Michael Jordan is one of the most talented athletes in history. He's won six NBA titles, he's had sports shoes named after him, he's even starred in a Hollywood movie. Jordan is an international superstar. But success for Michael Jordan was never a matter of luck. It was always a matter of talent and hard work.
Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1963. He was the fourth of five children, so he learned to compete young. As a child, Michael was very athletic. He played baseball, basketball and football, but his favourite sport was baseball. However, this soon changed when he started playing basketball with his older and taller brother Larry. Larry kept on beating Michael when they played one-to-one. Unsurprisingly, Michael didn't like losing, so he worked hard to become a better player.
Jordan's basketball gradually improved, but in 1978 he suffered a big disappointment. He was dropped from his High School basketball team! However Michael didn't give up. Instead he trained harder and longer, and as a result was soon playing again. `The better I got, the better I wanted to become,' he said later. Nobody knew then that Jordan would become the greatest player of all time.
Today Michael Jordan has scored over 30,000 points in basketball games all over the world. Over 50% of American children have voted him their idol. However it's not just his basketball skills that have made Jordan popular; it's his courage, determination and positive approach to life. 'I can accept failure,' he once said, 'but I can't accept not trying.'