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Louis Smith says he’s not a good role model

He's human and has made mistakes

He might be in the final of The Jump tomorrow, but Louis Smith has had a troublesome few months.

In spite of his Olympic gymnastic accolades, he’s caused controversy by doing a few silly things, which saw him banned from the sport for a while.

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A few months back, he was roasted for mocking Islam.

In a video he and a drunken pal were seen pretending to pray and yelling “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is the greatest”.

At the time, he issued a hasty apology, telling those offended,  “I am deeply sorry for the recent video you may have seen. What I did was wrong.”

Prior to the incident, he had already landed himself in hot water after uploading a saucy photo of US sports star Carly Patterson, who was 16 in the shot, on Instagram.

Alongside the image of the athlete’s bottom taken at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, he wrote, “My sport has its moments.”

The result of his cheeky comment meant he was reprimanded by sports authorities.

In a new interview with The Sun he revealed:  “The last time I got in trouble was when I posted a photo of girl’s bum and my governing body of sport decided to take me to a disciplinary for it, which I thought was over the top.

“I don’t like beef, I don’t like controversy. I just like to try and live my life.”

Now he says that while he is sorry for anything he has done to offend people, parents shouldn’t hold him up as a role model for their kids.

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“Parents want their kids to be like you when you’re an Olympian.

“They have an opinion on what you should be like and I almost have to act in a way they expect me to act, that gets me in trouble.

“I shouldn’t be relied on in that way. I’m human, I make mistakes.”


Christian Guiltenane
Freelance Writer