Just on the sports thing, I think the difference between talking positively about sport - or, say, musical - prowess compared to giftedness is that the effort for reward is obvious. Everyone knows that to be a great sports star or an outstanding musician requires a massive amount of effort. This is not so apparent with intelligence (I am not saying that honing intelligence in to something meaningful or useful doesn't require effort, just that it doesn't look like it requires effort and in fact you reap many benefits of intelligence without having to work at it).
A gifted athlete has the same experience as a gifted student. It doesn't look like effort for them to hone it, because they have physical advantages that their competitors don't. And since playing sports is fun for them, they pursue it naturally.
It's only when a gifted athlete competes against other gifted athletes that effort begins to become a major factor. It's their spelling bee.
