compare athletes is with a VO2Max test.

When you want to find out how powerful a car is, you check under the bonnet. A VO2Max test is the equivalent of checking the size of an athlete's engine.

More technically, the VO2Max is the point where your body is unable to increase the amount of oxygen it is consuming.

It is measured as oxygen uptake in millilitres per kilogram of bodyweight.

The average sedentary female has a V02Max of about 38ml/kg/min. For males, the figure is 42.

Some of the highest values recorded are from Kenyan distance runners, who have reportedly exceeded 90ml/kg/min.

"Most of us would range between 35ml/kg/min (inactive) and 60ml/kg/min (well-trained), with cyclist Lance Armstrong reported to have a reading of 86ml/kg/min," Arkinstall said.

"The highest result I have seen came from Tour de France cyclist Simon Gerrans. His result was 80ml/kg/min."

In the test, Ginn and triathlete Erin Densham both recorded the highest value of 67ml/kg/min.

"Everyone was about where I expected them to be. However, because weight is a contributor to the result, it needs to be taken into account," Arkinstall said.

The testing raises an interesting question: Should AFL clubs draft athletes or footballers?

Do they recruit a super athlete -- fast, agile, with great endurance, then teach him how to play?

Or do they go for a guy who can find the ball?

The ball magnet may be slower, less athletic, not as strong, but rack up possessions because of a superior ability to read the play.

"Some teams have come under criticism for selecting athletes rather than skilful performers," Arkinstall said.

"It is a really interesting question: Do you select the person that is physically superior and teach the other components required to compete in the sport, or do you select the skilful athlete that doesn't run, cycle or row as fast or jump as high?

"My view is that with the appropriate training based on sound scientific principles, physical characteristics can be altered quite quickly.

"Whereas, in many cases it is harder to teach technical and tactical skills like reading the play in the sport of AFL."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25339880-19742,00.html

[Infamy]

Not a great year for a number of the competitors in this series
Symonds has been sacked
Taquiri has just been sacked
Deledio is having a pretty down year too

[Danog]

I was thinking the exact same thing when I heard about Lote's sacking.

[Son of Dad]

let's hope this isn't an omen for the host of the show ... one Ricky Ponting 

At least Billy Slater has been ok this year