most difficult sports

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills?sort=total_ rank#grid

discuss.im biased towards pro cycling as hardest/ but all sports are hard in one way or another.

Edited by youm0nt

Boxing.

Probably Rugby

"creating mass-genecide is the most challenging activity anyone could ever endure....except for soccer." Matt Damon, Dogma

Where's paintball.....or is espn even considering it a sport yet?

I was going to say boxing and ice hockey lol...they require the most skills and talent and to be in top shape at all times

Billiards.

Edited by Multi-Colored J

I agree that boxing is the most demanding. Some of the sports (i.e. basketball and football) requires different abilities for different positions. A point guard has to be much faster, more agile, but less powerful than a center.

My opinon is rugby. Not only are you running for a whole hour straight, but when you stop running its because your pushing a huge mass of people. You also have no pads so your body is constnaly being battered and bruised through the game. I dont think I had one game this year where afterwards I wasnt limping.

That thing is so off on quite a few places. First, swimming is in no way easier than

-tennis(other than the ball coming at you and needing somewhat quick reflexes)
-basketball
-baseball(this is top 10 why?)
-water polo
-pole vault(might look scary to other people, but to the ones who are good at it its not, and you only need to be able to do a pull up with some extra weight)
-speed skating(need some skill but not like swimming)
-figure skating(same as speed skating)
-badminton(???how is this harder than anything?)
-auto racing(although there is much more at stake, making it scarier)
-long jump, or tripple jump.

Ok, now that i have said that, lets go over the certain "skills" needed such as nerve, and all that crap.

Endurance-swimming got the highest on this, just like it should. Trust me, there is nothing like swimming 200 yards as fast as possible using every muscle in your body. 

Strength-swimming got just about where it deserved on this also. while you dont need to be as strong as Mr Ray lewis, you do need alot of muscle tone, and alot of muscle to propel you through that water.

Power-sadly, swimming(distance) got what it deserved on this one too. Its an endurance race, so the use of prodicing strength in the shortest amount of time possible is not to high.

Speed-ok, despite swimming distance being a, well, distance race, speed is needed. Its not like a long stride is gonna get you as far as it would in running or cycling, and the water pushes on you from close to every direction if you arent in firts by a long shot, so you still need to move quickly while using that strength you need. I think it deserves another half point there.

Agility-when doing the flip turn on that wall, you need to be able to get off that wall as quickly as possible, as well as off that starting block. Thos are the two reasons micheal phelps has trouble with beating Ian Thorpe. I would have given swimming a 2 points higher, because even in long distance races, those hundredths of a second matter...

Flexibility-not needed in swimming, but better if you can stretch your muscles more, because it means they will be easier to contract when swimming. but it is more imporant to do that than in other sports, so i would have given it a half point higher

Nerve-except for where your life can constantly be taken at any point during the sport, nerve shouldnt be counted, because they are profesionals, and they arent worried if they are going to do anythin that wrong, and mess something up that bad as to injure themselves, other wise, they shouldnt be a pro or colleg athlete.

Durability-tehy define durability as the ability to take physical punishment for long periods of time. Well, you try going a minute plus while swimming with every muscle in your body burning from pain and wearyness, whle you have to control your breathing like no other sport. Its much harder than they give credit for. It deserves another point and a half.

Hand eye coordination they got right(even though the smoothness needed for a good stroke, as well as the timing out weigh this factor by alot), as well as analytic aptitude(you dont need to know how to read anytihng, just how to try hard).

So, with the 4 1/2 points extra swimming deserves, it would be ranked...still not high enough. Screw it. You go join a swim team, you go swim 5 miles everyday, you stay on a strict diet, you race in a swim meet, you see how you feel about swimming, because i know it is much more dificult than any of the other sports i listed above.

What can be a harder sport than getting your arse kicked for 30 min straight.