SteemAlive Presents: ProWritersHub - Top 3 Athelets I admire so much by @ojerindejoel.
INTRODUCTION: Before I proceed, I would like to mention that even though I see different sports, I prefer just one dearly. The sport that I love so much is football and it is from this sport that I will be talking about 66.66667% of my top three athletes while the remaining 33.3333% comes from swimming sport.
Again, the fact that I prefer football more than other sports doesn’t mean I don’t see other sports. I see some sports like swimming, tennis, racing, etc. However, football has my heart and I don’t see any other sports winning it.
Links to images sources respectively: Image 1, Image 2
Just as you can see in the heading, the first athlete I am going to talk about is Lionel Andres Messi. There is a reason I am into football and football is into me and the reason is Messi. How or why is he the reason?.
Let me quickly narrate how it happened or started.
Back then in 2009, my brother took me along to a viewing center to see the champions league final between FC Barcelona and Manchester united. I wasn’t a fan of any team then as I was still a child. I was in primary school then and I only followed him to go and disturb him by supporting the opposition team.
He got back home a little bit late that day and he wasn’t able to eat before we went to see the game. While going, he kept on discussing how Cristiano Ronaldo will tear FC Barcelona apart. Well, as at that time I don’t know any player in FC Barcelona, I would have replied to him.
Now to the actual moment, the game started and I keep seeing one short guy sorry to say disturbing Manchester United players and my brother’s peace😆. He kept muttering and I kept on asking him who the guy was but the way the match was going was annoying him badly and he couldn’t answer me directly.
In short, I later knew who the guy is, I fell in love with his style of play, I fell in love with FC Barcelona that day for their playing style and I am still their fan up to today.
And finally, to round the story up, I was the one that ate his food that night😁. He went to bed immediately after we got home and this is because FC Barcelona won the game.
Well, I should also say that after the game, I went on to see more clips of Messi and FC Barcelona, and maybe it is because of this that I am also good at playing football.
So, let me go ahead and talk about the man himself.
Lionel Messi was born on the 24th of June, 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe and he is the third child out of the four children of his father who goes by the name Jorge Messi and his mother, Celia Cuccittini.
Lionel Messi’s mother worked in a magnet manufacturing workshop and his father, a steel factory manager. His family loves sport very well and Messi was exposed to playing at an early age.
His grandmother does accompany him to training and matches and at the age of 4, he joined Grandoli which is a local club in his city where he was coached by his father.
Many people don’t know the reason behind Messi's celebration after scoring, his celebration serves as a tribute to his dead grandmother that helped him start his football career. Whenever he scored, He looked up and point to the sky.
At the age of 6, He joined the Rosario club (Newell’s Old Boys) where he played for 6 years and scored over 400 goals. At his early stage, he was known to be a magician on the field as he performs so many ball tricks which I had also seen and I couldn’t believe it too.
His coach Adrian Coria said and I quote, by looking at him, you will think he cannot play as he is small and fragile but immediately, you would realize that he was born different and that he will be very good.
When he was 10 years old, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency which his father can treat for two years. Many teams that scouted him were not ready to pay for his treatment and so his family arrange a trial with FC Barcelona in 2000.
He was offered a contract on a paper napkin😆 in 2001 due to hurriedness and in 2002, he was enrolled in the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and joined Barcelona’s greatest-ever youth team as they won three cups. At the age of 14, he completed his growth hormone treatment.
In his first season in the youth team, he was the top scorer and despite receiving his first offer from Arsenal, he chose to remain in Barcelona
At the age of 16, he made his first-team debut in a friendly match and his first league debut was against Espanyol. At the age of 18, he became a first-team player.
There is so much to write about Lionel Messi but I will just stop it here.
Now let us get over to his achievements
Where would I even start from? Lionel Messi has achieved so much and I am just going to mention some of it.
He has won 7 Ballon d’Or which came in the years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2021. Ballon d’Or is an award given to the best player in a season. He is the first and only person to win up to 7 of them.
He has won UEFA best player in Europe three times.
He won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball.
He has won the Golden boot 5 times: Golden Boot is an award given to the top scorer in a season
He has the most goal and assists, most hat-tricks (scoring three goals in a match) in La Liga, and most goals in a season in all European competitions.
He has won 36 trophies in his career, he needs one more to catch up with Dani Alves who has the most trophy.
📌 Before I moved on to the next player, let me briefly talk about his personal life now.
Messi is married to Antonela Roccuzzo who is also born in Rosario and they have known each other since he was 5 years old. They have three sons: Thiago who was born in 2012, Mateo who was born in 2015, and their last born, Ciro who was born in 2018.
You can see some of his plays by clicking on the Youtube links below.
Links to images sources respectively: Image 1, Image 2
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The second player I admire so much is Andres Iniesta Lujan. I admire him so much that after Messi clips, it is his clips that fill up my laptop. I couldn’t bring myself to accept that he will grow old one day and leave Barcelona. The day he announced this, I couldn’t sleep nor eat that day, that is to the extent I want to see him play for Barcelona more.
Maybe I didn’t mention it earlier, his style of play just like that of Messi is what makes me really admire these two players so much and I am sure that football fans out here too can relate to what I am saying better.
