Being the son of a famous sportsman is one of the pride a person’s have. Besides having superstar father who is adored by many people, one gets to enjoy wealthy life.
Many of these children then followed in his father’s footsteps in the same sports field. Some were successful as his father, such as Paolo Maldini who followed in the footsteps of his father Cesare Maldini, and also the basketball players Bill and Luke Walton.
Some goes beyond the achievement of his father, namely Valentino Rossi who is far more successful than his father, Graziano Rossi. But there are also children who cannot equal to his father’s record.
Some of fathers and children who have different fate when they become sportsmen are as follows:
Randy and Ryan Couture
Randy Couture is a member of the United States military rank Sergeant in the 101st Airborne division. He joins wrestling world since the 1990s, and began working in Mixed Martial Art (MMA) in 1997, when he was approaching 34 years.
He won titles in 2 different classes at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event, and has a record of competing in MMA with 19 wins and 11 losses. He is retired at the age of 48 years in 2011 after being defeated by Brazilian Karateka, Lyoto Machida through Crane Kick.
Randy’s son, Ryan Couture, also join in the MMA. But the sparkling achievements of his father make a burden on him. Instead of being able to win at the UFC, Ryan even only had competed 2 times at the UFC which ended with 2 defeats including the defeat of the TKO of Ross Pearson, and the defeat of the numbers from Al Iaquinta.
Most of his MMA careers are in “second class” events such as Bellator and Strikeforce. Ryan’s record was “only” 12 wins and 6 defeats, with just 1 KO / TKO win, while 3 of the 6 defeats were through KO / TKO
Pele and Edinho
Pele won 25 trophies in both national, continental and international. Pele scored with the Brazilian National Team is 77 goals from 92 caps. His achievements are very difficult to be matched by the current players
His son, Edson Cholbi Nascimento or nicknamed Edinho also became a football player. But unlike his father who was a striker, Edinho chose to become a goalkeeper.
His career compared to his father is inversely proportional. During active playing for approximately 9 years from 1990-1999, he only played 200 times at the domestic level, and never once strengthened the Brazilian National Team.
Even in 2014 he was involved in criminal cases, namely money laundering and narcotics trafficking, and was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Michael and Marcus Jordan
Michael Jordan was an icon of the NBA in the 1990s. Along with the Chicago Bulls, he presented 6 NBA titles, and with the United States National Basketball Team, he also presented 2 gold medals, namely at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Marcus Jordan is the son of Michael Jordan who was born in 1988. His achievements in basket ball are far from his father, where he only played in college clubs, and retired early at around 24 years of age for personal reasons.
Marcus is said to prioritize his studies rather than continuing his career in basketball, and that is his life choice. In addition, Marcus was recorded several times dealing with law, including when he was making a fuss outside a hotel.
So, those are some examples of different destinies between athlete father and son. Either because it is a talent that is “less” than the father, or maybe because of increasingly fierce competition, or can also be burdened by the achievement of the father, they cannot perform as good as their father
