Example still the best teacher: Icons move towards the shadows

Every generation has a tiny coterie of sportsmen or women whose career is a persistent exercise in dominance.

Those careers celebrate exceptional natural talents and, more often than not, the huge effort needed to realise and sustain the opportunity rare gifts confer. Nicklaus, Piggott, Nadal, Ali, McCoy, Schumacher, Bolt, Navratilova, and Shefflin populate that pantheon. First names are superfluous, the serial champions’ achievements are so off the scale they assume a relevance outside their chosen sphere. They attract cliches as they accumulate victories: Icon, once-off, genius, unsurpassable, unbeatable, benchmark and, probably most of all, an example to those who dream to follow in their footsteps.