Michael Jordan, despite being possibly the greatest athlete of all time, is an absolutely miserable person. He spent his HOF trashing the people who thought he wouldn’t make it. He is competitive to the degree that it ruins his life. But also probably made him great.

In one of the Steve Prefontaine movies, they show a scene where a girl he likes brings a bunch of little kids to the track (I think she’s a teacher). He starts playfully running with them. As they get towards the finish line, one little kid darts ahead of him. He immediately starts sprinting to make sure he crosses the finish line first. Teacher asks him why he did that and he said he cannot let anyone - even a small child - cross the line before him.