However not all sporting icons are worthy of our adulation. Just when millions of us focused on a picture of Lance Armstrong as we toiled on our exercise bikes, we discovered his legacy was built on a bed of lies and artificial assistance.
Similarly, Liverpool fans (and fans of football in general) were forced to re-evaluate the reverence in which their finest player, Luis Suarez, was held when he was proven to have made racist remarks to an opposition player.
Every now and again though, a new name steps into the limelight and becomes the focus of the nation. The 2012 Olympics gave us our very own Vitality Ambassador, Jessica Ennis-Hill and the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Sochi, thrust Bristolian Jenny Jones into the spotlight for the first time in her 15 year career.
Winner of the first medal for Team GB at these games, Jones also takes the accolade of being Britain’s first ever medallist on snow.
In terms of her credentials as an inspiration for us exercise try-hards; at 33 she is the oldest competitor in her field and had considered retiring from competition following a series of brutal injuries (routine for snowboarders at the highest level) including a serious concussion as recently as December.
That’s not to mention the fact that the bulk of Jones’ training doesn’t even take place on the right surface - a dry ski slope in Somerset is her home base.
Discipline and perseverance are the words which define the attitude of the diminutive athlete, who struggles to lift her bulky boarding apparatus around airports and hotels on her competitive travels.
Obviously we amateurs don’t have to match the sacrifice of people like Jenny, but using their achievements as the impetus to get us just a little more active can’t be a bad thing for our health. If, like PruProtect policyholders, you get incentives to motivate you to get healthier and rewards for your efforts too – from discounts to cashback - it can feel even better.
Justin Taurog is distribution and marketing director at PruProtect.
