How much?
As much as their hard work, persistence and leadership justifies it. There is little to emulate in the gifts of others, though.
Some people are gifted athletically and some aren't. Worshiping the gift (and not all the things that bring that gift to fruition) is a total waste. Many people have outstanding athletic gifts, but never get ahead because they lack the ACTUAL PRAISEWORTHY ATTRIBUTES that we should emulate, and so we never hear about them, because they wind up wasting their gift.
There are many people who good be great at a lot of things but choose to different things. Can you imagine if Nikola Tesla hadn't decided to work with electricity?
True, but I was trying to answer the original question.
In brief, emulate the hard work, good character (of those athletes who have it,) persistence, etc., of great athletes, but not their gift. We can get (or increase) a good work ethic, better character, persistence, by their example, BUT WE WILL NEVER GET THEIR GIFT, by emulating theirs.
oh, I completely agree. They are gifted but are able to take that gift to the next level because of their efforts. We should indeed emulate these qualities of hard work and persistence.