Top sports area revealed
From heart-racing Olympic finals to nail-biting football matches – Britain has produced a seemingly endless supply of talented athletes who have gone on to dominate the sporting world.
But is sporting prowess linked to where you are born and live, or is that too simplistic an answer?
According to researchers at Essential Living, who have looked into the top 100 British athletes and sporting legends of all time, the answer would seem to be as simple as where you live really will have a seismic effect on your chances of success.
Taking the top five athletes from each sports category, it will come as no surprise to learn Greater London came out on top, with 16 per cent of the top 100 coming from this area.
Among them is Graham Gooch, the former England and Essex opening batsmen. Gooch is the second-highest Test run-scorer in English cricket history.
He captained Essex and England during his career and returned to both as a coach. During his time at Essex, Gooch scored more runs than anyone else and became a cricket icon both at home and internationally.
In second place was the North West, with 14 athletes coming from the area.
Manchester and Liverpool are its two major population centres. Yet you have to go to the north west coast – and the home of Fylde Rugby Club – to find former England rugby captain, Sir Bill Beaumont, who earned 34 caps for his country and also represented the British and Irish Lions.
Today, Beaumont is Chairman of World Rugby, the game’s governing body. Beaumont. He was knighted in 2019.
Perhaps surprisingly, the South East only came third in the story, with a crop of 11 athletes. The region has the biggest population in the UK and contains seven cities – including Brighton and Hove, the seaside city that has a booming cultural scene.
Its biggest sporting icons include David Gower, the prodigiously talented left-handed batsman who smashed 8,000 Test runs for England. Born and bred in Tunbridge Wells, Gower holds the current record of 119 consecutive innings without registering a duck in Test cricket.
Minor places
The West Midlands – with 11 athletes – takes fourth place. It’s biggest name is Phil Taylor, the man who dominated world darts for what seemed like an eternity.
Four areas tied in joint fifth postion.
The East Midlands (9 athletes) came joint fifth. John Lowe, another darts legend, is identified in the study as being one of the biggest-ever icons to emerge from the region.
Also in fifth spot was the East of England, boasting heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua, among its biggest-ever superstars. Scotland (home to Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy) and Wales (home to ace sailor, Hannah Miles) completed the quartet.
Propping up the table is the South West (with eight athletes). The region’s most successful sports star is triple Grand Slam tennis champion, Angela Mortimer, who was one of the world’s leading tennis icons in the 1950s and 60s.