World's most expensive soccer player used to be a runner

I think it was the same paper that published an article which said Christiano Ronaldo was faster than Usain Bolt. If he did run the 4:08 as a15 year old it would be published in athletics weekly which records those times.

Would be interesting if someone had some old copies to substantiate the claim

My daughter plays on a top level state soccer team and I think at least 80% of the players also run XC and track. For what that was worth.

this has to be a joke surely? maicon have you seen him the last 2 years. slowest player on the pitch for city when he is used. in fact bale destroyed him twice in one match when they beat inter in the champions league.

bale has ronaldo type speed. football is all stop start so its hard to know who would be good over 1500m plus but roy keane would be one. yaya toure is too big to be good over anything longer than 400m. dani alves? dont think hes remarkably quick or has amazing endurance. ashley cole also is quick but not that quick. figo??????

I'm more interested in his 11.4 100m. Still slower than Sinead O'Conner

Lots of school or club races are not on power of 10 but are also likely to be out - .1 club races - any amount for school

races

Soccer players are quick though Denis Wise did superstars 100m. He was retired for a few years and was never known for his pace but still managed 12.75 aged 37

That list had Bolt making just 200k from races. That cannot be right, can it?

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

That list had Bolt making just 200k from races. That cannot be right, can it?

Well he doesn't race that often. How much did you expect him to make from winning alone?

Basically Bale makes $15.6 million. Don't you realize Kobe Bryant made $27.8 million last year?

christianbale wrote:

Basically Bale makes $15.6 million. Don't you realize Kobe Bryant made $27.8 million last year?

what does that have to do with anything in this thread?

um what wrote:

christianbale wrote:

Basically Bale makes $15.6 million. Don't you realize Kobe Bryant made $27.8 million last year?

what does that have to do with anything in this thread?

also, Bale makes £15.6 million as a basic salary, which is $24.4 million.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Sky tv was built on the back of soccer in the uk.

And soccer's resurgence in the 1990s was due to Sky.

NativeSon wrote:

Gareth bale is very fast (as a midfielder) and is also a very good footballer.

Given a chance, he will break away from the defenders very easily given his speed.

As for sticking to track, that's a joke.

The man is earning £300,000 per week- something that runners wouldn't even imagine.

Even if Usain Bolt ran 9.28 and 18.99, he wouldn't even come close to what this guy is earning.

Only the maestro, Leo Messi, earns more than this guy. With the endorsements coming his way, he will make a lot of money.

Finally, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City have ruined football. Paying such huge sums of money to acquire players just to win titles is insane.

Most people have no clue about the relative difficulty or rarity of athletic feats. However, at the end of the day it come down to what society values the most.

Let me sum it up for you using a comparison:

Popularity: Bolt is one of the biggest stars in track history - the track community obv nows him and he managed to be known by the wider sports public as well via his Olympic and world record conquests. Bale is a top 5 player in the world at best, only futbol fans really know him (not like Messi and Ronaldo).

Considering the above and the earning differential (Bolt earns peanuts compared to what Bale is pulling and going to pull) -- the factor that matters is the sport they are in:

Track - boils down to being an Olympic sport, otherwise the masses are never watching. Yes it takes a tremendous amount of hard work to be the world's best but so what? Is it entertaining to non-runners? Is it a sport that many non-runners can really relate to? Do we see interesting outcomes and dramatic endings or legendary rivalries?

Futbol - people are born fans through family-following. Most fans never played organized futbol (like NFL). There are great match ups every week/month, it's competitive all year round. The game play is entertaining, there are no long pauses or commercials to distract you.. There is nothing like watching the last 20min of a final when the teams are tied or favorite is down a goal or two. The sport is full of comebacks, interesting developments and a lot of drama.

Lets be serious, track is extremely boring... all this coverage, interviewing and explaining going on just to watch a couple of false starts and a 10sec race with mostly predictable outcomes... there's only so much you can do with a sport like that...hence there will NEVER be as much money in it... so please stop the pointless comparisons. If Bolt had even a slight chance of being a pro football, trust me, he'd be spending his chump change training 24/7 for that instead. That's what makes other sports harder (believe it or not).. it doesn't just take speed, it takes strength, good judgment, balance, skills, coordination, mental toughness... so many more variables than is visible in track. TRACK IS BORING. I like it and find it interesting, but you better believe if I had to chose I would be watching the world cup final instead of an Olympic 100 final. Try following other sports for a bit and you'll see what I mean, it will then be pretty obvious why there's a giant gap in earning potential.

As a final note - from a sponsor's perspective.. who would rather put your ad money on -- a futboler who will be filmed for 90+ minutes using your gear with an audience in the 10s of millions or a runner who will be on tv for at most 10min with maybe 50k tv viewers? That should tell you everything.

hitmonlee wrote:

How fast is 2:24 for a 12 year old? I think I could have run that time myself, were I not a couch potato at that age.

Wow. What potential you had. What a legend you could have been.

That's like saying, "I could've established Microsoft, if I had the idea"

Ben L. Wrong wrote:

Anyways, months ago, Di Maria managed the most incredible running-related performance in a stadium located at 12000 feet (La Paz Bolivia)...he ran 10 kilometers in 80 minutes (he was replaced 10 minutes early). Normally the midfielders run between 9-10 kilometers as average AT SEA LEVEL. Lionel Messi (striker) was vomiting all the way at this kind of abnormal altitude. You can not run and run again because your oxygen levels are inexistent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC010FcsvR8

I found this video. Gareth Bale IS NOT CAPABLE OF THESE KIND OF PERFORMANCES. GARETH BALE IS EVEN SLOWER THAN HIS NOW TEAMMATE DI MARIA.

With all of the money they make, I wonder if they could try to sleep in an altitude tent a few nights each week.

He did those times entirely off of soccer training.

Yeah, it’s really dumb to think 11.4 for 100m at 14 and 4:08 for 1500m at 15 without specific training are not insane times.

Those times for a 12 year old while good are nothing spectacular. Also trying to judge how he may have turned out as a professional runner based off those performances alone would only be guessing at best. Many of the best distance runners dont get really serious about running until they are 16-18. I'm guessing he probably followed the sport he enjoyed the most. Obviously the ridiculously big salary is a bonus but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have pursued the sport if he had no love of the game.

Is it possible to get into fitness coaching at these football clubs, say if you are early 30s and can run 16 for 5k, 34 for 10k?