Our pick of the best sports stars who eclipsed their legendary idols during their careers

KOBE or Jordan? Clarke or Border? Skaife or Brock? Here is our pick of modern day sports stars who have surpassed the feats of their heroes.

2009 AFL Grand Final, St Kilda Saints v Geelong Cats at the MCG in Melbourne. Gary Ablett Jnr gives his dad Gary Ablett Snr ...

KOBE or Jordan? Clarke or Border? Skaife or Brock?

Here is our pick of modern day sports stars who have surpassed the feats of their heroes.

GARY ABLETT SNR VS GARY ABLETT JR

Gary Ablett Jr will still tell you that his old man is the greatest player to have run onto a VFL/AFL field, but it’s very hard to argue that the younger man isn’t the better of the two.

Ablett Snr played 248 games for Geelong and Hawthorn, kicking 1030 goals, was a four-time All-Australian and was Geelong’s best and fairest winner in 1984.

While Ablett Jr spent the first five years of his career largely as a forward and won the Cat’s goalkicking award in 2004, it wasn’t until 2007 when he shifted permanently into the midfield that he began to close the gap to his dad.

Eight years later he’s a two-time premiership player, dual Brownlow Medalist, eight-time All-Australian, dual Geelong best and fairest winner and triple Gold Coast best and fairest winner.

It’s arguable that he surpassed Ablett Snr’s achievements the moment he hoisted his first Premiership cup in 2007, but now it’s almost impossible to deny that the 30-year-old isn’t the better, more accomplished player.

Roger Federer shakes hands with Rod Laver during a charity match in Melbourne.

ROGER FEDERER VS ROD LAVER

Roger says Rod’s the best. Rod says Roger’s the best.

Clearly the men themselves can’t be trusted to decide, and there are compelling arguments to be made for both.

But while Laver’s two Grand Slam victories (capturing all four grand slam tournaments in a calendar year) will likely never be matches, his 11 grand slam titles pale in comparison to Federer’s 17.

Federer moved past Laver’s 52 professional tournament victories a long time ago, and now has 82 titles, while the Swiss also has a winning success rate of more than 81 per cent, while Laver won 75 per cent of his matches.

The key factor for Laver is the depth of competition that Federer has faced, with his career coinciding with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, among others.

“When I look at Federer, with what he’s accomplished, against the competition that he’s accomplished it with, I’d have to say I would think that Roger is the greatest player,” Laver said last year.

Michael Clarke has won the award bearing Allan Border’s name four times.

ALLAN BORDER VS MICHAEL CLARKE

Australian captain Clarke has won the Allan Border Medal as the best player in Australian cricket four times, so it’s only natural that people compare the pair’s achievements.

Until Ricky Ponting came along, Border owned the record as Australia’s greatest ever run-scorer, with 11,174 of them throughout his 16-year Test career.

And while Clarke’s fragile hamstring means he’ll likely never get near that lofty mark, the 33-year-old has begun knocking off some of the former captain’s impressive milestones.

After his brave century in the Adelaide Test against India, Clarke’s now has 28 tons to his name, one more than Border, who made 27 of them in 156 Tests.

Clarke also has a top score of 329 not out — 124 better than the 205 that Border scored against New Zealand in Adelaide in 1987 — and owns a fractionally better batting average, with 50.79 runs per innings, compared to Border’s 50.56.

MICHAEL JORDAN VS KOBE BRYANT

Comparisons between NBA legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are the greatest, particularly as (unlike most star duos, and despite what they say publicly) each of them clearly believes they’re the superior player.

While Jordan is almost guaranteed to still have more championship rings (six) by the time Bryant retires while stuck on five, Bryant has chipped away at a few of Jordan’s achievements in recent years.

Bryant now has more points than his idol, with 32,310 compared to Jordan’s 32,292, and he’s also played in more playoff series’ than His Airness.

But Jordan fans will always argue that Jordan was the league MVP five times (Kobe has managed it just once), a finals MVP six times (Bryant twice) and led the NBA in scoring a whopping 10 times (Bryant twice).

Peter Brock and Mark Skaife share a laugh in 1997.

PETER BROCK VS MARK SKAIFE

No one in Australian motorsport has been worshipped like Peter Brock, so Mark Skaife had big shoes to fill when he replaced Brock at the Holden Racing Team in 1998.

It took Skaife four years, but he eventually eclipsed Brock’s mark of three Australian touring car championships when he won his second consecutive title with HRT in 2001. He added a fifth the following year to put a little daylight between them.

Brock finished his career with nine Bathurst wins and will forever be remembered as the king of Mt Panorama, though Skaife’s six victories in the 1000km race are nothing to be sneezed at.

Skaife also recorded 87 pole positions throughout his V8 Supercar career — 30 more than Brock — and chalked up 90 race wins — 48 more than his idol.

Originally published as Our pick of the best sports stars who eclipsed their legendary idols during their careers