Myth and heroes : Are athletes true heroes?

I will talk about the notion Myth and heroes.

I will start by defening the words Myth, then the word hero.

A myth is a story about gods, heroes or mythic creatures. It also can be a popular belief or a tradition.  A hero is a person who is admired for his achievements, he is a model or an icon.

So I will ask me if athletes are true heroes ?

In a first part, I will talk about the athletes who are admired, in exemple I chose Oscar Pistorius, Aimee mullins and Lance Armstrong (cependant, les athletes parfois tombent de haut lorsque que l’on apprend la vérité, c’est pourquoi dans une seconde partie, on verra qu’il existe aussi des fallen hero, justement Lance Armstrong en fait partie).

        Like I said, the athletes could be admired for their obstacles overcames, their achievements. For instance ( c’est le cas ) for Aimee Mullins, in the document that we studied in class. We learned that she had been amputed when she was one year old. So she wears blades and she need to overcome some obstacles. She was the first amputee athlete to compete against able bodied,so she is a modelof admiration because « malgré » her disability she succeed to overcome the impossible and follow her dreams. A second example is Oscar pistorius, we studied in class a Tv report about him. People looked up him throughout the world for his achievments, in fact, he won 3 gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Hungry for more, in 2011 he decided that these 3 medals weren’t enough. With Aimee Mullins he is one of the first athletes to compete against able bodied. We can say he his model because of his iron-willed. He needed to do better than his personal record even if it was difficult, he took the force to go beyond his limits. My third exemple is Lance Armstrong, we studied a trailer of the movie about his carreer. The first part of the trailer explain that  He is a cyclist who won 7 times the Tour de France and he survived his cancer. For the people we can say he is an icon, he looks confident, he was smiling everytime. He used the word « I’m flying » to encourage the others. He used his fame to pass messages like if we have willpower we can win.

          We can compare these 3 examples with heroes because they went beyond their limits, overcame obstacles, they are famous for their achievements.

        But if these examples shew that athletes can be admire and considered like heroes. It’s not always true for everyone. Each were considered like hero but.. with their actions, their comportement they became fallen heroes. (c’est le cas de Lance Armstrong dont on a parlé avant). In fact, Lance Armstrong were famous for his achievements, he won 7 times the Tour de France, « malgré » the difficulty of the race, he kept smilling. But he wasn’t famous for his feat longtime. We discovered that he cheated and took some performance enhancing drugs to win the races. He was confident because he thought he will never be discover. His drugs couldn’t be detected. In a cartoon, he is representing on his bike, the spokes have been replaced by syringes. Like lot of people, the cartoonist wanted to show his deception.  Armstrong had « dégouté beaucoup de gens de ce sport et en a donné une très mauvaise image »

        For finish, the athletes can be represent hero when they go beyond their limits by training everyday. When they have great abilities. The sportsmen and women can convey values like courage, willpower, hope like the true heroes. They surpasse themself because of their determination  (des fois malgré leur handicap ). They are set as an example. But, nowaday, be an athlete need some patience. People make pression to them for they are perfect everytime. If athletes are comparable with real heroes , this pression can be too heavy. Lot of these « heroes » felt in cheating way. Like Lance Armstrong and they become fallen hero. These athletes felt (de leur hauteur, les gens sont déçu de l’athlète et du sport) So, athlete are true hero ? Yes, but it depend of your actions and why you do this. Not for hungry of victory but « plutôt » for yourself or for a cause.

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