Peter Kay Was The True 'Athlete' We All Grew Up Admiring

We have all dreamed of being a professional athlete but for many of us that will never be the case, whether that's playing in the Premier League or the World Cup, performing at the Olympics or reaching the very highest peak of human physical endeavour it's never likely to happen. Peter Kay gave us all hope we could.

Which football fan hasn't dreamed of leading their team out at Wembley. It could be an FA Cup final or a World Cup final but you're almost definitely wearing the armband out of the tunnel and certainly you scored the winner, that's the day dream we've all slipped into.

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If you're anything like me the major problem to achieving this goal was skill and attitude. Okay the two major issues were skill, attitude and mental strength. Fine, the three major issues were skill, attitude, mental strength and fitness. Right, the four major issues were skill, attitude, mental strength, fitness and opportunities- you get the idea.

Every now and again though a true hero comes along and proves that you don't have to be the fittest person on the planet to become a top athlete that we can all look up to and try to emulate.

Step forward Olympic diver and world class footballer Peter Kay!

Obviously Kay never reached the level of the Olympics with his diving, it was of course just a world final, but in 2003 it was reported that FINA were considering allowing the bombing technique in their diving events.

European Masters champion, who actually appeared in Kay's advert for John Smith's, told the BBC at the time, via Campaign, "I'm all for encouraging new people to take up the sport, but I want to compete against a decent standard. Perhaps they should have an A and B class.

"Diving enthusiasts have conceded that the ad has done much to promote the sport in Britain and we in turn are grateful for the blaze of publicity it has generated for John Smith's."

If Kay was that influential on diving then it's a good job Pep Guardiola never saw his football adverts otherwise Manchester City's style might be a lot different now.

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Topics: Football News, olympics, Football, Premier League, World Cup

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

@Sidler28