After
seeing former Chelsea, Reading and Dagenham and Redbridge trainee Adam Gemili
fly through his Olympic heat with a time of 10.11, just behind the third
fastest man of all-time, Asafa Powell, it shows that the 18-year-old clearly
made the right decision about switching sports. His career looks a promising
one and everyone has their fingers crossed for him at London 2012. However, it
left us thinking who else in the footballing world could transfer their skills
into Olympic sports and we came up with 10 footballers who should consider
taking up Olympic events:
1. Ashley Young,
Diving
The
Manchester United winger is often fond of a tumble or two in the penalty area.
He won eight penalties last year, and if we’re being honest, not all of them
were perfectly legitimate. Young goes down with a look of shock on his face
before rolling around a few times, a move that is likely to impress the diving
judges who enjoy a nice bit of artistry in the leap off the platform. Perhaps
Young and Tom Daley could form a crack team for Rio in 2016.
2. Theo Walcott, 100m
The
England winger is absolutely lightning fast, with his acceleration off the mark
known to be his key attribute in matches. Walcott can often terrorise defences
if he runs directly at them, but he’s not so accomplished with the ball at his
feet. Too often, he’ll merely run it out of play or put in a cross of
astonishingly low quality. Therefore, Theo might go better without the ball and
just an open track in front of him. A few chicken nuggets and he’s ready to
match the man Usain.
3. Dirk Kuyt,
Marathon
He
may not be the most talented player on the park, but boy does Kuyt put in a
shift. He’s left Liverpool this summer for Fenerbahce but the Reds’ fans will
always keep the Dutch international close to their hearts for his incredible
work rate and never-say-die attitude. It’s time to let Kuyt receive some
recognition for his efforts and the marathon would give him that chance, indeed
26 miles is almost the distance he covers per match.
4. Richard Dunne,
Wrestling
The
burly Aston Villa defender is built like the proverbial you-know-what and loves
to spend his time jostling with attackers for position. More often than not,
Dunne wins this battle and he currently holds the joint Premier League record
for most sendings off ever, tied with Duncan Ferguson with eight. This is
because Dunne often launches his opponents to the floor, especially when he’s
the last man. And as it happens, launching people to the floor is quite handy
in the wrestling.
5. Lomana LuaLua,
Gymnastics
The
Congo international plied his trade for Blackpool last season, but has now
moved on to Turkey where he has joined Karabukspor. Unfortunately, this means
England will miss his stupendous displays of acrobatics every time he finds the
back of the net. The Bloomfield Road faithful were treated to this four times
last season and his routine contains seven back flips and a backwards
somersault. Now I’m no gymnastics expert, but surely that’s enough to put you
in medal contention?
6. Tim Cahill, Boxing
The
Goodison Park crowd will no longer be able to watch the diminutive Cahill pop
in the area and bag a header as he’s moved on to New York Red Bulls, but
they’ll probably miss his celebration even more. The Aussie’s run to the corner
flag to produce that lightning left-right combination on the flag itself is one
of the iconic celebrations of the Premier League era and with hand speed like
that, Cahill would go pretty well in the lightweight division.
7. Luis Suarez,
Handball
The
Uruguayan is at the Olympics already, having seen his side knocked out by Team
GB in the pool stage of the football, but you have to wonder whether he entered
the right competition. Having watched his infamous save on the line against
Ghana in the 2010 World Cup, he wouldn’t look out of place in the Copper Box
taking part in the Handball, where using your hands is the aim of the game.
8. Ashley Cole,
Shooting
The
Chelsea left back is one of the best in the world, but given the evidence of
his performance on the training ground with the air rifle, he would prove more
than handy on the range as well. Cole landed himself in a spot of trouble back
in 2011 after accidently wounding an intern student at Chelsea’s training
ground. Perhaps he should put his talents with weapon in hand to better use.
9. Dimitar Berbatov,
20k race walk
Nobody
can quite understand why walking is actually an event at the Olympics, indeed
almost everybody is reasonably proficient at walking quickly. However, the race
seems perfectly suited to Manchester United’s Bulgarian striker, whose languid
style on the pitch has attracted much criticism from the supporters. Competing
in a sport where walking rather than running is actually encouraged would
therefore be right up Berbatov’s street.
10. Eric Cantona,
Taekwondo
The
Frenchman was renowned for his brilliance on the pitch and craziness off the
field, but he’ll never match that kung-fu kick he produced on Crystal Palace
fan Matthew Simmons. Swift, vicious and accurate, Cantona should have
considered switching to Taekwondo after his football career ended, as he
already possessed one of the main point scoring weapons that the sports
demands.
By The Coin Toss
Facebook: http://goo.gl/sE0F9
Twitter: https://twitter.com/The_CoinToss
