Throughout history, athletes have always been seen as role models.
The development of external factors such as media has pushed even more the pressure of the role and image of athletes.
Nowadays, sports has turned athletes into multimillionares, portraining their lifestyles as the best possible success one could have.
Already in ancient Rome, it all started with gladiators. They were making the show and having the crowd cheer.
The gladiator was seen as a hero and the fact of surviving and killing was making him more notorious in the field and therefore interests bursts.
From the ancient times we can identify that gladiators were already seen as a role model due to the courage and skills they were showing towards the younger generations …show more content…
Hooligans, thugs and druggies are familiar words used to describe today’s professional athletes.
There has been as survey conducted of 300 college students in an American University,indiana university and found that approximately 66% felt it is the social and moral responsibility of the athletes to serve as role models to young generations while approximately 30% believe that sport is merely a microcosm of society and consequently mirrors American culture.
The students eventually made an interesting example stating why NBA star Michael Jordan should have been chastised for gambling when the majority of Americans gamble on golf and casinos because to him that was the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars.
Because Jordan was the most famous athlete in professional sports, anything he did was fair game or gossip fodder for public consumption. The students felt that it should be an athletes decision to serve as a role model or not.
They also believe that athletes should conduct themselves as responsible professionals because they not only represent themselves when they are in public, but the team/school they play for and the league they play in.(Survey-Indiana