Once Upon a Deal... by Horace McDonald

Author:Horace McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
Published: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

High bar of collaboration – Even sports people can see the advantages of collaboration over competition…

Horace McDonald

(Published 21st August 2021)

Much like the rest of the nation, having gorged on Euro 2020 and despite it taking only a day to get over the disappointment of England (inevitably) losing the final to Italy on penalties, I took a brief pause before similarly indulging myself in the Olympics – Tokyo 2020. I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s all about the athletics. While the time difference made it difficult to watch many of the events live, its consumption was very much helped by access to BBC iPlayer, provided it was possible to avoid the results. It was great to be able to watch key finals at a time that suited me and without having to endure the much wasted time between events when watching live. Some of you may remember the classic episode of The Likely Lads, an early-1970s British comedy, where in an episode called ‘No Hiding Place’ the two main protagonists, played by James Bolam and Rodney Bewes, were challenged in a bet to avoid knowing the score of an England game before the TV highlights that were due to be shown that evening. In the modern world where technology is throwing news at you constantly, it’s almost impossible for the element of surprise to remain intact.

Recent years have seen a proliferation of new sports added to the Olympic calendar. While I’m sure BMX and skateboarding are wildly popular, I’m not convinced about them as Olympic sports, but the International Olympics Committee needs to do something to maintain interest in the event, particularly amongst younger age groups, many of whom are being lured away to the US football and basketball leagues as well as virtual sports.

I’m a strong believer that the Olympics should only contain those sports where winning the gold medal is the pinnacle in achievement. So, undeniably yes to athletics, gymnastics and swimming but no to football, tennis and golf! (That said, while not a huge rugby fan, I did marvel at the Rugby Sevens.) Tennis player Sascha Zverev can talk all he likes about winning a gold medal being the pinnacle of the sport, but when he looks back on his career, no one will give a damn, particularly as he’s yet to win a Grand Slam event, which is the yardstick of success at the top level in tennis. As a huge Roger Federer fan, I did take delight in Zverev knocking out Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, thus denying the latter the opportunity to win every Grand Slam and the Olympics in the same year, known as the Golden Slam, which has never been done in the men’s game (the wonderful Steffi Graf achieved it in women’s tennis in 1988).

Tokyo 2020 will live long in the memory. Despite the absence of spectators, the inevitable Covid protocols and the starting officials seemingly having no idea how to manage the simple process of starting a race

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