# Who is the greatest speedcuber of all time?



## Jilvin (Jul 10, 2008)

So... who do you think takes the crown of the greatest speedcuber of all time?

I think the best speedcuber overall Erik Akkersdijk. I first noticed him with his 9.77 second solve. For single solves 9th in the world for the 3x3, 3rd in the World For the 4x4, and 1st in the world for the 5x5. For averages it is even better, 7th in the 3x3, the top in the 4x4, and for the 5x5 he is second only to Takayuki Ookusa. He is far and away the top in the world in the Megaminx in both single solve and average (someday soon he will get a sub-minute solve)

Specifically for the 3x3 it would definitely be Yu Nakajima. 8.72 (twice), and an 11.28 average of 5. (Not to mention that his 11.28 average did NOT contain either one of his 8.72 solves.)

Who do you guys think is the best?

EDIT: I hear alot of people talking about the founders and influences of the speedcubing community rather than the fastest contenders. This is perfectly fine.


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## shelley (Jul 10, 2008)

In this sport, the turnover rate is so high that it's hard to crown a greatest speedcuber of all time. Several years ago I would have said Macky, no question, but faster cubers have since broken his records. Wait a few more years and the current stars will be has-beens as even faster kids catch up and overtake them.


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## tim (Jul 10, 2008)

No doubt, it's me.


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## Todd (Jul 10, 2008)

There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.

Who has influenced the sport the most etc?


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## hawkmp4 (Jul 10, 2008)

How about Jessica Fridrich and Lars Petrus?


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## Lotsofsloths (Jul 10, 2008)

Todd said:


> There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> 
> Who has influenced the sport the most etc?


Harris Chan is no doubt the best in that manner.
Harris Chan > Yu Nakajima.
Why?
He may not have official times faster than Yu, but he very friendly and actually is on the internet, while Yu does not reply to comments often or post here often. But this is getting off topic. I still respect Yu though xD


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## shelley (Jul 10, 2008)

Influenced the sport? How about the founders of the WCA, the people who brought competitive speedcubing back? Without them everyone would just be sitting at home solving cubes.


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## cmhardw (Jul 10, 2008)

Too many names to mention. For me the most influential cubers of all time to our sport are Ron van Bruchem and Tyson Mao. I mean seriously, would our sport/hobby be anywhere near as popular or as big as it is today without those guys?

--edit--
Shelley you posted between the time I read this thread, and typed my post! Beaten to the punch!
--edit--

On a more personal level, the most influential speedcubers to my speedcubing are Jessica Fridrich and Dan Knights. Jessica for inventing her method and for responding to all my noob questions about speedcubing when I first started ;-) Also Dan Knights for really turning the Fridrich method into a modern speedcubing method, and inspiring me to improve my own times, as well as putting up with numerous noob questions from me ;-)

Chris


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## genwin (Jul 10, 2008)

yeah, *i think* the pioneers and those who are instrumental to the development of cubing in general and the like should be recognized more than those who are fast...


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## Todd (Jul 10, 2008)

hawkmp4 said:


> How about Jessica Fridrich and Lars Petrus?



I agree - I would also say Tyson / Toby Mao for bring the sport to a wider audience with various TV shows and the movie The Pursuit of Happyness - many people wouldnt even know it was a sport if it wasnt for this.


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## Dene (Jul 10, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> He may not have official times faster than Yu, but he very friendly and actually is on the internet, while Yu does not reply to comments often or post here often. But this is getting off topic. I still respect Yu though xD



There is a very good reason why Yu doesn't post _here_ very often - he doesn't speak much english! I'm sure he is very friendly with all his Japanese buddies.


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## pcharles93 (Jul 10, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Todd said:
> 
> 
> > There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> ...



Because he doesn't know much english. You ever notice how he has to use a translator to put up video descriptions? Plus, who cares about us enough to create a website. Look at Harris, he tries to start one every summer but gives up.


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## llamapuzzle (Jul 10, 2008)

Erik A. influenced me the most. When I fisrt saw his sub-10 and how cool he was on the forums, I immediately started looking up to him.


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## DavidWoner (Jul 10, 2008)

the person who had the greatest influence on me was *sigh* Matyas Kuti.

however i agree that those who have had the greatest influence on speedcubing as a whole are Tyson and Toby Mao, RVB, and everyone who organized/attended WC 2003.


