Great share and topic. The way media portrays athletes are heroic and someone everyone should be like if they pursue sports. If kids are sports enthusiasts or play any sports, they are most likely going to look at the athlete as a hero due to their popularity.
I look at it in a perspective from when I was a kid. I looked at these athletes as a great figure, but as I got older and less interested in sports, that thought faded away. I believe this is what happens with most children as they get older.
You are right. We grow up playing these sports and watching athletes and it is natural to look up to them and want to be like them. Kids talk about athletes as if they have saved the world sometimes.