Over the years, every sport has been witness to athletes who have completely dominated their respective discipline and left a lasting imprint to be regarded as legends.
But time and again the limelight, popularity and the sheer thrill to perform has lured these legends to return to the arena once more to revisit their glory days. There have also been instances wherein they have struggled to decide when to quit and retired and unretired numerous times during their careers.
With this in view, here is a look at 5 athletes who returned more than once to their respective sports:
#5 Shahid Afridi (Cricket)
The successful Pakistani cricketer has had a lengthy international career, with his debut stretching back to 1996, when he played his first ODI against Kenya in the Sameer Cup. He has endured since, but seen an inconsistent career marked by numerous records, milestones and controversies.
During his long stint in cricket, there have been several instances when he has come out of retirement even after formally announcing it.
The earliest such incident happened in 2006, when he retired from tests to focus on his ODI form.
But only two weeks into the announcement, he retracted from his decision on the insistence of his coach Bob Woolmer. Then, later on in 2010, when given the responsibility of leading his side against Australia, he again retired from the format after playing just one match in the series - citing temperamental reasons.
In the ODI format too, he made a controversial decision to retire in 2011, when he was sacked as captain of the national team after losing the world cup. But merely 4 months later he made comeback to the side, and it was finally after the 2015 World Cup that he bid adieu to ODI.
Now active only in T20 Internationals, Afridi has already announced last year that he will retire after this years’ World Cup, but his recent interviews tell a different story. Currently media is abuzz with reports that he is considering continuing playing as he is under pressure to do it from his relatives and close friends.
How fortunes will turn out for him will probably be made clear in the coming few weeks.
Over the years, Afridi has proved to be inconsistent in his career, with his form suffering numerous ups and downs and his several retirements only further go on to justify his inconsistency.
#4 Nigel Mansell (Formula 1)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Mansell formed part of the ‘Fab Four’- a set of drivers including himself, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet, who were the dominant force during this era.
Known for his aggressive and all or nothing approach to racing, British driver Mansell enjoyed a successful career, with a world championship victory in 1992.
But during this time, he made retirement announcements thrice in his career. The first of these came about in 1990, when, largely due to deteriorating relationship with Prost and a general declining interest in racing, Mansell decided to call it quits at the end of the season. But within a few months, owner Frank Williams convinced him to stay and signed him up with his team for the 1991 season.
With Williams, he prevailed over his rivals, resulting in a world championship in the year 1992, before retiring once again at the end of the year. It turned out that over time several disagreements had arisen between Mansell and Williams and in addition to that, the prospect of Prost joining the team in 1993 also fast tracked his decision to retire.
He then spent 1993-94 in the American CART IndyCar World Series, before being called again by Williams to drive for the team towards the end of the season.
A victory at the last round in Australia, again prompted Mansell to return full time to Formula 1 next year. Negotiations began with McLaren and finally he signed on with them for 1995. But unfortunately the car proved to be uncompetitive and Mansell’s increasing differences with the team and its owner Ron Dennis, finally convinced him to draw curtains on his F1 career after just two races with the team.
Had he not 'unretired' in 1994, Mansell would have had a great climax to his career in 1992 as a world champion. His time at McLaren only created a blot on his career, but nevertheless, the world champion achieved several laurels in his stint in Formula One.
#3 Brett Favre (American Football)
If we were to include his both formal and informal retirements, then perhaps he holds the undisputed world record for being the athlete with most comebacks and retirements.
The American football quarterback enjoyed a 20-year career beginning in 1991, in which he made several record to his name including becoming the first quarterback in history to cross 500 touchdowns, to throw beyond the distance of 70,000 yards, to make over 10,000 pass attempts and to accomplish 6,000 completions.
But he is rather more fondly remembered for his indecisiveness towards retirement. This in fact became so recognized in popular culture that he parodied this habit himself in a TV advertisement for Hyundai.
