[strider12]

When an athlete says they are humbled, it's the most genuine use -- because to perform at a top level, you have to 'go back to your roots' - the lonely/early/late days that got you there. So they say it simply to remind themselves that the basics that got them there, is not forgotten and has to be implemented everyday.

[untilHellbanned]

Also physical performance for most sports is objective and earned, whereas most other scenarios it was a subjective process decided by other humans.

[rangibaby]

Until every sport adopts the powerlifting or MMA model where there are drugs and non-drug competitions there is no way of knowing. There's a Lance Armstrong in every sport.