A TV sporting challenge show to find Australia's greatest athlete, sponsored by Rexona, has been running since 2009. Here are details of the second series of Rexona Australia's Greatest Athlete from 2010. Top Australian athletes from a range of sports are were chosen, with each athlete is tested in 15 challenges and the winner determined by the athlete that performs the best across all 15 tasks. See more on Australia's Greatest Athlete, and also a discussion about TV Athlete Challenges, part of the attempt to find the World's Greatest Athlete.
The Athletes
The following is the list of the eight competitors from Season 2 of Australia's greatest athlete challenge. The winner again was the reigning champion Billy Slater of Rugby League, who as the series one champion was the only athlete competing for the second time. In second place was Shannon Eckstein, who appeared again in the 2011 series. Here is the final order.
- Billy Slater — Rugby League.
- Shannon Eckstein - surf life saving Ironman
- James O’Connor - Rugby Union
- Craig Lowndes - V8 Supercars
- Jason Culina - Soccer player
- Cameron Ling - Geelong AFL player
- Matthew Mitcham - Diver (ex-trampoline gymnast)
- Wendell Sailor — Rugby Union and League
2010 Challenges
- AFL Kick for Goal - Competitors are given 7 different kicks at goal from 7 different positions.
- V8 Dune Buggy Challenge - fastest time over one lap of the Alberton race course
- Kayaking Challenge - Athletes compete in four-man Kayaking heats over a designated course of 250 meters.
- Diving Challenge - measures core stability by completing as many leg raises as possible whilst supporting their body weight, all in time to a beep recording. See details of the leg raise test.
- Bench Press Challenge - maximum number of bench press repetitions at 75% of their body weight. See details of the relative bench press test.
- NRL Sled Push Challenge - A power test. Competitors have to push a weighted tackle sled over a 15m track, with the weight increasing with each round, peaking at 100kg.
- Rock Climbing Challenge - A speed wall climbing competition, testing skill and nerve.
- Jet Ski Challenge - a test of coordination, skill and nerve for the athletes, who have to navigate through a challenging Jet Ski course.
- Rugby Challenge - Athletes compete one-on-one to attack and defend in an 'oz-tag' style rugby showdown. The event was held on a rectangular area of beach sand. The object of this challenge was to get past the defender to score a try, while the defender attempts to pull off material strips (tags) attached to each hip of the attacker. The score is the distance gained.
- Soccer Challenge - athletes are given a penalty shot against each of their opponents. Competitors can earn points by kicking goals or by blocking them as the goalie.
- Swimming Challenge - a test of swimming power and technique, a timed swim over 25m.
- Poles Challenge - the athletes must first climb a 13m pole and then jump and catch a suspended trapeze. The four fastest will go head-to-head on the suspended balance beam, to see who can last the longest.
- Mini Ironman Challenge - a mini ironman race which includes running, swimming, board paddling and surf ski paddling.
- 40m Sprint Challenge - speed test, sprint race in the sand over 40 meters (see details of 40m sprint testing)
- Multisport Final Challenge - In the final challenge of the show competitors attempt to complete a multi-disciplinary course in the fastest time possible. They must complete three laps of the course, including Bench Press (Ten Repetitions @ 50KG), Balance Beam, Kayak, Monkey Bars, Weight Pull, Stand Up Paddle Board, and Run.
Related Pages
- See more on Australia's Greatest Athlete, including details of the show in 2009 and 2011.
- Discussion about who is the World's Greatest Athlete
- About the Superstars TV Show.
- Vote for the Greatest Athlete of All Time?
- What is the Fittest Sport?
- Fitness for Sports