Category: Competition

Taking part

Jacques Rogge, the IOC Pres, opened London 2012 with this observation: “And to the athletes I offer this thought: your talent, your dedication and commitment brought you here; now you have a chance to become true Olympians. That honour is determined not by whether you win but by how you compete”. A much-derided clichè, I know, in this world of fast money and instant celebrity. But I suspect that the two camps (pro and anti London 2012) are divided by a simple criterion: have you been a competitor in sport yourself? Continue reading “Taking part”

Judgement on photo competition 29

The photo competition, number 29 asked for photos to illustrate what the weather was doing in your area of the world… and I thought there would be masses of entries – but no, only a few!

OZ posted a laid back cat, sunning on a wooden beam – wonderful blue skies behind. How envious I felt.

Soutie posted several pictures, here, here, here and here illustrating rather extreme wet and windy weather in South Africa. My favourite of all these was the third, where the damage and the scale of the trees is clearly seen.

Boadicea posted a picture of a kookaburra in an old gum tree, and this for me is the winner.
I may be biased, but I love those wonderful birds and their call reminds me so much of camping trips in 1987 -88! I can almost smell the eucalyptus…. But more than that it is a beautiful photo: the composition is balanced, with the branch shape, the proportion of blue against the silvered bark, and the tufts of the bird’s head-feathers echoed in the sharp spikes of the broken off tree stump.

Thank you Boadicea, and over to you!

 

It’s how you do it that counts, allegedly

From those wonderful folks who gave you Pearl Harbor (thanks to Jerry Della Femina for the quote), it is now clear that the true spirit of the games has been revived at last. Their pommel-horse gymnast fell off. But after due consideration the judges decided he did it really nicely – so he could still help his team to the silver medal.

This is all because new events involving really nice falling are soon to be added to the Olympic corpus. They’ll do it from bikes, horses and pole-vault poles, into ditches, ponds and pits respectively.

Jolly good show, chaps! Continue reading “It’s how you do it that counts, allegedly”

Tour de force anglaise

While cherished cynics pooh-pooh the eighty-seven hour ride around the magnificent French campagne, there are those of us who will be pleased that three English riders have proved better than the rest. And although outspoken Daley Thompson believes that athletics are the superior discipline (his own claim to fame relies on his failure to be good enough at any one of his ten to be a world-beater like Steve Redgrave), I defy anyone to doubt the skill and dedication displayed by the Sky team in sealing first and second places overall for Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome and two three* explosive stage wins for Mark Cavendish.

As a footnote, the spectacle was a welcome counterpoint to English fortunes at the Oval and Royal Lytham, where Soutie’s mates won all the laurels.

* mea maxima culpa, thanks, Soutie!

A paean for London 2012

They know the price of everything
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!)
They carp about the air we breathe
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!)
Our celebration of the rings
Our vict’ries and our winners’ wreaths
D’you wonder why we make them seethe?
They envy what we all achieve!
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!) Continue reading “A paean for London 2012”