We all love our sports stars from all around the world. But, in addition to being fantastic at their chosen sports (like football and marathons), did you know that some of them have more talent than first meets the eye? In fact, sometimes their hidden talents are not always that obvious. In the ink Footballer Daniel Agger has long since put up his boots playing for his country Denmark and the likes of Liverpool FC, but did you know that Daniel is a qualified tattoo artist? He even promised to ink up the entire Liverpool team if they won the Premier League! Jump for your love Tennis prodigy Martina Hingis has not only spent time winning points on the tennis court, but she’s also been very talented at show jumping. She has even participated in the Gucci Master’s International Jumping Competition. Get arty As well as being a talented cricketer, England’s Jack Russell is also a very talented artist and owns his own art gallery. Some of his paintings have fetched in the region of £15,000, which demonstrates his popularity as an artist. Festival of speed Did you know that footballer Arjen Robben is a superb runner and once recorded the fastest speed on a football pitch back in 2014? He accomplished this feat when he made a run for goal, achieving a speed of 37 km per hour during the match between the Netherlands and Spain. Whilst Arjen’s superb running record is not among football’s most unlikely moments, we think it should be! He’s in fashion NBA star Russell Westbrook is as passionate about fashion as he is about his sport. In fact, he even released a collaboration with Barneys in New York and subsequently released his own line of glasses called ‘Westbrook Frames’.

 

Talking of fashion, tennis sensation Serena Williams is as handy with a needle and thread as she is with her tennis racket and ball. You cannot deny she always looks fabulous on and off the tennis court, and she has even launched her own fashion line at HSN.com.

King of the kitchen

Not only a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court, but also in the kitchen, Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is a fantastic cook and has even released his own cook book!

Kobe good!

Kobe Bryant is as comfortable playing the piano as he is on the court. He is entirely self-taught, and he even taught himself to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, which is one of the trickiest pieces of music to play, according to some experts.

Paper fight

You probably wouldn’t expect an MMA fighter to be a dab hand at origami, but Connor McGregor is. One of his favourite things to do is to sculpt animals out of paper in his spare time.

Animal noises

Marathon runner Mo Farah has a secret talent for making animal noises. He says he makes noises like a “lion or a dog. They’re not bad”. We can’t wait to hear a demonstration and wonder if he does this whilst he is training?!
From paper folding to dog noises, and from fashion to running, there is certainly more to our favourite athletes than meets the eye. It just goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover and that you can never assume that a person has only one (huge) talent. Has learning about these incredible athletes inspired you to try learning a new skill?