In early 2000s rumour mills persisted about a potential retirement announcement by Favre, but it never happened. He even humorously quipped at these reports, thus adding further fuel to the fire regarding his retirement decision.
But it was in 2006 that Favre himself started seriously accepting that he might retire after responding in an interview that "We'll see. We'll see. I don't want to say anything right now."
Then, finally it was on 4th March 2008 that he made his first official retirement alluding to a lack of willingness to continue. But it took only a few months for him to make a comeback with New York Jets.
The following year, he again expressed his intentions to retire, but signed with the Minnesota Vikings instead. His retirement threats continued to persist in 2010 too, but finally it was in 2011 that he made the official announcement and has remained in retirement ever since.
Although Favre remained highly indecisive about his career, it did not affect his performances as he went on to achieve several records and has gone down in history among the legends of American football.
#2 Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing)
Probably one of the greatest pugilists to have ever entered the ring, Leonard made several comebacks despite being riddled with health issues.
In the early 1980s, Leonard was at the peak of his powers, already having won the NABF Welterweight title, The Ring Welterweight titles and two WBCs. But in 1982, Leonard shocked the boxing world when he announced his retirement due to suffering a detached retina, although by the time this announcement was made, the injury had already healed.
After this, in just under two years, Leonard returned to the ring in 1984 for a match against Philadelphia’s Kevin Howard. The fight turned out to be one of the toughest in his career, with Leonard even suffering a knockdown, a first ever such instance. But finally it was the American who emerged triumphant.
But after this thrilling victory, Leonard again announced his retirement saying that he “just didn’t have it anymore”.
All was not over yet, however, as he again came out of retirement and announced a fight against 12-time undisputed middleweight champion Marvin Hagler. The announcement created fans and critics alike as Leonard’s eye surgery and his inactivity for the past few years had raised question mark over his ability, but fans were excited to see him again.
The fight produced a close battle between the two, with the result made through a split decision in which Leonard finally emerged victorious. After this match, in May 1987 he retired from boxing once again.
Then in November 1988, he made another comeback, this time against Donny Lalonde for the WBC Light Heavyweight title and WBC Super Middleweight title, here Leonard again emerged victorious. After this, he went on to contest in a few more fights, but after the loss against Terry Norris in 1991 he took the decision to retire.
His final comeback came about in 1997, when he returned to the ring to fight against Hector Camacho for the IBC Middleweight title. In what turned out to be a one sided fight, Camacho completely dominated the American, knocking him out in the 5th round. After the fight Leonard informally spoke about a possible retirement, but later on when plans for prospective fights fell through, he finally called it quits in 1998.
Leonard can be regarded as one of the greatest embodiments of grit and determination, as even after suffering serious injuries, he kept coming back even stronger. Putting aside the unnecessary comeback later in his career, Leonard holds a stellar record.
#1 Michael Jordan (Basketball)
Universally considered the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan ‘unretired’ twice in his career.
Associated with the Chicago Bulls for most of his professional career, Jordan won three successive NBA championships with the team during 1991-93 seasons. But a loss of interest and the tragic murder of his father resulted in the basketballer taking early retirement by the end of 1993.
In order to fulfill the wishes of his father, who had always wanted him to be a professional baseball player, Jordan signed up with the Chicago White Sox for the 1994 season. But after an uneventful stint in the sport, he decided to return to basketball and joined Chicago Bulls again in early 1995.
The Bulls had by this point of time become a struggling squad, but its fortunes were greatly helped by the return of Jordan. With his help, the team became a dominant force once again and went on to achieve another treble of championships during the 1996-98 seasons.
At the end of 1998, he announced his retirement, but made a final comeback with Washington Wizards in 2001 and after this it was finally at the end of 2003 season that he drew the curtains on what had been a truly glorious career.
Jordan made perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of any sport when he returned and helped Bulls win a further three championships. His record would have been even more stellar had he not made the comeback with the Wizards later in his career. But that will not have much impact upon his legendary legacy.
