Forget Cristiano Ronaldo’s six pack: fans are finding comfort in athletes who look (a little) more like the average person
A short while after helping Kansas City to victory at this year’s Super Bowl, Travis Kelce repaired to the Bahamas for a little R & R. While he lapped up the sun and surf with his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, the paps zoomed in on the Chiefs star and snapped away. But the thing that stood out most in those pictures wasn’t one of the most famous women in the world. It was Kelce’s dad bod, either a strike for the body positivity movement or an abomination to sport.
Are we reaching the end of the era of idolizing shirtless photos of Cristiano Ronaldo and other sports pin-ups who might appear perfectly at home inside a Howard Schatz coffee table book? Nowadays, it seems, sports fans are hungry for heroes who look a little more like them. Male fans in particular seem to have a soft spot for average sports figures: athletes who are not all lean muscle. Someone with a softly round torso and sympathy for those who might consider lawn care a valid form of exercise. Someone who, when they achieve the impossible, makes you say, ‘He and I aren’t so different’. Think Roger Federer in 2009, after marriage and twin daughters, continuing to mesmerize while carrying a slight paunch. Or Kelce in the Bahamas, a bit over his 250lbs playing weight.
