Wales and Gloucester rugby union star, Louis Rees-Zammit has quit the sport with immediate effect, as he pursues a career on the other side of the Atlantic in the NFL.
22-year-old Rees-Zammit, who has already been capped 32 times by his country, will travel to Florida to partake in a 10-week programme which allows athletes the chance to join the NFL roster.
The next NFL season will begin in September 2024, and the IPP (International Player Pathway) program that Rees-Zammit is involved in is a great way to bring in potential talents from beyond American shores.
After starring in the Rugby World Cup, Rees-Zammit was due to be a part of the Wales squad for the Six Nations, but will no longer feature.
Surprisingly, this talented Welsh athlete is not the first big name in sport to have swapped one sport for another in their career.
With this in mind, the team at SportsBoom.com have revealed seven more athletes who switched sports. Does a change of scenery ever work out for sports stars?
- Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff – Cricket & Boxing
You might know him now as a Top Gear presenter or even as an A League of Their Own panellist, but in his heyday, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was one of Lancashire and England’s best cricket players.
However, following his retirement from cricket in 2009, the multi-talented Flintoff decided to swap one sport for another as he entered the boxing ring.
Flintoff’s one and only professional game took place in front of a huge crowd at Manchester Arena and gained huge publicity. While his boxing career was short-lived, he certainly made a success of it as he beat his opponent – Richard Dawson – that night by a point decision.
- Petr Cech – Football & Ice Hockey
Featuring between the sticks for both Chelsea and Arsenal on the football pitch, Petr Cech is undoubtedly one of the greatest goalkeepers that the Premier League has ever seen.
However, when Cech retired from football in 2019 he was not quite done with being a goalkeeper. Instead, the former Czech Republic international switched to ice hockey.
Since 2019, Cech has represented four different ice hockey teams across the UK and Ireland as a goaltender, including the Oxford City Stars and the Belfast Giants.
- Katie Taylor – Boxing & Football
Most people probably know Katie Taylor best for being one of Ireland’s greatest contributions to the world of boxing. She boasts an incredible record in the ring of 23 wins in 24 fights, including 6 wins by knockout. Her best moment in boxing was arguably a gold medal win at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
However, before being a boxing champion, Taylor looked set for a career on the football pitch, as she represented the Republic of Ireland women’s team 11 times between 2006 and 2009.
- Sarah Storey – Swimming & Cycling
Cheshire’s Sarah Storey is part of a very select group of athletes to have won gold medals in two different sports.
Aged just 14, Storey starred at her first Paralympic Games in 1992, competing in swimming and winning two golds, three silvers and one bronze at the event. She would go on to compete as a swimmer at three more Paralympic Games, winning three more golds, five more silvers and one more bronze.
However, just one year after competing at the 2004 Paralympic Games, Storey decided to swap the pool for the bicycle, and by 2005 was already competing and winning the European Para-Cycling Championships.
Storey would go on to compete at four more Paralympic Games as a cyclist, winning at least two gold medals at each event. Somehow, Storey’s success as a cyclist was even greater than as a swimmer, as she won a total of 12 gold medals between 2008 and 2020.
With a Paralympic career spanning 28 years, Storey will go down as one of Great Britain’s most enduring athletes of all time.
- Michael Jordan – Basketball & Baseball
One of the most famous examples of a legendary athlete trying their hand at another sport is Michael Jordan, who in 1994 shocked the world by switching out the basketball court for the baseball field.
After a successful decade in his iconic No. 23 Chicago Bulls jersey, Jordan spent a year in the baseball strip of the Birmingham Barons. The decision sent shockwaves through America, and although Jordan certainly held his own in the baseball team, he never quite replicated the same record-breaking success that achieved on the basketball court.
However, he swiftly returned to play for the Chicago Bulls again between 1995 and 1998, picking up even more NBA championships and NBA MVP accolades in that time.
- Usain Bolt – Athletics & Football
Having broken the men’s 100m and 200m sprint world records, as well as holding the world record for the 4 x 100m relay, the Jamaican Usain Bolt is a household name and is widely regarded as the greatest track athlete of all time.
However, in 2011, Bolt revealed that his real passion was football and admitted that his dream in life was to play in the Premier League for Manchester United.
He never did quite make it to Old Trafford – nor did he ever really get the opportunity to play for a major football club. Bolt did enjoy brief spells with Norwegian side Strømgodset and with Australian side Central Coast Mariners, both in 2018.
Although, Bolt’s quest to become the ultimate athlete has not stopped there, however, as he’s also tried his hand at basketball by playing in the 2013 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. Bolt has also admitted a desire to play American Football for the Green Bay Packers.
- Manny Pacquiao – Boxing & Basketball
The Filipino boxer is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, having been the first boxer to ever win world titles in four out of eight weight titles (flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight). He is also the only boxer to hold a major title in four different decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s).
However, what people might not know is that Manny Pacquaio also had a brief spell as a basketball player, after he was drafted for the Kia Motors team in the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association). Unsurprisingly, he never quite made as big a name for himself on the basketball court as he did in the boxing ring.
If excelling in two sports was not enough to keep Manny Pacquaio busy, he also served in office as the Senator of the Philippines from June 2016 to June 2022.
