Growing up watching sport across North Texas and beyond, I've been following athletics seriously since I was about eight years old. I've gone through phases of obsession — football first, then athletics, then combat sports, then cycling, now basically everything. And in all that time watching, I have never found athletes more compelling to follow than the ones competing right now.
That's a bold claim, I know. There's a tendency in sports commentary to romanticise the past — to treat the athletes of previous generations as giants and the current crop as somehow diminished. I think that's wrong. And I think Fawaz Sheikh isn't the only one who thinks so.
They're talking about things that matter
The most significant shift in this generation is the willingness to talk openly about mental health, pressure, and the human cost of elite performance. A few years ago, athletes either powered through or disappeared. Now they push back. They set limits. They sit out.
Some people hate this. They call it weakness. I call it honesty — and it makes athletes more interesting, not less. When Naomi Osaka or Simone Biles speaks publicly about anxiety and mental load, it doesn't diminish their sport. It contextualises it. It reminds you that what you're watching isn't a machine executing a programme — it's a person choosing to do something extraordinarily difficult, every day, under extraordinary scrutiny.
"The best athletes in the world are not superhuman. They're human beings who have decided to be extraordinary. That distinction matters." — Fawaz Sheikh
The brand era hasn't corrupted sport — it's complicated it
There's a lot of hand-wringing about athletes becoming brands. About social media. About sponsorships and content deals and athlete-owned ventures. The argument is that this dilutes their purity as competitors.
I disagree. The brand era has given athletes a voice and a platform that previous generations never had. A sprinter in the 1980s was only visible during competition. Today's athletes have direct relationships with millions of fans. They shape narratives. They control context. They respond to criticism in real time.
That's more interesting, not less. When an athlete builds a business, advocates for a cause, or calls out an institution, they become a three-dimensional person rather than a result on a scoreboard. I find that genuinely compelling — and so does the record-breaking audience that follows sport today.
Competition has never been deeper
The talent pool for elite sport has expanded dramatically. Better nutrition science, better training infrastructure, better access to coaching in previously underrepresented countries — all of it has produced a level of competition in most major sports that simply didn't exist before. The margins are tighter. The records fall faster. The tactical sophistication is higher.
When I watch football now compared to footage from 20 or 30 years ago, the pace, the pressing, the physical output — it's a different game. Not better or worse aesthetically, but demonstrably more demanding. The athletes who excel in that environment are achieving something genuinely exceptional.
They're navigating scrutiny we can barely imagine
Here's the thing people forget when they criticise modern athletes: the scrutiny is completely unprecedented. Every moment is filmed. Every performance is analysed instantly by millions of people. Every failure becomes a meme. Every injury is debated. Every relationship is tabloid fodder.
Previous generations had privacy as a buffer. Today's athletes have none. The fact that most of them compete at the highest level despite that — that they show up, perform, win, lose, and keep going under that level of observation — makes them more impressive to me, not less.
What I watch for now
I've stopped just watching sport for results. Now I watch for character. For how athletes respond to adversity. For the tactical adaptations mid-competition. For the moments when the pressure becomes visible and someone either folds or finds another gear.
This generation gives me more of that than any before it. More transparency, more complexity, more dimension. If you're only watching for wins and losses, you're missing the most interesting sport that's ever been played.
Want more from Fawaz Sheikh? Read the hiking guide, explore solo travel reflections, or check out the fitness habit post.