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## Harris Chan (Jul 10, 2008)

"Greatest" is such a vague word :S It can mean countless, important/significant, absolute/profound, famous/eminent/distinguished/impressive. 



pcharles93 said:


> Lotsofsloths said:
> 
> 
> > Todd said:
> ...



Fine, then I shall finish it for once!  I find that the reason that I didn't finish is that all the algos I use is quite typical (well, may be one or two that aren't too common but it's not that great anyway). But I am writing an article to be published on the canadiancubing.com, hopefully before summer ends, and after NOS.

And you have to realize, a lot of the algos Nakajima uses/has on his site came from Katsu too, but may be no one realized it (if you take a look at Katsu's PLL time attack videos, you'll find he uses quite similar fingertricks too). I think it's more of popularizing things that are already out there, sort of like an endorsement to some level.


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## hdskull (Jul 10, 2008)

Or maybe Yu spends his time practicing instead... haha.

Erik A. has influenced me in many ways as well as Dan Harris and his Cubestation. Macky was the one who got me into cubing.

Tyson, Ron, and the rest of the WCA organization team has worked very hard to promote the sport, so they deserve the most credit.


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## rubiksfriend (Jul 10, 2008)

The person who had the most influence on me was... someone who now works on an organic vegetable farm and will most likely never solve the cube again.


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## Ton (Jul 10, 2008)

most influential ?

The one who invented the word "speedcubing" ....that is Ron and Chris and Ron for starting the speedcubing community

most influential method?
for sure F2L, many cubers invented a F2L in parrallel and is considered the most easy to learn fast method.


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## AlexandertheGreat (Jul 10, 2008)

well...what about Erno Rubik?
all of these people that have been mentioned wouldn't be the speedcubers they are today without him. He's the visionary that made speedcubing possible.


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## brunson (Jul 10, 2008)

Greatest is a vague term. Most influential is, to me, "greater" than simply fast.

Jessica, Mark, Guus, Morwen, Herbert, Lars (both of them), Zbigniew, Tyson, Chris, Ton, Peter (both), Stefan (I spelled it right this time), Macky, Ron, Gilles, Erik, Yu, Harris, Jason, Frank, Dan (all), Edouard, Thibaut... the list is immense, they're all awesome in their own right.

I'm going to cast my vote for Ernő.



Edit: Possible new thread...

Who got the worst shaft? Terutoshi Ishigi. Google it.


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## Swordsman Kirby (Jul 10, 2008)

Gunnar Krig, Stefan Pochmann, and Chris Hardwick are the three greatest influences in my cubing career.

"Greatness" is a vaguely defined term.


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## ShadenSmith (Jul 10, 2008)

I guess the definition will vary from cuber to cuber. To me, Harris Chan and Mike Hughey have always been my favorite, so they are the greatest in my mind.


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## Radu (Jul 10, 2008)

i think it's too early to say give the crown. speedcubing (as we know today) is only a few years old...we have to wait more to see
until then..it's me


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## Raffael (Jul 10, 2008)

ShadenSmith said:


> I guess the definition will vary from cuber to cuber.



I agree with that.
For me the list would look sth like this:
(Of course, for most points, there scholud really be numerous names on the list)

Erno Rubik for inventing the cube.
Jessica Fridrich for inventing the method I use.
Erik for his F2L tutorial video on youtube.
Ron for all the Competition Stuff.
Edouard for having the best cubing style ever.
Dennis for his reactions.
Tim (and Dennis) for taking the multi in bld to a whole new level.
..I could imagine many more, but I don't have the time right now.
Just one last:
Me for having the best music in his cubing vids.


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## Harry (Jul 10, 2008)

Todd said:


> hawkmp4 said:
> 
> 
> > How about Jessica Fridrich and Lars Petrus?
> ...




I agree as well, however, many people in my country haven't even knows about Rubik's cube....... Although some of the old people (my mom, etc) know about it......


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## somerandomkidmike (Jul 10, 2008)

I would say, whoever it is that can pick up a rubik's cube, and find a near-opimal solution is actually the best at the rubik's cube, because they understand all the algorithms they use, and know more than just what they do, but understand why they do them. Had you asked who is the best at speedsolving, I'd have a different answer.


