And the person sitting next to you at an event where admission is free is just as likely to be the president of the national basketball federation as an athlete's parent.

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However, the most absurdly priced athlete at the 31st National Sports Collectors Convention was undoubtedly baseball immortal Willie Mays.

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Usain Bolt displayed the Olympic spirit during a post-race interview when he stopped the affair to wait for the American national anthem to finish as another athlete received her gold medal.

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"I looked at him, thinking, 'he is not the one who makes national policies, he is just an athlete, an ordinary American', " he recalls.

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They work for ten years climbing the ladder from district champion, to national champion, and ultimately, to Olympic athlete.

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Smith isn't the first professional athlete to land an intern job at a national publication.

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Several additional athletes, including a Moldovan track athlete, have been expelled by their countries' national organizing committees for doping but aren't included in the official Games count of positive tests.

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The news that Mr Pistorius may have killed his girlfriend will shock the country as the athlete is regarded as one of South Africa's national icons, reports the BBC's Peter Biles from Cape Town.

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Correspondents say the athlete's arrest has stunned the country where he is considered a national hero.

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