These 20 Celebrities Are Secretly Amazing Athletes

Who didn’t hear about athletes that went from playing sport to playing in movies? Just like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who was an amazing professional wrestler – the best of all time before he became an actor.

So is Rhonda Rousey both an MMA fighter and a champion wrestler, who also appeared onscreen.

But there are many other celebrities that were great athletes. Some of them even compete today, while others just recall those times. For many of these celebrities, they believe that the discipline from their sport helped them succeed in Hollywood.

Here are some of the most famous people that were once star athletes. Can you believe this guy at #12 was a wrestler?

20. Elsa Hosk: Basketball

The Victoria’s Secret Angel played basketball in the professional league in Sweden. She even took a two-year break from modeling because she was a basketball player.

She said it was very tough and that they had to work out about eight times per week and in the weekend they had games, but she decided she “wanted to explore the world and meet people and not be tied down.”

19. Malcom Gladwell: Long-Distance Running

Malcom Gladwell is known as a bestselling author, but before that he was a star runner. He doesn’t race anymore, but he still considers himself addicted to running.

In an interview with the Runners World, he said that the likes that running is free from owners, teams or rules, and that the fact it’s international is “fantastic and rare.” Here’s another celebrity that participated in a marathon…

18. Pippa Middleton: Long-Distance Running

Pippa Middleton is into sports and she even finished the Safaricom 26.2-mile long marathon in Kenya in less than four hours. She also cycled 54 miles from London to Brighton for British Heart Foundation.

She said that participating in a marathon was a “life box” she needed to tick. The conditions were tough – there were over 30 degrees Celsius, the altitude was of 5,550 feet and the runners might have et lions or rhinos!

17. Mahershala Ali: Basketball

Mahershala Ali was a player in the basketball team from Saint Mary’s College of California. He was on a scholarship there, but said that soon after, he lost his enthusiasm for the sport by the time his graduation came: “Honestly, I kind of resented basketball by the end of my time there,” adding that he was even threatened to be sent off to another university.