Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on Little Miss Perfect!
The nickname is not mine, but that of Simon Barnes of The Times in his article about the incomparable Jessica Ennis, who surely will be one of the faces of the London Olympics. Barnes talks of the burden placed on Cathy Freeman’s shoulders because she was the face of the Sydney Games. She took it well and still won the gold in her event.
Can Jessica?
Judging by the reaction of her parents and I think, her sister, as she won yesterday and she will have all support she can want in that direction. As I suspect she will from the media, who adore her and UK Athletics, who see her as a good bet for Olympic gold.
But as I said in the title, we must be careful to not put too much pressure on her.
I have this feeling though, that if we do, then it will make no difference to her. She’s been through a lot of adversity and problems to get where she has already. How many athletes have learned to jump off the wrong foot for a start to avoid injury? So perhaps the pressure we could add is minimal.
Idowu’s Legacy
Phillips Idowu has come good in the last couple of years in the triple jump, winning the World Championships last year and the Euopean this year. In an interview in The Times he is quoted as saying this.
I want my kids to say, ‘Dad was good at what he did’, and they can tell their kids, ‘Grandad was good at what he did.’
They can also tell them about the upbringing I had and inspire them to know that you can still make the best of yourself. You can come from a really bad upbringing and be the best in the world. That’s my inspiration.
He is absolutely right.
Why Arsene Wenger is Different
It has been reported on the BBC, that he sent a message of congratulations to Mo Farah after his victory in the 5,000 metres last night. According to the Telegraph, Arsene had already given Mo his backing.
I can’t imagine many other football managers doing the same.
How To Motivate Athletes
I read in The Times today, that quite a few of our successful athletes in Barcelona have not been given funds to help their training from Lottery sources. One, Andy Turner won gold and two others, Mark Lewis Francis and Christian Malcolm won silver in the two sprints.
I always remember when I was at ICI, learning about motivators and demotivators on a course. I seem to remember that money wasn’t a particularly good motivator, but lack of money was a strong demotivator. On the other hand status was a strong motivator. So perhaps to succeed in a major championship is a very strong motivator and nothing is going to stop you doing it, even if you’re a bit short of the readies. Remember though, that as team members, they would have all the support they need in terms of physios and coaches. Is giving people the right support another motivator?Andthey also have the status of being in the team.
So perhaps someone has been working on the status thing and being more careful with the money. Has it got results? After all we’re ahead of the Germans in the medal table. And that can’t be bad!
Perhaps we should apply this set of rules to other areas as well, like business and politics. We tend to pay people a lot of money at the top and they don’t perform.
Has the Party for 2012 Begun?
I have been watching the European Athletics Championships from Barcelona and enjoying them tremendously. It seems to me that the athletes, who seem to be performing better than they usually do, are enjoying themselves immensely.
Is this the 2012 effect, because everybody wants to appear at their own Olympics? But it all bodes well especially as I suspect it isn’t just the athletes who are getting ready for the Games.
And talking of the Olympic party in 2012, is it going to be a bit different from the original plans, due to the multi-national and multi-racial nature of the UK.
Let’s take the Irish! They are a very keen sporting nation and have had quite a bit of success in the past and like to support their athletes. So London will also be Ireland’s games as well, as they will never get closer. There will be one hell of a party if any of their competitors strike gold.
I suspect too that other nations, with large immigrant commnities in the UK, will also join in and hopefully create a very vibrant Olympic atmoshere.
Screaming at the Television
I tend to get emotional watching athletics on television. Why I don’t know, but it is perhaps that at school it was the one sport I could do with any prowess.
I can remember being got out of bed by my father to watch Derek Ibbotson break the world record for the mile and Seb Coe breaking the 800 metres record in Oslo, but I never saw any of his or Steve Ovett’s wins in the Olympics as we were away both times.
One race stands out in my mind and that was Bruce Tulloh‘s victory in the 5,000 metres in the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962. I think my parents must have been away, as I was alone in the house in Cockfosters. I screamed and screamed the tiny Tulloh home.
Today, I was also alone as I wqtched Mo Farah win the 10,000 metres in another European Championships in Barcelona. I screamed again and this time, he didn’t just win, but had another Briton, Chris Thompson in second.
I am really looking forward to the London Olympics.
After tonight, I feel a bit better!
Mo Farah
Mo Farah is another who delights me and brings a smile to my face.
Over the years, I’ve done business on telephone billing systems with quite a few immigrants of Somali origin. I’ve never had a problem and those that I dealt with were a pleasure with whom to do business. They all seemed to work hard to do the best for themselves and their families. We even put in a joint bid for the billing system for a Somali telephone service, based on redundant analogue mobile phone kit.
Mo was born in Somalia and by hard work, has become our best male middle-distance runner for several decades. Let’s hope he gets a medal in London 2012! I sometimes think, I could have been a good club runner, but I didn’t have the dedication and I was an undiagnosed coeliac.
So why is it, that the Somalis I’ve met and people like Mo are a credit to their homeland, but the country continues to be a total basket-case, with lots of death and piracy?
What a Trophy!
I saw this trophy in the Museum of London.
The Chris Brasher Sporting Life Trophy
It was originally presented by the Sporting Life in 1909 to the winner of the Polytechnic Marathon. In 2003 Chris Brasher‘s name was added to commemorate his founding of the London Marathon.
But there is also controversy about the ownership of the trophy, according to this on Ian Ridpath’s web site.
I have always had a soft spot for Brasher.
I remember, as a nine-year-old, getting up in 1956 and hearing that he had won the gold medal in the 3,000 metres steeplechase in the Melbourne Olympics. I’ve also worn his walking boots for years, I’ve watched many of his London Marathons and admired his journalism on both the television and the printed media.
He also was the interviewer when Barnes Wallis, the designer of the bouncing bomb, said one of my favourite quotations.
There is no greater thrill in life than proving something is impossible and then showing how it can be done.
Never give up in life!
Jesse Owens and Lutz Long
Most people know the story of how Jesse Owens annoyed Hitler, by winning four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But what is less well known is the story of how his German rival, Lutz Long, helped him to qualify for the long jump final.
According to Owens, Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum of 7.15m required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking a foul trying to push for a greater distance.
Owens then beat Long in the final. They corresponded by letter until war broke out. Owens lived in a lot of poverty and Long was killed in the war.
The authorities at the World Championships have also remembered the rivalry and marked it in an appropriate way. This was from Tom Fordyce’s blog on the BBC.
Owens too is long gone, killed by lung cancer 29 years ago, but the two men’s families have kept the transatlantic bond strong. When Owen’s grand-daughter presents the medals on Saturday, she will be joined by Long’s grandson Kai. The symbolism of the moment will be lost on nobody.
Let’s hope that 2012 takes place in a similar atmosphere to the successful games in Berlin.
Germans Drop the Baton
I did put this topic on my list of things to do, when they dropped it in the heats of the 4 x 100 metres relay. But I decided that I wouldn’t complete it until the event was over. I didn’t want to put the fluence on the British team, who in the end got a bronze medal, less than a second behind the Jamaicans.
The Americans had helped the British cause by being disqualified too.
It always puzzles me, why when you perform at these high levels, you do stupid things like that. Just as the British quartet showed here, if you get the baton round well, you’re in with a chance.
But then, we’ve had our failures in the past!
The Anonymous Widower 