Everybody looks for a role-model, for a positive example in their life. Some of the biggest celebrities that people look up to can be found in the world of sports. Some of the greatest sport legends have a way of making us push our limits, thru the example that they pose. The sacrifice, or the perseverance shown to get to where they wanted to get, to win every event they participate in, to push their own limits, will forever remain embedded in our memories, either thru images that move us, or thru stories passed down from generation to generation. So who are the greatest sport legends of all time?

1.        Pelé. He is considered by many specialists as one of the greatest soccer players of all time. Pelé was a Brazilian striker, with excellent technique, but the things he was most recognized for was his speed, strength and  the way he hit the ball with his head, without blinking. He managed to lead Brazil to three World Cup wins, with great performances and a lot of goals scored in the process. He won his first World Cup at the age of only 17 in 1958. At the World Cup in Mexico 1962, Pelé managed to score a beautiful goal in the opening game but injured himself in the game against Czechoslovakia. This didn’t stop the Brazilians to win their second World Cup in a row. His third World Cup victory came in 1968, after a win in the final against Italy 4-1, Pelé, finding himself on the score sheet. An Italian defender was famously quoted for saying after this game “I told myself: he’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else, – but I was wrong. His club career was linked to the Brazilian team of Santos, where he played for 17 years. Coming out of semi-retirement, Pelé joined the newly formed New York Cosmos, where he played for three years from 1975, in order to raise awareness of the sport in the USA. Pelé is one of the greatest sport legends of all time.

2.        Nadia Comaneci: She is considered to be the greatest gymnast that ever lived. She comes from a country with a great tradition in this sport, Romania. She is the first gymnast to score a perfect ten, at the Montreal Summer Olympic games in 1976, at the uneven bars, in the team event. The fact that she scored a perfect ten was a big surprise, and it caught the organizers of guard, because the scoreboard could only show three digits, so instead of showing 10.00, Nadia got a 1.00. Still, this was one of the greatest sporting moments of all time. In the Montreal Olympics she came out winning three gold medals. She won the all-around, beam, and uneven bars, earning another six 10’s along the way. She is the youngest gymnast in history to win the all-around title, at the age of 14, and she will probably remain the holder of this record for a long time, because the age limit for gymnast has risen to 16. She also won a bronze medal in 1976 Olympic Games, and narrowly mists another gold medal in the team’s competition, Romania finishing second. Four years later, at the Moscow Olympic Games she managed to hold her title at the beam, also winning the floor competition, but she came in second all-around, and again a silver medal with the Romanian team. She is without a doubt one of the greatest sport legends of all time. Her perseverance and her self-sacrifice remain a symbol in the hearts and minds of not only Romanians, but of sport lovers everywhere. One of the most compelling stories that show just what kind of person she was comes from the 1979 World Championships, where, after doing the compulsory routines, she was rushed to hospital where she found that she had blood poisoning from a metal grip buckle that cut into her wrist. She ignored the doctor’s warnings and returned to compete in the team event, where she helped the Romanian team win their first world title with a great performance on the beam. She returned to hospital where, where she suffered a minor operation to the infected wrist, which had now formed an abscess.

These stories about the greatest sport legends of all time are inspirational. Every little girl wants to be like Nadia and every little boy dreams of being Pelé. This is not only because of their athletic performance, but also because of the way they took up this role of being an example. Both have been a great example, in private and in public life, participating at many charity events and donating a lot of money for humanitarian causes.

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