Many Argentines are involved in sports. Fútbol (soccer) is more of a national obsession than a game. Argentina won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986 and the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics for men's soccer, and the exploits of Diego Maradona have kept fans, paparazzi and columnists busy for the past 20 years. Recently, Lionel Messi has drawn comparisons to Maradona, and indeed Maradona himself named Messi his "successor". Tennis, rugby union and field hockey are also important and Argentina won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens for men's basketball. The legendaryFormula One driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, was Argentinian. The rich, heavily influenced by English customs, have traditionally enjoyed polo and Argentina dominates this sport on the world scene. In recent times, the international polo player Adolfo Cambiasso has tried to broaden the appeal of polo by introducung several football traditions to polo, like celebrating goals and the like. Cambiasso's strategy has had some success when different football fans went to see the final of the Argentinean Open, but has been critiziced by the traditional supporters of Polo.
The official national sport of Argentina, though rarely played, is the polo-like pato. Pato literally translates to duck.
More than half of the population practices some sport or at least performs some physical exercise, such as walking or jogging. Regular practice of football, going to the gym and cycling are the three most common activities of this kind.