''Australia's Greatest Athlete'' is an Australian television program that debuted in 2009. The first season was broadcast on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

and was hosted by

Andrew Voss Andrew Voss (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian rugby league commentator and radio and television personality who works for Fox League. Voss previously worked for the SKY Network Television as a commentator, and at the Nine Network, inclu ...

and

Michael Slater Michael Jonathon Slater (born 21 February 1970) is an Australian former professional cricketer and former television presenter. He played in 74 Test matches and 42 One Day Internationals for the Australia national cricket team. Early life Sl ...

, with

Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...

as a sideline commentator. The second season moved to Channel Seven and was hosted by

Mark Beretta Mark Beretta (born 16 June 1966) is an Australian journalist, best known as a sports reporter on Seven Network program ''Sunrise''. In July 2008, Beretta began presenting ''Seven Early News'' sport alongside Natalie Barr at 5.30 am, which le ...

and Tom Williams, with Ponting returning as a sideline commentator. Season three was hosted by

and

Wendell Sailor Wendell Jermaine Sailor (born 16 July 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. In rugby league Sailor was a member of the succes ...

, while

Billy Slater William Slater (born 18 June 1983), is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and one-time captain of the Queensland State of Origin team, he played his entire ...

and Mark Webber replaced Ricky Ponting as the sideline commentators. These three series were sponsored by

Rexona Rexona is an Australian deodorant and antiperspirant brand, owned by British conglomerate Unilever. While marketed under the Rexona name in most countries, it is known as Rexena ( ja, レセナ; ko, 레세나) in Japan and South Korea, Su ...

, which gave it naming rights and the series was referred to on-air as ''Rexona Australia's Greatest Athlete''. The show pits eight of Australia's most talented athletes against each other in various sporting challenges and events, earning points for their rankings. The overall winner receives money which will then be donated to a charity of their choice.

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

and

Australian Kangaroos The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

fullback

was the overall champion of the first season, and returned to defend the title for the second season with a 5-point win over runner-up Shannon Eckstein. The third series was won by

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

and

Australian Wallabies The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

five-eighth Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

Quade Cooper Quade Santini Cooper (born 5 April 1988) is a professional rugby union player and occasional boxer. Although born in New Zealand, he has represented Australia in rugby at international level. He currently plays for Hanazono Liners in Japan, ...

with a 95-point win over runner-up

Shannon Eckstein Shannon Eckstein (born 1983) is an Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended ...

. Slater was unable to compete for a threepeat on account of an injury. Season one was in syndication on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

1 on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm, while season two received replays on

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...

. A fourth season was confirmed through the show's official website and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page, which also announced a new naming sponsor to replace Rexona as well as female and amateur athletes. It was not listed which channel would broadcast the series. Despite the announcement, no fourth season ever eventuated and the show's Facebook page was deleted, effectively cancelling the series.

Season 1 (2009)

Season 2 (2010)

Season 3 (2011)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official WebsiteGreatest Athlete Facebook
2009 Australian television series debuts 2011 Australian television series endings Nine Network original programming Seven Network original programming Australian sports television series 2000s Australian reality television series 2010s Australian reality television series