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Is any other sports figure this good?


lneel

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From the USPSA Nationals website...

Springfield Armory's Leatham takes 15th Consecutive SS Nationals

Leatham Wins 15th Consecutive Single Stack Title

Is there ANY other sports figure that is/has been this dominant in any other sport?

15 in a ROW! Unbelievably Fantastic!

Lee

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What makes it most impressive is that the competition is nipping at his heels. It'd be one thing if he was just a fluke of nature, but to consistently beat that many outstanding shooters is really something.

Edited by bbbean
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yes Ricky is the best of all times.

Now on a shooting note. I'm learning the competition thing as I so with Nationals is there a competitive trail that leads to nationals like a motocross circuit or a fishing tournament trail. or is it a first come first serve get a slot and shoot type deal? None the less 15 in a row is amazing.

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Jerry Miculek has put together a pretty dominant career as well. Perhaps not as dominant as Rob Leatham's but clearly both changed the sport.

Yes, although I think Jerry falls under the "freak of nature" category mentioned above. He is clearly the most accomplished revolver shooter of all time, eclipsing the legendary Ed McGivern in pretty much every way, he is phenomenal with long guns, and can shoot at a very high level with autoloading handguns as well. Jerry is also very versatile, and can shoot pins and steel even better than he shoots paper targets. It would be interesting to see what Jerry would have accomplished over the past 20 years if he had signed up with Springfield or Colt at the beginning of his professional career instead of S&W.

All that said, for Leatham to continue his reign of dominance with the 1911-platform pistol, and particularly those of the single-stack variety, for 25 years now--well, it's pretty frickin' amazing. Just about everybody else who has been in the game that long has declined significantly in terms of performance, or quit shooting competitively altogether.

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Funnily enough there's a guy in Windsurfing called Robbie that also kicked butt from a young age and pretty much still does (or at least did until I quit following the scene there)

It was there, at the age of 11, that Robby took up the fledgling new sport of windsurfing. Shortly thereafter, in 1976, he won his first overall World Championship title, at the age of 13, beating many adult competitors whose experience and maturity were no match for his exceptional talent.

Competing as an amateur, he went on to win successive World Championship titles from 1977 to 1979. After the emergence of the Professional Boardsailors' Association (PBA) — later to become the Professional Windsurfing Association (PWA) — Naish won the Overall World Champion title from 1983 to 1987, and the Wave World Champion title in 1988, 1989, and 1991. He was renowned for his 'Table Top' and 'Forward Loop' moves. Adding to his fame was his 'Longboard Loop', where he forward looped the 3.72m long Mistral Equipe.

In the nineties, branching out into new pursuits, Naish became a noted competitor in the emerging sport of kitesurfing. In 1998, he won the kiteboarding slalom world title. In 1999, he won kiteboarding world titles in both slalom and jumping.

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I went to the 2004 Combined Nationals in 2004 (my first trip to the big show). I kicked Leatham's ass on the dark house stage. Heck, almost everybody did. I was 98th and he was 127th out of 159 Limited shooters. (*Issues with flashlight management with an extended mag release, IIRC)

But, after literally giving away an entire stage (he got half the stage points as the stage winner did - ~45 vs. 90 - at that level, that's HUGE) he came back to win the match by 60 points.

The old Silverback isn't only good enough to win, he's good enough to win from the back of the field.

post-3006-1241670123.gifpost-3006-1241670123.gif

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Does anyone know how old TGO is?

TGO does not age. Every birthday, it's just another year added to his existence, which sucks for you.

taken from the TGO facts files

Chuck Norris squats to pee in his presence.

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I went to the 2004 Combined Nationals in 2004 (my first trip to the big show). I kicked Leatham's ass on the dark house stage. Heck, almost everybody did. I was 98th and he was 127th out of 159 Limited shooters. (*Issues with flashlight management with an extended mag release, IIRC)

But, after literally giving away an entire stage (he got half the stage points as the stage winner did - ~45 vs. 90 - at that level, that's HUGE) he came back to win the match by 60 points.

The old Silverback isn't only good enough to win, he's good enough to win from the back of the field.

post-3006-1241670123.gifpost-3006-1241670123.gif

As I recall, he got fired up and flat out WON the next 3 or 4 stages after that. :cheers:

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It's almost impossible to think of any sports figure in any sport who has been so good for so long. Every sport has it's "king" and I am pretty sure Rob would be our "king." Eric Grauffel is amazing but he's stil got a lot of years left to catch up with what Rob has done.*

Funny thing is Rob is probably a better shotgun shooter and rifle shooter than 99% of the people you know. You would never know it though because he doesn't shoot 3-gun. He shoots shotguns (clays) at Rio "for fun" and consistently breaks pretty much every clay that is out there. He went to Camp Perry a couple of years ago and finished something like 7th overall (just what I think I remember off the top of my head) and he did this without the years of rifle training and shooting that most of these guys have. The guy can just flat shoot anything you hand him.

*(This isn't a bash on Grauffel; just showing how distant Rob is from the rest of the pack in his years of shooting.)

Edited by jasmap
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Does anyone know how old TGO is?

TGO does not age. Every birthday, it's just another year added to his existence, which sucks for you.

taken from the TGO facts files

Chuck Norris squats to pee in his presence.

TGO is the ultimate shooter that was built in a lab from parts of lesser GM shooters.

Edited by Shawn Knight
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"So the trick is learning to operate at the upper levels of your speed capabilities, but not so far that accuracy is affected negatively enough to cause you to score poorly. Here is the challenge: “What is too fast?”. I think it is when you are shooting at a speed that causes error to happen. Not when you can’t catch the problem, but when you cause the problem. This then is merely a lack of skill and is simple to identify although not easy to correct. Most of my practice is trying to learn to do something I am not sure I am capable of, and some of my practiceis spent operating at a pace I can repeat easily to give me confidence. I spend more time on the former than the latter, but realize I am more apt to shoot a score in a match that is on the lower side of my skill range than the higher.

In summary, I think shooting fast is when you find the balance between speed and accuracy where you shoot to the highest level of your ability." Rob Leatham from Rob Leathams blog - "What is fast?" Thursday, January 8, 2009 17:10

Edited by Alan Meek
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