Before we start, I just wanted to say that some of the athletes in this list may not be from Nottingham. But, they may be from neighbouring areas and been involved with city growing up. It’s only right to put them in.
The list is made up of sportsmen and women who achieved the most during their careers and had an impact on their sport.
Herbert Kilpin
Sport: Football.
Kilpin is seen as a football pioneer after he moved to Internazionale Torino in 1891, becoming the first Englishmen to play in a foreign team. Nine years after the move, he founded one of the world’s biggest clubs A.C. Milan.
Lee Westwood
Sport: Golf.
Lee Westwood aka Mr. Consistent. Westwood has won tournaments in four different decades; 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s. He has also won Player of the Year four times and won tournaments on the five major continents. The most memorable point of his career was moving to number one in the world rankings, ending the reign of the great Tiger Woods.
Rebecca Adlington
Sport: Swimming.
In just a four-year career, between the ages of 19 and 23, Adlington cemented herself in British swimming royalty. At 19, she won two Olympic gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She then went on to win two bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympics, as well as a number of European and World Championship medals.
Helen Richardson-Walsh
Sport: Hockey.
Richardson-Walsh gained her first cap for England at 17-years-old. The next year, she represented Great Britain in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming the youngest to ever do so.
Over the years she became an integral part of the side, gaining 293 international caps. Among her many medals, she was part of the team who achieved a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
Sport: Figure skating.
Very few people dominate a sport but Torvill and Dean absolutely did. From 1981-84, the pair picked up one Olympic gold medal, four World Championships and three European Championships. They then turned professional, preventing them from competing in these competitions.
On their way to gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, the pair became the highest scoring figure-skaters of all time for a single performance. The moment stamped their legacy on the sport and proved their dominance.
Andy Cole
Sport: Football
Cole was a striker for Manchester United, who paid a British record fee to sign him from Newcastle United. The striker played six seasons with Manchester, where he won eight major trophies.
He is the third highest goal scorer in Premier League history with 187 goals and holds the record for most goals scored in a Premier League season with 34 goals. A Premier League great.
Viv Anderson
Sport: Football.
Anderson is remembered as the first black player to represent England in a full international match. The defender made nearly 600 appearances during his career, 328 for Nottingham Forest, 120 for Arsenal and 54 for Manchester United.
During his prime, Anderson was an integral part of Arsenal and Manchester’s team. Most notably, he helped Forest win back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980.
Stuart Broad
Sport: Cricket.
Broad is an English cricket hero. He is England’s second highest wicket taker and the seventh bowler to take 500 wickets in Test cricket.
He was the fourth fastest bowler and second bowler for England to reach the milestone.
Broad was also awarded the Wisden’s Men’s Test spell of the decade after his performance against Australia in 2015.
John and George Gunn
Sport: Cricket.
The Gunn brothers, being just three years apart in age, played together during their careers. The pair combined for nearly 1,200 appearances for Nottinghamshire.
John is fifth in most runs and top 10 in most wickets for the club, while George is first in most runs with over 30,000. The brothers also helped the club win County Championships in 1907 and 1929. That’s not bad for a pair siblings.
Carl Froch
Sport: Boxing.
Froch is arguably the best fighter to come out of the city. He boxed from 2002 to 2014, earning multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the WBC, IBF and WBA titles.
Froch lost just twice in his 12-year career, retiring with an impressive record of 33-2 with 24 wins by KO.
By Harry Hughes