Athletes, managers, and sporting icons have been a focus of fascination since professional sport began. Men and women achieving phenomenal feats of accomplishments individually or as teams have inspired many generations. From Roger Banister's sub-4-minute mile to the England Lionesses triumph in the women's 2022 European championships at Wembley, countless success stories have motivated millions.
While some sporting stories and careers have become folklore and made people household names, many have slipped by the wayside and gone somewhat unnoticed. For every Roger Bannister story, hundreds have gone untold. Having worked in sport for over a decade and researched high performers extensively, I have spent a long time researching and studying athletes from countless sports. When considering what content to produce on the topic, I landed on the idea of the SP100 list. It is a comprehensive list of 100 athletes and coaches that have achieved extremely impressive careers. These individuals have competed in various sports, ranging from football to ultra running, from tennis to mountain climbing.
Importantly, when researching this list, I discovered many of those who made the shortlist are not well known. Some individuals on this list compete in niche sports which do not have a large fanbase. Some have succeeded in their sport by quietly going about their business. Finally, some are names many have heard of yet do not necessarily know the details surrounding their success or philosophies.
This series of articles aims to give an educated insight into many of the beliefs, strategies and methodologies of highly successful sportsmen and women that have gone under the radar. To help others learn from these often unsung heroes of sport. I hope each article in this series can offer an interesting take or insight into high-performance that can help benefit any individual. Athletes, managers, students and parents can hopefully learn from these success stories while also better understanding how elite sporting performers can achieve such impressive heights.
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