The Thrill of Victory and The Agony of Defeat .My Memory of Sports on TV in the 80s
My training week has taken a bit of a holiday with the lingering Man flu keeping me from training for a 2nd week and having a bad cough and just being sick.
I did get to watch and read a little more than I would have during the week if I had been training, I got my monthly programe and it looks good if not a lot more serious.I am not sure if I am going to live up to it but I am looking forward to just getting out of this rut.
Having said that and keeping to the theme this past few weeks, Australia and its Sportsmen have not really had the start it wanted .There is already a string of commentators and sports personalities sifting through the entrails of Australian Sports at the London Olympics.
It has also been a real insight into the pressure and personalities of our sportsmen.Many very young and for whom I have great sympathy to a degree. I do level some criticism at the media though. I am not so sure as sports mad as Australia is we would think any less of our Athletes for just giving of their best. I don't seem to recall it being in the Australian Ethos not to give it ones best but leaving it all in the field . The one great difference is that the Games swing round once in 4 years .It is 4 years invested and there is I am sure a lot invested. You can't really pick yourself off and not be emotional about the result ,But I do not think the Press and media help by emphasizing the imagined disappointment of a nation.
I and many others I know did not voice such views.I haven't heard anyone curse the failings of the Australian Olympic Team. Maybe it is about a cycle and as other countries improve we need to rebuild. I already think because we are a sports mad nation we punch way above our weight,
It is sad that there is no broad reflection of a more mature view in the Press.(other than a few good pieces about the individual cost and the individual sacrifice we should be proud of) We should highlight the effort and everyone is allowed to have a bad Hair day. A few moments worth remembering , Anna Meares losing in the Keirin which is fast and furious and well stuff happens.Our pursuit team beaten by the British team , World Champions. In the swimming competition despite the prediction , we were beaten by better swimmers on the day .
Is that so hard to accept. Possibly with such level of competition there must be equal preparation for the athlete and possibly the nation ,it is alright to lose once in a while and be a good sport about it. It is a fine line as that mental desire and belief probably should not be tempered by any self doubt . Clearly in the swimming and cycling and rowing Australia has just not had it its way but to medal is an achievement and whilst I do not pretend to understand the effort and immense desire and let down these athletes feel , I hope that in time they and the Country will put it in perspective. Obviously there are sports fans (more idiots) who take their sports seriously and the individuals heckling and abusing the family of McCulloch is just being loutish and not appreciating the Athletes for the fact that they are the best in their country.
In a series of exchanges that Channel Nine is understood to have captured on film, three male spectators and one female fan directed streams of insults at McCulloch's mother, Karen, and her partner, Ken Bates, after they watched McCulloch contest the team sprint with Anna Meares.
Nothing brings to sharper focus the emotion in Olympic life than the story of Jake Andrewartha
Australian Judoka who was out of the Games in 24 seconds.life can be very cruel and .
Seeing such a big man reduced to tears is confronting; one day Andrewartha will realise that merely stepping onto an Olympic judo mat was a victory but this was not that time.All over in 24 seconds, as bout ends in tear SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Maybe we all need to grow up a little.I love my sports and it reflects who we are . It is good for the soul of the country for others to have a turn in front of us once in a while. I will console myself with the fact that we have a Springsteen Loving World Champion Treasurer and we are on the Economic leader Board . Take that World.
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