Andres Iniesta’s balance, ball control, and agility in very tight places are unmatched, and his skill and composure on the ball are highly commendable. Iniesta is a very versatile footballer and who I can call a complete footballer.
This is what I admire the most in these two players. They are a constant threat to the opposition team, They make passes out of nowhere, and their movent and ability to create space are unmatched. They read the game better than anyone. Their vision is mesmerizing.
Andres Iniesta was born in Fuenteabilla which is a small village in the province of Albacete, Castile-La Mancha. He was born on May 11, 1984. He didn’t get to play football much in his village as there are few football fields available.
He began playing for the junior Alsbacete football at the age of 8 and while playing in a junior seven-a-side tournament in his village when he was 12 years old, he caught the attention of many scouts from around Spain.
Iniesta was sent to the Barcelona youth team when the youth team coach who know his parents persuaded his parent to do so. They live to enjoy the decision they make.
While still in the under-15 team, he captioned the youth team to victory in 1999, I can say he has this leadership ability in him right from start. Just like how he used to educate people on football, all he does is receive the ball, pass it and then offer.
Andres Iniesta joined the first team in 2002 when he made his debut in Barcelona's win against Club Brugge in the UEFA champions league. He became a regular starter when Xavi was injured and he continues to impress all.
There is also so much more to write about Iniesta and believe me when I say there is much more, there really is much more. I am stopping here just to not bore you. However, before I go to the next section, I should also talk a little about his relationship briefly.
Iniesta got married to Anna Ortiz on July 8th, 2012, and as of the time of writing this post, they are blessed with two daughters and two sons: Valeria who was born in April 2011, Siena who was born in 2017, Paolo Andrea who was born in 2015 and Romeo who was born in 2019.
Just like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta is also a Catholic
Andres Iniesta's achievements are also so many that I will just mention some of them.
He won IFFHS World's Best Playmaker in 2012 and 2013
He won La Liga Best Spanish Player in 2009
He won La Liga Best Midfielder in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014
He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit in 2011
He won UEFA’s Best Player in Europe in 2011/2012.
His goal against Netherland made him win the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Spain.
You can see some of his plays by clicking on the Youtube links below.
Links to images sources respectively: Image 1, Image 2
Another sport I see pretty well is swimming and that one guy that does not cease to amaze me is Michael Phelps who is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time having won a total of 28 medals with 23 out of it being gold. Though he has retired, I still see clips of what he had done.
Michael was born on June 30, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland, and was raised in Rodgers Forge where he attended Rodgers Forge Elementary named Dumbarton Middle School and Towson High School.
He is the youngest out of the three children of his parents. His mother's name is Deborah Sue who is a middle school principal and his father’s name is Michael Fred Phelps who is a retired Maryland State Trooper.
Michael's parents divorced in the year 1994 when he was still 9 years old and this event had a negative impact on him as claimed by him. He began swimming at the age of seven just because his mother wanted him to learn how to swim.
During his sixth grade, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which is a brain disorder that affects how one pays attention, sits still, and controls his or her behavior.
At age 10, he held a national record in the 100-meter butterfly among people of his age. He later joined the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under coach Bob Bowman and he continued to break more records.
At the age of 15, Phelps became the youngest male to make a U.S Olympic swim team, though he didn’t win a medal, he made the finals where he came out fifth. At this same age, he became the youngest male t set a world record in swimming, the record he later go-ahead to break again in the world championship in Japan.
Phelps got married to Nicole Johnson on June 13, 2016, and they are blessed with three sons: Boomer Robert Phelps who was born on May 5, 2016, Beckett Richard Phelps who was born on February 12, 2018, and Maverick Nicolas Phelps who was born on September 9, 2019.
Michael Phelps has won so many medals and has accomplished a lot. He is the athlete that held the highest number of Guinness World Records from which I am going to mention some.
He has the most world records set for swimming (male)
He has the most individual swimming Olympic gold medals
He has the most medals won at the FINA Swimming World Championships
He has the most Olympic gold medals in team swimming
He has the most medals won at the Olympics for swimming (male)
He has the most Men's World Swimmer of the Year Awards
He has the most Olympic golds at one Game (male)
He has the most gold medals won at the Olympics for an individual event (male)
He has the most FINA world records held by a single person.
He has the most Olympic medals won, Men
He has the most consecutive Olympic swimming gold medals in the same event (male)
He has the most gold medals won at the Olympics (male)
He has the most individual Olympic medals (male)
You can see some of his swimming by clicking on the Youtube links below.
And that is it for this post. Thanks for reading🤗
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Peace & Love!
Thank you!
Nice and interesting post.
Messi is really among the world.best player of all time but I prefer Ronaldo then Messi.
Tha k you for such great post,keep steeming.
I appreciate your effort and time for reading the post.
And yeah, wee all have our reason for choosing something or someone over another. It is a free world.
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Thank you too.
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Thanks🤗
Leonel messi is also my best athlete. I like the hebdo his things and that's quite different from others
Exactly
For you to undergone this, it simply means you have taken time to go a good research. Indeed you have done a good research.
Thank you.
Messi is the best player of all time not only from
this generation but the generation which are still to come and he is the first player in the history to win won 7 Ballon d and think it will very difficult for any player to break his record and thank for sharing with us.
You are welcome m, thanks for reading