The phrase natural athlete can hide the family logistics that made training possible.

Natural athlete is a phrase that removes a family from the picture. Behind most early talent there is transport, fees, someone who rearranged their working hours, someone who drove at six in the morning for years. Calling the result natural is a compliment that quietly erases everyone who made the hours possible.

This matters beyond sport, since the same word is used for anyone whose early advantages have become invisible. When you are tempted to call someone naturally good at something, try asking how they got their first thousand hours. And when someone says it about you, it is worth naming who actually paid for those hours, because they will not do it themselves.