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## qqwref (Jul 10, 2008)

somerandomkidmike said:


> Had you asked who is the best at speedsolving, I'd have a different answer.





the topic creator said:


> Who is the greatest speedcuber of all time?




Anyway it's really hard for me to figure out what I would mean by "great". Would the greatest speedcuber be the fastest, or the one who's made the most contributions to speedcubing, or the most famous and well-known? And for each there are a bunch of possibilities... So many choices 

I don't think we should say "of all time" yet though  It's only been about five years since speedcubing was officially restarted; that's way too soon for being the best ever to be a true honor.


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## Sin-H (Jul 10, 2008)

The greatest influence on my style of cubing had Erik, Doudou and Harris. So I wanna give some big credits to them!!!

Furthermore: Ron, Tyson, Toby, Stefan Pochmann and all the other WCA members who did so much for our shared passion!

And, never forget Jessica Fridrich, Gilles Roux, Lars Petrus, Ryan Heise etc. for their efforts to create and develop good methods.

And the most important one is of course Ernö Rubik for providing the possibility to create a sport around a cube by inventing that cube!
(and Jarry Nichols who first created a 2x2)


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## Erik (Jul 10, 2008)

Ron! Guus! Chris! Ton! Joel! Stefan! Dan H!, those were the first speedcubers I heared of 
To me the greatest cuber is actually Joel, he inspired me in the first place to start speedcubing 
Speaking speed-wise blabla Matyas is definatly the one who set the bar high for a lot of events! No doubt about that for me.


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## mrbiggs (Jul 10, 2008)

Who's even the best speedcuber now? I think Erik Akkersdijk and Yu Nakajima both have a decent claim to that title.


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## KConny (Jul 10, 2008)

I started learning the Fridrich method way too early. Learning new algs was really hard back then, so I always needed inspiration to keep going. I often found it on Youtube looking att solves from Harris Chan, Dan Harris, Matyas Kuti, Chris Hardwick, Tyson Mao, Leyan Lo, Stefan Pochmann, Joël van Noort, Jean Pons, Jessica Fridrich. 

Since about september of last year the biggest influence on what event to get good at was always Kåre Krig. All his records was in reach but Gunnar's felt like miles away. 

The ones that keeps me going now are Team #!


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## Gunnar (Jul 10, 2008)

KConny said:


> Since about september of last year the biggest influence on what event to get good at was always Kåre Krig. All his records was in reach but Gunnar's felt like miles away.



Daniel, you did the right thing and started focusing on the BLD events. There were no really fast swede and now you are the best. 

The greatest cuber, in the meaning of the biggest influence, for me is Ron van Bruchem. First for maintaining speedcubing.com which is where me and my brother Kåre discovered speedcubing back in 2002. But mostly for giving me the classic advice of "going slow". It was at my first competition outside Sweden and I was rushing which resulted in a lot of pops. Ron's advice instantly made me improve my times a lot and it was here I really started to get dedicated in speedcubing.


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## cpt.Justice (Jul 10, 2008)

mrbiggs said:


> Who's even the best speedcuber now? I think Erik Akkersdijk and Yu Nakajima both have a decent claim to that title.



Nakaji isn't that great as an all-round cuber as Erik is, so my vote would go to Erik as the best all-round cuber these days. Matyas would also be a candidate tho, but...


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## fanwuq (Jul 10, 2008)

First, I was amazed by Ryan Gossiaux with his 30 seconds solve and 5 minutes BLD at CTY. That got me into solving the cube. 
I got on speedcubing.com and saw the names of many fast cubers from WC2007. I always confuse Harris Chan and Dan Harris.
Then, I got on the Internet and found speedsolving sites of Macky and Chris Hardwick. I realized the Chris was the original master of big cubes and OH. (But he is no longer considered very fast in these categories.) But now he is the best in big cubes BLD. He’s also very friendly.
Later, I got on youtube and found crazy sub-10 people like Harris, Erik, Nakajima, and this mysterious TDcuber person. 
I soon found Gabbasoft and I was frustrated by the controls. I went on the UWR and emailed Phil Thomas. At that time, his time on 2x2 Gabbasoft was 6 seconds, I thought that was really amazing. He also suggested me to try IsoCubeSim. That’s when I found out about Michael Gottlieb. And he pretty much held the UWR for every computer cube! 
I started to learn my PLLs and I found Lucas Garron’s, Bob Burton’s, and Lars V’s algs. I realized that Lucas’ algs were the best. So I learned them.
I found speedsolving.com (I joined when I saw that super long thread about Kuti) Later, I noticed Mike Hughey, Lofty, Dene, and AvGalen posted a lot. Mike is like Chris, only crazier. 
Recently, I’m amazed by Dan Cohen and Derrick Eide; they are awesome at every puzzle. 

