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We see athletes as prime examples of will power, courage and stamina. Their never-say-die spirit on the field often motivates us to fight out the biggest of challenges and fears in our own lives, to be like them in our day-to-day tasks.Being an athlete isn't easy; it takes a toll on the body. Then, of course, there's the added pressure of always standing up to the expectations of the fans. And yet, the truly great athletes take pride in this fear of performing, and fight all the odds to come out victorious. It is therefore an irony that some of these "iron man" athletes on the field are afraid of a variety of straightforward things like flying, darkness, and even rabbits! Here is a list of 10 great athletes who have the strangest fears or phobias:
#1 Andy Roddick - rabbits
The tennis ace from USA was popular all throughout the sporting world for his passion for the sport, his art of imitating fellow and retired tennis players and the spirit with which he played the sport – always giving it his best.
Roddick rose to fame in 2003 after winning the US Open, which subsequently resulted in him reaching the No.1 ranking in tennis, an achievement that was absolutely incredible for someone as young as him at the time.
It is therefore very shocking to note that Roddick is afraid of rabbits, bunny rabbits. For those of you out there who absolutely adore rabbits and can’t think of anyone being afraid of them, I’ll just say this – NEITHER DO I.
How can someone be afraid of sweet little rabbits! Well, maybe that’s what phobias are.
#2 David Beckham - disorder
The heart-throb of the footie world, David Beckham is the very man on whom the England team relied for years. His amazing performance on the field and his looks off it made him the most popular footballer of his time.
David Beckham suffers from ataxophobia, the fear of disorder of things. Say for instance your fridge has 3 bottles of apple juice, 3 bottles of pineapple juice and 3 bottles of orange juice, but not placed in the proper sequence. Beckham would freak out about that; he likes everything to be in a line or in pairs. Had your fridge been Beckham’s fridge, each of the juices would be in a proper sequence, with the 3 bottles of apple juice in one row and so on for the other juices.
The dashing footie star’s phobia is still pretty understandable though, and if I may say so, I have an easier time imagining Beckham desperate to have things in order rather than the tennis star Andy Roddick being afraid of rabbits.
#3 Damian Lillard - statues
The 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA skills champion, Damian Lillard is one of the most exciting players in the game of basketball and it’s no doubt that he’s a rising superstar of the game.
Lillard is afraid of statues, yes, statues. This phobia is referred to as “automatonophobia”. Lillard claims that this fear of statues began after he visited a wax museum before his senior season at Weber State.
The fear of wax figures transformed into the fear of statues, in his own following words :
“Ever since then, I've been done. Even at Lake Oswego, I drive past the cemetery, and there's a statue of Jesus with his hands up. That even scared me. I don't mess with statues no more. It's the idea that they're from so far back, and so big in our history. Just to see something that looks so close to them, it's weird. It freaks me out.”
#4 Rafael Nadal - darkness
Rafael Nadal, 9-time French Open champion, can definitely be labelled “fearless” on the tennis court. Even if the odds are against him, he almost invariably finds a way back into the game. It’s not often that you’ll see Nadal being afraid of the opponent.
He is, however, afraid of the dark. In an interview, Nadal claimed that he keeps his TV and house lights on when he goes to sleep at night.
I surely couldn’t imagine Nadal being afraid of anything, considering the fearless personality that he has, but this just shows how little we can tell about sportspersons from afar.
#5 Rebecca Adlington - the ocean
Rebecca Adlington won 2 gold medals in the summer Olympics of 2008. Her achievements are no mean feat, she’s recognized as the pride of Britain for her amazing performance in the summer Olympics of 2008.
It will therefore SHOCK you to know that she is afraid of the ocean! For someone to win 2 gold medals in swimming in spite of her fear for the ocean is something that ought to be appreciated.
In her own words, she said “I just don’t like not knowing what’s underneath me; I don’t even like fish, because they’re guilty by association.”
#6 Nick Young - dolphins
Nick Young, the Los Angeles Lakers player, has a phobia of dolphins.
During an interaction with the media, the basketball star told reporters about an incident where he tried to ride a dolphin but felt that the dolphin was trying to drown him. So he immediately got off the dolphin and the fear of the mammals has haunted him ever since.
Young is yet another star in this list of ours that afraid of something that we find odd to believe, I mean dolphins, cute dolphins, really!
#7 Aleisha Cline - heights
Aleisha Cline is a ski cross racer, and she perfectly embodies the saying, “What lies ahead of fear is victory”.
Cline is afraid of heights, but she doesn’t let this fear bother her. Instead, she faces it resolutely and today is one of the world’s best known ski cross racer..
Climbing down from a mountain at a great height and coming down at a rapid speed – all this for someone who has a fear of heights is unbelievable to think of. That’s one way to face your phobia, right!
#8 Royce White - flying
Royce White is an NBA player. We’re used to seeing basketball stars flying all through the basketball court and achieving the perfect dunk, but for this basketball star in particular “flying” isn’t really something that he’d like to do.
He suffers from pteromerhanophobia, the fear of flying. The situation got so bad in 2012 that the team management of Houston Rockets was unable to accommodate him in the side; White who didn’t play a single game for the team due to his fear of flying.
White has mentioned on record that his fear of flying has become a great obstacle in him having a successful NBA career.
#9 Josh Freeman - elevators
Josh Freeman, the six-foot-six star of the Minnessota Vikings suffers from the phobia of elevators.
Freeman explained that this phobia began when he was going to see his dentist and was stuck in the elevator for around 5 minutes. But the event really haunted him and made him phobic of elevators.
In his exact words he says, “Yeah, the elevator is horrible”. With a contact of $ 3 million in 2013, this American football star sure wouldn’t mind taking the stairs if they keep leading to success
#10 Lewis Hamilton - spiders
Lewis Hamilton, the star F1 racer suffers from arachnophobia. This phobia is one of the most common phobias in the world; arachnophobia is the fear of spiders – yes, the same phobia that Ron Weasley had in the Harry Potter series.
When asked why he feared the spiders, he explained, “they have too many legs”.
We wouldn’t really expect the king of the racing track to be so haunted by a small spider, but maybe this fear is reasonable, considering that some species of spiders can be poisonous.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here
