No doubt many will have followed the multitude of sporting events at the Paris Olympics over the past two weeks. Some sports we only get to view every four years. Shooting, archery, skateboarding and kite surfing are just some that rarely if ever grace our screens. They have their followers and certainly bring a variety to the programmes.
At this Olympics some of our more well-known athletes have been given pre competition profiles repeated many times prior to their participation. Putting gold medals around their necks in advance is always a dangerous practice. Sadly several failed to reach the gold standard predicted for them. Max Whitlock, Adam Peaty, Jake James and Helen Glover all missed out on a gold medal.
Thus the achievement of Keely Hodgkinson in winning the 800 metres with so much weight on her shoulders to deliver was all the more wonderful to witness. She joins a very select band of female athletes to win gold in athletics. Ann Packer, Mary Rand, Mary Peters, Tessa Sanderson, Sally Gunnell, Denise Lewis, Kelly Holmes and Jessica Ennis-Hill make up this illustrious group.
No doubt people will have had their favourites to watch. There have been many standout performances across the board.
The great Britain Triathlon teams gave us heart in the mouth moments as they fought for medals. The heroic run of Katerina Johnson-Thompson to just miss gold was another must-watch event.
Less impressive was watching swimmers cope with pollution in the River Seine. One swimmer to date has caught E.coli as a result of her swim. It looked very murky and unpleasant water in which to swim.
Watching sailors hunt for wind to enable them to race contrasted sharply with the 50mph speed of the kite surfers.
We have yet to see the Paralympics that will follow. This event has come a very long way since the 1980s. I was privileged to be the press officer for the GB team in Holland in 1980. Media coverage was virtually non-existent and funding was sparse. My accommodation was a tent and I paid my own way. Today the Para-Olympics are properly recognised and we will see some amazing performances.
For the traditionalists the football season is just kicking off. Top clubs will be spending millions of pounds to try to catch up with the mega- rich Manchester City. They face ongoing investigation for financial irregularities and so may well fall foul of the law and lose their prime position as the stars of the Premier League. Plymouth Argyle has a high profile new manager in Wayne Rooney but is predicted to be relegated. Let’s hope the pundits are wrong.
It is the case that we sporting fans have been spoilt for choice but perhaps we should spare a thought for those not so interested in sporting events. For my part I hope that as a lifelong Arsenal supporter I will not be disappointed again with second place. We live in hope!