There are too many awesome cubers, it’s hard to say who is the best. 
But the best overall are Dan, Derrick, and Erik.


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## Tyson (Jul 10, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Todd said:
> 
> 
> > There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> ...



Not to belittle the accomplishments of Harris Chan (I would probably ask him out on a date if it weren't for the distance), but this whole "reply to comments" or "post often" thing that you say Yu Nakajima doesn't do is probably a language barrier. I'm pretty sure if you could read and write Japanese fluently, you'd have a good pen pal.

Update:

I'm an idiot. I saw the other posts after I posted this one. I would say that now because I have internet at home, I have less of an excuse not to be up to date on the forums but... I have yet to buy a chair.


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## brunson (Jul 10, 2008)

Maybe someone with access to the raw data in the WCA database can do some creative querying. Come up with some subset of the events that would qualify someone as a well rounded cuber, say 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, Megaminx(?), BLD, OH and FMC, then find the 100 people with the lowest sum of their rankings in all of these events.

P.S. Is that data publicly accessible? Is it in a RDBMS? I think I could write that in a single SQL query, assuming the schema is well designed.


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## brunson (Jul 10, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Harris Chan > Yu Nakajima.
> Why?
> He may not have official times faster than Yu, but he very friendly and actually is on the internet, while Yu does not reply to comments often or post here often. But this is getting off topic. I still respect Yu though xD


That's a terrible criteria to base a personal opinion on. By that rationale, the pope is an a-hole because he won't take my phone calls, doesn't participate on this forum and never posts comments on my youTube vids.


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## Mike Hughey (Jul 10, 2008)

brunson said:


> Maybe someone with access to the raw data in the WCA database can do some creative querying. Come up with some subset of the events that would qualify someone as a well rounded cuber, say 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, Megaminx(?), BLD, OH and FMC, then find the 100 people with the lowest sum of their rankings in all of these events.
> 
> P.S. Is that data publicly accessible? Is it in a RDBMS? I think I could write that in a single SQL query, assuming the schema is well designed.



Stefan did this a while ago - it's old data, though:
http://stefan-pochmann.info/misc/wca_rating_20080102.png

Stefan says he's working on providing the raw data, but it may take him a while to get it done.


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## ExoCorsair (Jul 10, 2008)

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought of Macky, Chris, and Frank (not necessarily in that order).

Maybe that's just me though.


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## Lofty (Jul 10, 2008)

Rama and Gilles vdp influenced me a lot because they would post nice comments and encouragements back when I was very slow at OH (barely under a minute) and wanted to be as fast as them.
But yea, I think the Japanese cubers at least know a little english. I used to frequently email back and forth with Tomy and his english wasnt the best but i could understand what he was saying.
Other than that my friends at school (who probably dont even cube anymore) pushed me in my initial getting faster as we would try to beat eachother and after that anyone who was in the chat around April 2007 helped me find all the resources and help I needed to really become a speedcuber.


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## Inusagi (Jul 10, 2008)

For me, it was Thrawst. All his videos learned me soo much, and if I were hestitating and asked him, then he always answered. And also, I couldn't figure out how to learn Friedrich back then, but luckly, he had a tutorial on that too (I actually thought that I had to pay money before I could learn it).


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## Alex DiTuro (Jul 11, 2008)

Todd said:


> There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> 
> Who has influenced the *sport* the most etc?





*sport???* O.O You must be joking....


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## 4Chan (Jul 11, 2008)

For me, it was matyas, i thought he was amazing. 

His 5x5 skill was inspiring!


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## JBCM627 (Jul 11, 2008)

Alex DiTuro said:


> Todd said:
> 
> 
> > There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> ...



Yes, sport. It fits. Even after swimming competitively for 18 years on a national level, I consider cubing a sport.


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## pcharles93 (Jul 11, 2008)

Alex DiTuro said:


> Todd said:
> 
> 
> > There are more ways to measure 'the greatest' than simply ability and speed.
> ...



Let's take a look at this. 
Basketball: Invented by James Naismith with a ball and peach basket. Object is to put a ball through a metal ring. Ancient Native Americans had a similar sport involving a stone hoop perched high up on a stone wall. 
Football: Getting a ball that's not even round past a line or over a post. Brute force is used often.
Nascar: Pressing your foot down and turning left.
Drag Racing: Slamming your foot down once you see green.
Cubing: Using intuition, memory, dexterity, pattern recognition, and foresight to solve the most popular puzzle of all time.

Which seems more impressive?

BTW, soccer is the one sport whose players I do respect. It does require a lot of thought on behalf of the players instead of plays being decided by coaches. The field is also huge so the strikers, defenders, and mid-fielders have to work together.


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## Derrick Eide17 (Jul 11, 2008)

fanwuq said:


> First, I was amazed by Ryan Gossiaux with his 30 seconds solve and 5 minutes BLD at CTY. That got me into solving the cube.
> I got on speedcubing.com and saw the names of many fast cubers from WC2007. I always confuse Harris Chan and Dan Harris.
> Then, I got on the Internet and found speedsolving sites of Macky and Chris Hardwick. I realized the Chris was the original master of big cubes and OH. (But he is no longer considered very fast in these categories.) But now he is the best in big cubes BLD. He’s also very friendly.
> Later, I got on youtube and found crazy sub-10 people like Harris, Erik, Nakajima, and this mysterious TDcuber person.
> ...



Wow, I really appreciate that you see my as that good/overall as a cuber 
Thanks so much really it means a lot  

and like most people on here the best/most inspirational cubers have been mentioned already. but how about now we talk about who we think are the friendliest/nicest cubers ever?

my list would consist of people like

Ron, Erik, Dennis, Wuqiong, Mike, Milan, Dave, Matt, Mondo, Harris, Jean, and Arnaud.

over 85% of these people i have never even met in real ife and some i havent barely even TALKED to but still from internet communication and knowing what kind of person they are i KNOW they are great people still 

I know there are MANY MORE but i currently cant think of at that moment so sorry if i didnt include you.


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## immortalcube (Jul 11, 2008)

I believe the greatest/most influential/most famous of cubers was Erno Rubik himself. Don't forget, he made up his own solution to the puzzle before anyone else did, plus he took like a month off from life in general to figure out how to solve it. Now that's what I call dedication! (note the fact that he didn't even believe it was possible to solve it)



Erno Rubik said:


> I remember how proudly I demonstrated to her [Erno's Mom] when I found the solution of the problem, and how happy she was in the hope that from then on I would not work so hard on it.


LOL

PS (let me preface this by saying that I think racing cars is a stupid waste of fuel, which is probably responsible for the high gas prices now  )


pcharles93 said:


> Nascar: Pressing your foot down and turning left.
> Drag Racing: Slamming your foot down once you see green.



I read an article in Wired magazine about that the other day. (Mouse over the orange lables). Not so easy as you might think.



pcharles93 said:


> Cubing: Using intuition, memory, dexterity, pattern recognition, and foresight ...



You also use all of that racing cars too, only if you mess up, you and the people behind you are dead.

(For the record, being 6'4", I play basketball almost exclusively, so I'm prejudiced against all the sports you mentioned  )


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## Andreaillest (Jul 11, 2008)

Well for cubers who inspired me are:
Tyson Mao: Inspired me to cube. Saw him on Beauty and the Geek. Sparked my interest.
Yu Nakajima: He inspired me to keep on getting faster. His videos were some of the first speedcubing videos I watched.
Harris Chan: See Yu. Also, he seems like a pretty cool guy. 
Ryan Patricio: I was very impressed on his OH solves.
The Dzoans: Read all the above reasons.

Really, any speedcuber is inspiring. They encourage me to keep practicing.


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## Stefan (Jul 11, 2008)

Derrick Eide17 said:


> how about now we talk about who we think are the friendliest/nicest cubers ever?
> 
> my list would consist of people like
> 
> Ron, Erik, Dennis, Wuqiong, Mike, Milan, Dave, Matt, Mondo, Harris, Jean, and Arnaud.



What!? I'm not in that list? Now I'm freakin pissed.


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## ExoCorsair (Jul 11, 2008)

StefanPochmann said:


> Derrick Eide17 said:
> 
> 
> > how about now we talk about who we think are the friendliest/nicest cubers ever?
> ...



Yeah but it's Derrick so you can take it with a grain of salt.


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## ThePizzaGuy92 (Jul 11, 2008)

-Erik is general has to take the cake.
-Yu for 3x3x3 speedsolving
-and Chirs H. is my biggest influence.

EDIT: after the Czech Open 2008, Erik for 3x3x3 also. :] 7.08 + two sub-12 avgs?!


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## Derrick Eide17 (Jul 11, 2008)

ExoCorsair said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > Derrick Eide17 said:
> ...



Well first im sure stefan was joking and cares less if he would be in my list at all or not, even if i dont think he is one of the friendliest cubers of all, i still respect the hell out of him even if time to time he takes a jab at me or tells me to shut the fu** up. he is a great cuber and i still RESPECT him.

Now exo what did ur post accomplish at all besides insulting me?


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## ExoCorsair (Jul 11, 2008)

Clearly you cannot take a joke either!


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## Derrick Eide17 (Jul 11, 2008)

ExoCorsair said:


> Clearly you cannot take a joke either!




who said i didnt? i didnt flip out on you at all did i? i just the impression i got from your post as how can i not take that impression from what u said? 
hug?


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## HelloiamChow (Jul 13, 2008)

There was a time when Macky was lapping the field at every competition he went to. But still, not enough time has passed for us to really see a period of greatness.


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## Alex DiTuro (Jul 14, 2008)

pcharles93 said:


> Alex DiTuro said:
> 
> 
> > Todd said:
> ...





Ahem, Football, thank you very much. I think its absolutely ridculous that the us and canada call it soccer, considering everyone else evrywhere calls it football. Its THE most popular sport in the world and it should be respected.

NASCAR is in *no way* a sport. Just another reason for hics to drink beer and act like freakin retards. I don't consider gaming a sport, either. I usually consider an activity a sport if it requires phyical activity(basketball = yes chess=no). But hey, everyone's entitled to their opninion.


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## pcharles93 (Jul 14, 2008)

I only used the word soccer because I used football in the same post. I suppose I could've called it American football as told by my French instructor.


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## Hadley4000 (Jul 15, 2008)

I am a big hater os NASCAR. But, it actually is a sport. It takes serious serious endurance to to able to handle the track for that period of time, and at that speed. Drivers are known to lose almost 10 pounds of water through their sweat in 1 race.

Like I said. I am in no way a hick, and find NASCAR boring as hell. But I respect it. 

As far as cubing, I'd say it's a mind sport.


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## hawkmp4 (Jul 15, 2008)

Sure, its a mind sport...
But think of the dexterity and precision in turning that's needed to get even under a minute.


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## JBCM627 (Jul 15, 2008)

hawkmp4 said:


> Sure, its a mind sport...
> But think of the dexterity and precision in turning that's needed to get even under a minute.



Relative to an equivalent level in other sports, it isnt that significant. I'd say that sub-1:00 its like running a sub-7:00 mile... achievable in only a few weeks (if you can't do it already), and you don't need to be in very good shape. In swimming (for those who know times), I'd say its like a 2:00 100m swim... again, not at all fast, and easily achievable.

Comparatively, the people who train to run and swim train up to 5 or 6 hours daily for quite a few years. It is only after this that they get down to sub-4:00 miles, or sub-0:50 100m swims. I'd say that cubing is still nowhere near its potential, as nobody has trained (that I know of) to this extent yet, and if anyone has, it is certainly very few.

Even getting past the 20-second barrier is somewhat feeble compared to the dedication some runners/swimmers put in. It took me very little time to achieve my current competition average of 15.42 and national rank of 31, whereas in swimming, even after 18 years of it (yes, up to 6 hours a day!) I had trouble scraping above a top 30 national rank that was still limited to people in my age group.


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## Johannes91 (Jul 15, 2008)

Speedcubing = a Sport?
Is speedcubing a sport?



Alex DiTuro said:


> Ahem, Football, thank you very much.


You use your feet and the ball is actually a ball -- nah, doesn't make any sense to call it football.


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## ooveehoo (Jul 15, 2008)

Johannes91 said:


> Speedcubing = a Sport?
> Is speedcubing a sport?
> 
> 
> ...



In amercan football it's clearly not a ball, and you don't even use your feet that much. I think solving megaminx with feet is more football than american "football".



Alex DiTuro said:


> I don't consider gaming a sport, either. I usually consider an activity a sport if it requires phyical activity(basketball = yes chess=no). But hey, everyone's entitled to their opninion.



But I think the question was *where the line bethween physical and not physycal goes*. Using your hand/hands/feet/foot/chopsticks(yeah, I know it's hands, but they do that) for cubing = physical activity. Playing chess = physical activity (playing for 3 or more hours without pauses makes you exhausted, doesn't it?).

And back to topic. 

I think Lars Petrus, Jessica Fridrich, Toby Mao, Ron van Bruchem, Stefan Pochmann and Chun Hoo Ulf Wong  (got me to speedcubing). All have made this *sport* more popular.


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## fanwuq (Jul 15, 2008)

http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2584&highlight=thumb+pain

Sports injuries.

Cubing is more physically than mental. Recognize, move as fast as you can, repeat. At least, the Nakajima style of speedcubing.

Football: Recognize, run, kick ball, repeat. Not very different.


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## Dene (Jul 15, 2008)

ooveehoo said:


> In amercan football it's clearly not a ball, and you don't even use your feet that much. I think solving megaminx with feet is more football than american "football".



WHAT? How is it not a ball? Because it isn't perfectly spherical?


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## tim (Jul 15, 2008)

Dene said:


> ooveehoo said:
> 
> 
> > In amercan football it's clearly not a ball, and you don't even use your feet that much. I think solving megaminx with feet is more football than american "football".
> ...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball



wikipedia said:


> Balls are objects typically used in games. They are usually spherical but can be ovoid.


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## Dene (Jul 16, 2008)

tim said:


> Dene said:
> 
> 
> > ooveehoo said:
> ...



Good to see wikipedia backs up my view with a picture of an american football in there as well


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## Musselman (Jul 17, 2008)

i would say Erik
cause hes just so well rounded
raked pretty high in everything hes does.
and he still has alot of time ahead of him

same thing with Nakajima, hes getting faster in everything right now
hes doing pretty well with 4x4 5x5 and 2x2 
and again, hes pretty young and will prob doing this for a while
all he'll do is get better


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## hdskull (Jul 17, 2008)

Erik is obviously great, but Dan Cohen can't be left out of the top cubers list. In one year he improved a bunch and is tops in the world in everything he competes in.


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## *LukeMayn* (Jul 17, 2008)

I actually look up to the inventor of ZZ and part of ZB (Can't be bothered finding out how to spell his name,) Erik A. and Nakaji. I like "ZZ" because he is great at inventing new, fast methods, Erik beacuse of his big cube skills and Nakaji because of his LL TPS


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## genwin (Jul 17, 2008)

if Erik does big cubes blind.... we'll see... like musselman said he's got a lot of time ahead of him...


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## mrCage (Jul 17, 2008)

Hi 

I think the question itself is very unfair. There is much more to "cubing "than just speeding:

- fewest moves
- patterns/methods
- organisation
- teaching
- puzzle building
etc etc

Why should we solely consider speed. For non-cubers a speedy solve is impressive yes, but there's much much more to "cubing" than that

- Per


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## TobiasDaneels (Jul 17, 2008)

mrCage said:


> Why should we solely consider speed.



Because the title of the thread says: "Who is the greatest *speed*cuber of all time?".


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## *LukeMayn* (Jul 17, 2008)

TobiasDaneels said:


> mrCage said:
> 
> 
> > Why should we solely consider speed.
> ...



A speed cuber is someone who wants to et better times, no? Doesn't everyone want to get as good as Harris for example. like I could say Avg for FMC. he is still a speed cuber!


