All Blacks: Multitaskers who eclipse Sonny Bill

Brian McKechnie figured in two of the most controversial sporting moments in Kiwi history.

Cross-code moves are all the rage in football. The great English league forward Sam Burgess is the latest to switch careers with a belated bid to make rugby's World Cup next year. The gifted Aussie league back Jarryd Hayne is chasing an NFL contract and Sonny Bill Williams is back in the All Blacks. A smattering of sports stars have broken all sorts of amazing barriers through the ages.

Madonna Harris (New Zealand)
Sonny Bill has some catching up to do here. In 1988, Harris competed at the Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing and Summer Olympics in road cycling. Harris won a 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medal in track cycling, and she represented New Zealand in athletics and basketball in the 1970s. Better get the skis out Sonny.

Deion Sanders (USA)
Okay, his light shone in "only" two pro sports, but how. Neon Deion was a brilliant professional footballer and outstanding baseballer, who won Super Bowls with two clubs and played in a world series, the only man to have done so. In 1989 he hit a major league home run and scored a touchdown in the same week.

C. B. Fry (England)
A truly remarkable Englishman who emerged in the late 1800s. Captained England at cricket, played international football, trialled for England at rugby, and equalled the world long jump record ... among many other things that included an FA Cup final appearance for Southampton and 94 first-class centuries. He even wrote poetry in Latin and Greek. Fry also suffered bouts of mental illness.

George Smith (New Zealand)
The Auckland-born sporting genius played rugby and league for New Zealand in the early 1900s, was a champion jockey who won a New Zealand Cup and starred on the athletics track winning sprint and hurdles titles in New Zealand and Britain (he held an unofficial world hurdling record). Played English club league into his 40s and is revered for his role with the pioneering All Golds.

Babe Didrikson (USA)
A sitter for greatest female athlete ever. Didrikson won 11 majors in a glittering golf career, which included making the cut in men's tournaments. She was a top basketballer and won two golds and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Olympics. Her so-called "manliness" helped break down female athletic stereotypes of the time. Cancer claimed Didrikson at the age of 45, in 1956.

Reginald Baker (Australia)
The Sydneysider won a boxing silver medal at the 1908 Olympics, where he also competed in swimming and diving. But wait, there's more. He played rugby tests for Australia and excelled at more than 20 sports including cricket, polo, fencing ... we'll leave it there. Oh yes, he then became a much-loved silent movie actor, moving to California in the 1920s.

Jim Thorpe (USA)
Regarded by many as the greatest male athlete ever. Won decathlon and pentathlon gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, competing in shoes he found in a rubbish bin after his were stolen. He was a Hall of Fame footballer, and played professional baseball into the bargain. His later life was something of a tragedy because of alcoholism.

Brian McKechnie (New Zealand)
The Southlander was hardly world class, but he was a fine sportsman and dual rugby/cricket international who figured - unwittingly - in two of the most controversial sporting moments in Kiwi history. McKechnie kicked the winning goal at Cardiff Arms Park in 1978, after the infamous lineout dive by All Black locks Andy Haden and Frank Oliver. And he was the frustrated batsman on the receiving end of Trevor Chappell's underarm delivery in the one-day finals match at the MCG in 1981. Freaky.

Dick Thornett (Australia)
Plenty of footballers have played international rugby union and league, yawn. But how many have also played water polo at the Olympics, as Thornett did in 1960? Sport is actually full of such curios. Jim Brown, the legendary American footballer, was a multi-sport star often described as the finest lacrosse player ever.

Dave Winfield (USA)
The star baseball slugger of the 70s, 80s and 90s was also drafted by professional basketball and football teams. It's nice to have choices in life.