Diego Maradona: 1961(?)—: Athlete

After the country convulsed in riots over a looming economic crisis a month later, there was talk that new Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde would ask Maradona join the Sports Secretariat. It is said that Maradona ranks with two other tragic figures from Argentine cultural history: 1930s tango singer Carlos Gardel, who died in a plane crash, and former First Lady Eva Perón, still a revered national icon. At times, callers to Argentina's popular radio shows speak of his imminent death. One sociologist, Alberto Quevedo, struggled to explain to Carlin in the Independent Sunday why this is so. "We're all embarrassed by him now because he has been so important for the Argentine people," Quevedo observed. "And death would glorify him. Maradona can offer no more and, like Achilles, he should die young and glorious." An Argentine psychoanalyst and television host also discussed the matter with the journalist. "We are the greatest when Maradona is the greatest," asserted Jose Abadi, "but when he falls we fall with him. And we do not want that."