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## Musselman (Jul 17, 2008)

TobiasDaneels said:


> mrCage said:
> 
> 
> > Why should we solely consider speed.
> ...



lol omg i laughed so hard when i saw that lol


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## ROOT (Jul 17, 2008)

I would have to go with erik for overall, because he is maybe the most well rounded puzzler around. 

but alot of inspiration for me came from stefan pochmann, ryosuke mondo/chris hardwick/rowe hessler/mike hughey hessler for BLD, the dzoans of course, tyson mao, and for awhile......matyas kuti


im sure im forgetting alot that effected me, its too damn early for me here


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## Paiev (Jul 23, 2008)

fanwuq said:


> First, I was amazed by Ryan Gossiaux with his 30 seconds solve and 5 minutes BLD at CTY. That got me into solving the cube.



I feel so special now  I was probably faster then but oh well. As a note, I did not DNF this year in the talent show. Yay.

To the original question: I know Harris inspired me. Erik is beastly. Nakajima is really fast too. Finally, Matyas was pretty amazing, but...


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## hawkmp4 (Jul 23, 2008)

TobiasDaneels said:


> mrCage said:
> 
> 
> > Why should we solely consider speed.
> ...


Jessica Fridrich, Lars Petrus, Gilles Roux, etc.
They're speedcubers.
Not necessarily the fastest, but they ARE absolutely phenomenal speedcubers for reasons other than speed.
If the OP wanted the fastest speedcuber, they could have just gone here.


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## mrCage (Jul 29, 2008)

TobiasDaneels said:


> mrCage said:
> 
> 
> > Why should we solely consider speed.
> ...


 
Hi 

The title of the thread was changed after i posted my question. I would not have posted like that if the title was clear from the word go
Ultimately such thread is useless. But i'm sure people would like some motivation once in a while... IMHO people who spend time on making advanced fast solutions and or organise or teach deserve just as much or more accolade as people solely being fast on 3x3x3 cube. Just being fast does not bring cubing into new terrain or greater heights

- Per


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## Escher (Jul 29, 2008)

well, whoever did the best with what they had. for example I'd probably prefer to think that a sub 30/40 time in 80's is better than a sub 10 in '08... although i can definitely see why perhaps Harris, Erik or Yu would be considered better cubers.


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## AvGalen (Jul 29, 2008)

Escher said:


> well, whoever did the best with what they had. for example I'd probably prefer to think that a sub 30/40 time in 80's is better than a sub 10 in '08... although i can definitely see why perhaps Harris, Erik or Yu would be considered better cubers.


Your prefered way of thinking would be wrong. People like Guus and Jessica/Jiri already got sub-20 averages back then and little kids like me thought they were the fastest in the world by getting a sub-60 solve (with a really bad beginners method on a clumsy cube lubed with vaseline)


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## ooveehoo (Jul 29, 2008)

Dene said:


> tim said:
> 
> 
> > Dene said:
> ...



I was thinking more about mathemathical ball. Let's call it solving impossiball with feet then.


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## TMOY (Jul 29, 2008)

Escher said:


> well, whoever did the best with what they had. for example I'd probably prefer to think that a sub 30/40 time in 80's is better than a sub 10 in '08... although i can definitely see why perhaps Harris, Erik or Yu would be considered better cubers.


I don't remember precisely what my (lucky) PB in the 80's was but it was certainly sub-40. (My average was slightly over 1 minute). And I certainly wouldn't put it at a higher level of achievement than today's sub 10's.


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 29, 2008)

I would definitely have to say badmephisto and Jessica Fridrich
Mainly badmephisto...
I learned beginner method, f2l, pll, and 2-step oll all from his youtube channel
Thanks, Badmephisto...whatever your name means...lol


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## brunson (Jul 30, 2008)

TMOY said:


> Escher said:
> 
> 
> > well, whoever did the best with what they had. for example I'd probably prefer to think that a sub 30/40 time in 80's is better than a sub 10 in '08... although i can definitely see why perhaps Harris, Erik or Yu would be considered better cubers.
> ...


Nice to have another old geezer on the forum.


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## Escher (Jul 30, 2008)

hah ok ive been kind of shot down there. Im a complete newbie (3 months) so maybe a better answer would be that im just not sure who the greatest speedcuber of all time is, and i think its more of a subjective thing anyway


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