Thursday 1 November 2012

Simone Niggli. A true legend.


To be a sport legend requires high performance and extraordinary dominance, preferably over a longer time frame. Usain Bolt, the fastest man on earth ever, is truly one legend, Roger Federer is another, as he just passed 300 weeks as the number one in the world ranking. However, I would like to take these two guys down to earth for a moment and instead put a great woman, more dominant than any other in her sport, in the spotlight.

Simone Niggli, an orienteering athlete from Switzerland, started to conquer in the women class in year 2000, only 22 years old. She has, since then until now, won 20 gold medals in the World Championship, and if I calculate it right (manually from this page), been the ranked as the number one for 466 weeks now...and counting! I summarized the statistic of interest here in a simple Excel document. In addition, she got kids in two rounds (2008 and 2011). She just announced on in a post on her webpage that she will continue for 1-2 more years! What a super athlete!

Simone Niggli, (Swiss) Orienteering Star #1 Foto: Odlo

At the Long Distance Final in the European Orienteering Championship in Sweden 2012, Simone won the womens class with 4 minutes. More impressive is that a comparison with her km-time, would place her top 30 in the mens class! Simone would for sure be able to run in circles around me (or even Usain Bolt or Roger Federer) and still win a orienteering race. However, orienteering is orienteering, and I will try to do a comeback now for 2013 and if I get the chance to compete against Simone I will give my best in the forest, while reading the map strategically.

Yes, another gold medal and happy smile from Simone Niggli! Foto: Jan Kocbach

If you would like to read more about, follow or support Simone you can do it on her webpage and Facebook. Yes, I am a big fan of Simone and I suggest you will be it too. Keep on dominating Simone! You'll reach 500 weeks as #1 soon!

No comments: