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It's important to understand why sports people were role models in the first place.
Typically, twenty years ago, on a Saturday afternoon, most of us spent time engaged in some sport or another. Some of us played football, others cricket, soccer, golf. I was involved with archery.
You'd look forward to the time on Saturday where you'd shoot with other people, having spent the remainder of the week training alone. Often, when you went to the tournaments, you'd see someone shooting that inspired you in some way. For me it was Simon Fairweather. He was a South Australian archer who won an Olympic gold medal and a world championship; young, the epitome of cool in my eyes- this was the best I could see in my sport, and when I saw him the flesh I knew if I worked as hard as he had, I could be just as good- he was as human as me, softly spoken, polite, shy.
Over the years I drifted away from archery, as did Simon, he went on to become a Jeweler in Newcastle. His influence had slipped away from me completely; his image had no involvement in my life. And that is why sports people are accessible as role models- they participate in something you do, and then inspire you with their consistent performance and strength, in terms you can relate to. When we see that, when we think that one day we can reach out and touch those stars and breathe the same thin-with-altitude air as they do, then we have a connection with them.
In rural Australia it's not uncommon to see a sign on the fence of the football oval, "Players wanted" it will say, while the players who are missing are curled up at home, away from the cold wind and playing AFL Live 2007 on their X boxes.
There is no connection with athletes if you're not involved with the sport. More and more, investigative journalists are turning out sport stars as all too human; their foibles are on display for all to see. More and more children aren't involved with the sports these superstars represent, and as a result, more and more the role models of yesterday become marketing celebrities.

Learn more about this author, BT Cassidy.
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