The Greatest British Olympian Ever
With the retirement of Sir Chris Hoy, who numerically is our greatest Olympian, the debate is starting as to who is the greatest.
There are many worthies amongst my favourites, but then only one would be on a vote for the top ten greatest Olympians.
But that one Olympian does stand out.
I remember on the 6th of July 2005, sitting with C in the kitchen listening as Lord Coe put the final speech in London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics.
She was a barrister and said it was the finest plea in mitigation she’d ever heard. He delivered it superbly. You can read the speech and othe others here and C was right. it was written, so that if we failed in the bid, as was expected, then Princess Anne, Lord Coe, Ken Livingstone, Tessa Jowell, Denise Lewis and the others involved, could come home knowing that they’d given it a very good shot.
Fortunately, Lord Coe got the result most people really wanted and the rest as they say is history.
Many people did not ever see, Sebastian Coe running. I didn’t see his Olympic trumphs, but I did see him on the television many times in the 1980s. he had a grace and created excitement, like no other athlete of the period.
So as someone, who won gold medals on the track and gave us the magnificent London 2012 Olympics, there can only be one choice for Britain’s greatest Olympian.
Munich Olympic Park
I’ve been to several Olympic Parks and some like Montreal and Athens are not in the best of health. But Munich appears to be in use.
It is in my view one of the world’s most iconic sports stadia.
It is place full of tragedy and happiness.
I remember watching on television as the massacre at the Olympic village unfolded. Thankfully, no Olympics has seen anything like it since.
But there is a lesser tragedy entwined in the site and that is of one of Britain’s greatest ever athletes Lillian Board, who died in Munich of cancer, a couple of years before the 1972 Olympic Games. One of the paths on the site has been given her name. She was truly a multi-talented person, who represented her country at all distances up to a mile, and surely, she must be one of few people, who’ve received their MBE from the Queen, in a coat they’ve designed and made themselves.
Then there is the sadness and triumph in the medal tables on the honours board. Look at those of the women athletes and there is an awful lot of DDR and USSR. How many were clean?
But tucked in at the bottom is Mary Peters, who produced the performance of her life to win gold in the pentathlon. Of all the sporting events I’ve seen, both live and on television, her performance in Munich is in the top ten.
How Many Russians Will Fail Dope Tests In Gothenburg?
I’m watching the athletics from Gothenburg at the moment. You do wonder with their record of the previous years, as detailed in this article on the BBC, how many Russians will be caught cheating?
Sheffield Put The Don Valley Stadium Out Of Its Misery
The news yesterday that Sheffield City Council is to close the Don Valley Stadium Is something that should have happened years ago.
Although it is a fine stadium it is costly to run and out of scale with all of the other athletics venues in the UK, with the exception of the Olympic Stadium in London. Even Crystal Palace is smaller with a capacity of 16,000 as against the 25,000 of the Don Valley Stadium.
It is not just my view that this will be best for Sheffield and athletics, despite what some vested interests are saying. Respected BBC athletics commentator Mike Costello has said, that it the right decision as Sheffield has a superb indoor training centre in the English Institute of Sport and the council will be providing an alternative outdoor track. Probably, the whole of the UK needs more decent indoor 200 metre tracks and training centres, with some more well-maintained simple outdoor stadia, where everybody can get a taste for athletics on a proper track.
It was probably a massive mistake on the part of Sheffield to bid for the 1991 World Student Games. It doesn’t seem to have left the city with the sort of legacy that Manchester got from the 2002 Commonwealth Games, with a large stadium and a velodrome. The only legacy would appear to be the world-class Ponds Force pools.
Incidentally, does anybody have any memories of those World Student Games in 1991. I can certainly remember the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
How Not To Interview Mo Farah
This article from the Sun, talks about and shows one of worst interviews I’ve ever seen.
It does show what a mild-mannered guy, Mo Farah must be! I wouldn’t have kept so calm!
The Tragic Fallout Of Doping Cheats
After the mega-cheat, Lance Armstrong’s theatrical performance, last night, Nicole Cooke this morning made an impassioned plea for the victims of those, like the drug-fuelled Texan. She said, that she had lost medals because others cheated by doping when competing against her.
I remember the 1960s, when athletics was ruined by the Soviet Block, who took everything that a chemist could devise. Look at the career of our greatest-ever female sprinter; Kathy Smallwood-Cook, who would be in a totally different league, if competition had been fair and square. It has always puzzled me, how Mary Peters ever won that pentathlon gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics. If you look at the women’s athletics results at that games, few medallists are not from the Soviet Block. There are a few West German medals, but then they had home advantage and London 2012 showed how that helps drammatically. I do remember watching that pentathlon, with C on a terrible black and white television, when Mary Peters, was almost willed over the high jump bar by masses of British troops based in Germany, who somehow had got tickets.
Where would the careers of some retired clean athletes be, if they had competed fair and square?
Cheats like Armstrong have a lot to answer for! He should be prosecuted for fraud and perhaps asked to spend some time in a nice cosy Texas jail.
Where Now Lord Coe?
The Times today, has a leader which praises Lord Coe for the work he did in getting the Olympics to London and making it a success.
I can remember sitting with C and listening to his speech in Singapore that won us the Olympics in the first place. As a barrister, she said it was the finest plea in mitigation she had ever heard, as it was thought at the time, that we would lose to Paris.
The Times leader also poses what Lord Coe should do next.
I only think, that whatever he does, he’ll make a success of it!
Pistorius Is A Bad Loser
Oscar Pistorius didn’t like losing as is reported here in the Guardian.
I suspect Usain Bolt doesn’t like losing either, as he did in Daegu. But let’s face it, it happens and when it happens you should lose with as much good grace as you can find.
Pistorius has lost a lot of respect by his actions. Luckily, he’ll probably have the chance to make amends in other championships, just as Usain did.
Modesty, Manners And Fair Play
The Evening Standard is London’s newspaper, but it hasn’t always been totally behind the Olympics. However, in this article, Nick Curtis, thinks we got it right.
I do too!
Crime and health problems were down and I have commented how everybody has been talking. Certainly, the police have been friendlier too!
Only time will tell, if this is the correct impression. But talking to Olympic tourists generally confirmed we’d got it right.
Roll on the Paralympics! And the world aThletic Championships in 2017!
Usain Bolt In Sclater Street, Shoreditch
I took these pictures of the painting of Usain Bolt by Jimmy C in Sclater Street, Shoreditch.
It’s very easy to get to and all you need to do is get to Shoreditch High Street station on the East London line, turn left as you come out of the station and turn right at the main road. Sclater Street is directly ahead.
You can even see the painting, from the lift lobby on the Southbound platform.
The Anonymous Widower 