By Les Tan/Red Sports
My sharp-eyed crew mate pointed out that based on a June 8th press release by the International Olympic Commission (IOC), a role model footballer had not yet been confirmed for the Youth Olympic Games.
While all the other international federations have chosen theirs, perhaps the gods of FIFA were waiting for the World Cup to end before deciding. That was a wise decision, wasn’t it?
After all, can you imagine the kind of questions that would be asked if the following footballers ended up in Singapore as “role models”?
Luis “The Real Hand of God” Suarez
Arjen “Diver” Robben
Fabiano “two hands before I score”
Nigel “Kung Fu” De Jong
Mark “Bang” Bommel
List of Athlete Role Models for YOG
Archery — Wietse van Alten (NED)
Athletics — Wilson Kipketer (DEN)
Badminton — Poul Erik HoyerLarsen (DEN)
Badminton — Xu Huaiwen (GER)
Basketball — Andrew Gaze (AUS)
Basketball — Oscar Schmidt (BRA)
Basketball — Alexandar Djordjevic (SER)
Basketball — Michele Timms (AUS)
Boxing — Domenico Valentino (ITA)
Canoeing — Tony Estanguet (FRA)
Cycling — Frédéric Magné (FRA)
Equestrian — Lisen Bratt (SWE)
Fencing — Valentina Vezzali (ITA)
Football — TBC
Gymnastics — Jani Tanskanen (FIN)
Judo — Ruben Houkes (NED)
Handball — Jackson Richardson (FRA)
Hockey — Andrew Smith (AUS)
Modern Pentathlon — Georgina Harland (GBR)
Rowing — Lenka Wech (GER)
Sailing — Michael Gebhardt (USA)
Shooting — Matthew Emmons (USA)
Diving — Guo Jingjing (CHN)
Table Tennis — Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)
Taekwondo — Daniel Trenton (AUS)
Tennis — Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
Triathlon — Hamish Carter (NZL)
Weightlifting — Pawina Thongsuk (THA)
Wrestling — Daniel Robin (FRA)
IOC Athletes’ Commission — Robert Balk USA, Claudia Bokel (GER), Sergey Bubka (UKR), Charmaine Crooks (CAN), Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR), Rania Elwani (EGY), Frank Fredericks (NAM), Barbara Kendall (NZL), Yumilka Ruiz Luaces (CUB), Dae Sung Moon (KOR), Adam Pengilly (GBR), Alexander Popov (RUS), Angela Ruggiero (USA), Rebecca Scott (CAN), Peter Tallberg (FIN), Pedro Yang (GUA), Yang Yang (CHN)
I think your the funny one, LOL. Firstly, Indra may not be famous on the international stage, but he was once the national team captain for Singapore. He’s also a noticeable figure for Singaporean footballers, as he once scored against Man Utd, when representing Singapore national team. Also, basketball reps, not necessarily need NBA stars. If they are pro basketballers, then to a certain extent, they more than qualified to be the role models. So what they are unknown? The spirit of the olympics is about goodwill and doing the best. Maybe I myself not that familiar with the spirit of olympics, but definitely, the message to convey is to be good sportsmen, and do your nation proud. Therefore, superstars are not a must have.
CMON MAN,FAMOUS FOOTBALL PLAYER?LMAO.MIGHT AS WELL CALL INDRA SAHDAN.APPAENTLY ALL THE ROLE MODELS ARE RELATIVE UNKNOWNS.INDRA SAHDAN WILL BE CONSIDERED A CELEBRITY!WHO ON EARTH IS THE BBALL REPRESENTATIVE.CMON MAN AT LEAST SUN YUE PLEASE?I DONT EXPECT KOBE,JORDAN,MAGIC OR LARRY.BUT AT LEAST SOMEONE WHO PLAYS IN THE NBA?WHO IS AI SUGIYAMA?!HOW CAN SOMEONE WHO DONT PARTICIPATE IN ANY wta TOURS BE A ROLEMODEL?HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.FUNNY YOG.
And also, what do you mean by who is Ai Sugiyama, and how can someone who don’t participate in any WTA tours be a role model?! For your info my friend, in the doubles category, she reached WTA grandslam finals for 10 times! Sure she only won 3 out of that 10 finals, but she also won once in the mixed doubles category. In total, she won 4 doubles grandslam titles in her life. In Japan, she’s like one of the few best players ever. Yeah, she may not be as prolific in the singles category, but she too won a few singles WTA titles, some by winning some of the bests, like Kim Clijsters and Nadia Petrova. SO, get your facts right before you comment so negatively about things you are not familiar with.
Hariss Harun. Thomas Mueller.
Young players who are very very good.
Diego Forlan or any of the Spanish squad who just won the World Cup.