Dai Greene won the gold medal at the Athletics World Championships yesterday in the 400m hurdles.
Now I commented to a colleague what a fine achievement this was and he agreed.
When I looked on a BBC blog about Greene's win this morning a numebr of commentators were dismissive.
It was a flash in the pan. It was the slowest time ever to win the event. etc etc
Flash in the pan? Well Greene was a definite medal contender so hardly a flash in the pan. As to the time? Fair enough but at least 6 in the event had previously broken 48 seconds. Times have generally been slow at Daegu and anyway you can only beat what's put in front of you.
True Greene is no Ed Moses but he deserves credit for delivering when it matters. Nice one Dai.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Are we Sports fans?
Its less than a year to go to the Olympics and a quick straw poll of the office found a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
A few colleagues have applied for and got tickets but most are uninterested.
General comment are "we'll make a hash of it" "waste of money" the usual I suppose.
I suspect that if it was the Football World Cup there would be considerable support. We often say we are sports fans? The question is are we ? Or are we Football fans?
Curiously I'd rather we were successful at Cricket than Football.
A few colleagues have applied for and got tickets but most are uninterested.
General comment are "we'll make a hash of it" "waste of money" the usual I suppose.
I suspect that if it was the Football World Cup there would be considerable support. We often say we are sports fans? The question is are we ? Or are we Football fans?
Curiously I'd rather we were successful at Cricket than Football.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mixed feelings over the blade runner
Yes its been a while......
I note that the South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius has smashed his personal best with a time of 45.07 seconds for the 400mm.
Pistorius' dream is to run at the 2012 Olympics. Pistorius, who runs using two "blades" to replace his amputated lower legs, has been cleared to use his blades in competition against able bodied atheletes.
This decision didn't attract much controversy when Pistorius' best time was 45.6 but now he'll be going to the world championships the first amputee to do so.
The question is is Pistorius gain an advantage using his blades? It has been shown that technological advances can have significant impacts on sport. The move from wooden rackets in tennis, the improvements in distance in golf. In Athletics track technologies can impact times.
I have sympathy for Pistorius and I'm sure we all admire his triumph over adversity but if this time next year he shaves another half a second using new blades we'll wonder how much is him and much the blades.
I note that the South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius has smashed his personal best with a time of 45.07 seconds for the 400mm.
Pistorius' dream is to run at the 2012 Olympics. Pistorius, who runs using two "blades" to replace his amputated lower legs, has been cleared to use his blades in competition against able bodied atheletes.
This decision didn't attract much controversy when Pistorius' best time was 45.6 but now he'll be going to the world championships the first amputee to do so.
The question is is Pistorius gain an advantage using his blades? It has been shown that technological advances can have significant impacts on sport. The move from wooden rackets in tennis, the improvements in distance in golf. In Athletics track technologies can impact times.
I have sympathy for Pistorius and I'm sure we all admire his triumph over adversity but if this time next year he shaves another half a second using new blades we'll wonder how much is him and much the blades.
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