By Les Tan/Red Sports

My sharp-eyed crew mate pointed out that based on a June 8th press release by the International Olympic Commission (IOC), a role model footballer had not yet been confirmed for the Youth Olympic Games.

While all the other international federations have chosen theirs, perhaps the gods of FIFA were waiting for the World Cup to end before deciding. That was a wise decision, wasn’t it?

After all, can you imagine the kind of questions that would be asked if the following footballers ended up in Singapore as “role models”?

Luis “The Real Hand of God” Suarez

Arjen “Diver” Robben

Fabiano “two hands before I score”

Nigel “Kung Fu” De Jong

Mark “Bang” Bommel

List of Athlete Role Models for YOG
Archery — Wietse van Alten (NED)
Athletics — Wilson Kipketer (DEN)
Badminton — Poul Erik HoyerLarsen (DEN)
Badminton — Xu Huaiwen (GER)
Basketball — Andrew Gaze (AUS)
Basketball — Oscar Schmidt (BRA)
Basketball — Alexandar Djordjevic (SER)
Basketball — Michele Timms (AUS)
Boxing — Domenico Valentino (ITA)
Canoeing — Tony Estanguet (FRA)
Cycling — Frédéric Magné (FRA)
Equestrian — Lisen Bratt (SWE)
Fencing — Valentina Vezzali (ITA)
Football — TBC
Gymnastics — Jani Tanskanen (FIN)
Judo — Ruben Houkes (NED)
Handball — Jackson Richardson (FRA)
Hockey — Andrew Smith (AUS)
Modern Pentathlon — Georgina Harland (GBR)
Rowing — Lenka Wech (GER)
Sailing — Michael Gebhardt (USA)
Shooting — Matthew Emmons (USA)
Diving — Guo Jingjing (CHN)
Table Tennis — Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)
Taekwondo — Daniel Trenton (AUS)
Tennis — Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
Triathlon — Hamish Carter (NZL)
Weightlifting — Pawina Thongsuk (THA)
Wrestling — Daniel Robin (FRA)
IOC Athletes’ Commission — Robert Balk USA, Claudia Bokel (GER), Sergey Bubka (UKR), Charmaine Crooks (CAN), Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR), Rania Elwani (EGY), Frank Fredericks (NAM), Barbara Kendall (NZL), Yumilka Ruiz Luaces (CUB), Dae Sung Moon (KOR), Adam Pengilly (GBR), Alexander Popov (RUS), Angela Ruggiero (USA), Rebecca Scott (CAN), Peter Tallberg (FIN), Pedro Yang (GUA), Yang Yang (CHN)