The camera loves an icon. As Jasprit Bumrah strangled South Africa’s victory surge in the T20 World Cup final, the broadcaster cut repeatedly to Virat Kohli’s reaction to each key event, even if the cricketer himself was far from the ball. Cristiano Ronaldo attracted selfie-seeking pitch invaders during Portugal’s opening Euros match – and was happy to oblige the first one.
He may have been less enamoured of the tight focus on his tears after that penalty miss on Monday. “Greatest ever” lists of sportspeople abound online. Futile attempts to compare athletes across sports and generations.
At any one time there are numerous greats, more superstars and countless sporting celebrities. Icons, however, are those rarest of beasts, capable of galvanising audiences across the boundaries of sport, nation and time. While, yes, we may wonder at what they have for breakfast and who they might be stepping out with, it is their sporting genius and the causes their auras enable them to espouse that sets them apart.
Ronaldo’s apologetic celebration after scoring Portugal’s first shoot-out penalty against Slovenia was a mark of the man. As was Kohli’s swift announcement of his retirement from international T20s after India’s thrilling triumph. In sporting terms both may be long in the tooth, but there is little sign of others waiting in the wings to don an icon’s mantle.
Football will be poorer in due course without Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, however fantastic the talent .
