The tales about sporting figures (8)
I believe the answer is:
athletes
'sporting figures' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'the tales about' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates an anagram.
'the'+'tales'='thetales'
'thetales' anagrammed gives 'ATHLETES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for athletes that I've seen before include "Sportsmen and women" , "Fungal infection" , "sportspeople?" , "Sporty types" , "Oddly, the least of it is they're very fit" .)