What makes a sportsman great? Is it dominance over his rivals? Success at the highest level for years? Complete mastery of his discipline?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Humility and an ability to win with grace and suffer defeat with equanimity? The capacity to be a role model?
All these and perhaps something more: the ability to pull off the unexpected, if not the impossible. The capacity to put in performances and set records that it is almost impossible to match, or even conceive of a future rival equalling.
A handful of individuals have, at their prime, achieved such status.
Don Bradman in cricket and Walter Lindrum in billiards are two famous old Australians that spring to mind.
Ayrton Senna in Formula One. Muhammad Ali in boxing. Pele, Diego Maradona and, perhaps when they have finished, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in soccer.
All are greats, all have left a tremendous legacy.
And in my mind there is another name to be added to that list, a man who has dominated, illuminated and become an icon of his sport these last 20 years but who is to give it all away in a couple of months' time.
When legendary Irish jump jockey AP McCoy rode the winner of a big race at Newbury in England last Saturday and announced to the media in the winner's enclosure later that he was to retire at the end of April, the shock was palpable.
No one saw the end of the "Iron Man" coming. No one could imagine a time in National Hunt Racing without McCoy, the man who made the difficult look easy and the impossible accomplishable.
In a career where falls and serious injuries are a regular occurrence (many jump riders have been left disabled and a handful killed as a result of race falls) McCoy's statistics are remarkable. In his first year as a professional (1994-95 at the age of 21) he won the junior jump jockeys championship. In every other year since then – 19 – he has won the jump riders premiership, no other rider coming close.
In one year he managed to boot home 289 winners, setting a record for the number of winners in a season by any rider – jumps or flat. That is an astonishing statistic given the fact that McCoy had numerous falls and injuries to contend with on a regular basis.
It's not just the numbers (more than 4000 winners overall) that define McCoy. He has won every major race on the UK and Irish calendar, some several times over, and produced some of the most stirring rides in living memory. His effort to win on Wichita Lineman at the Cheltenham Festival in 2009 had to be seen to be believed.
It is his grace under pressure, his stoicism, resilience, courage and sheer grit and determination that single him out as one of the true greats, and, in my mind, worthy to stand in the exalted company mentioned earlier. He is odds-on to go out on top with another title this season. His like will almost certainly never be seen again.
