[MRD85]

Professional competitors in the majority of physically demanding sports supplement their training with gym work. Tennis, cycling, golf, etc all do. Targetting muscles in gyms have all sorts of benefits. If you are an amateur who competes for fun then you probably don't but if your paycheck is determined by performance than it's likely you're in the gym.

[LaserToy]

I’ve never heard of a pro athlete being evaluated by their ability to bench press. Very good analogy that demonstrates how silly those interviews are.

[MRD85]

The NFL combine has bench press as one of their evaluations.