The Beijing Olympics has reaffirmed my rapidly dwindling faith (for the moment, at least) in human endeavour. Throughout our lives, indeed in the entire motley comedy that is human civilization, if there has been one constant , its been the desire to look up to heroes. To have faith in a seemingly indestructible , immutable force that can never be expected to falter….One who shall deliver the goods against a lifetime of odds.
(Perhaps one of the reasons why the concept of GOD is such a successful meme in human society…a virus that feeds of the insatiable human need for a deity to adulate.)
So, from Achilles to Einstein….from Jesus Christ to John Lennon, we have had over the course of history people, who at their zenith have held the rapt attention of massive sections of the crowd; awing all and sundry with the enormity of their deeds.
Alas , in the modern age of cynicism , suffocating ingenuity and overbearing in your face theatricality, such heroes are all to few and sparse.
All the modern day icons (or the so-called ones)….. are but paper statuettes….raised onto an exalted pedestal in a solitary sundown…..and ripped to shreds within a tenth of that time.
Our political figures…… uninspiring and untrustworthy
Writers….. Unimaginative
Media…..well , villainous.
Musicians and Poets….. long dead.
Thinkers…… ah , kidding…. One is not meant to think for oneself these days, is One?
Amidst such stifling mediocrity….it is only the sportsmen and their deeds of surpassing physical endeavour that really ignite passion.
Agreed… the Saidar of sport has been tainted by the oily murk of match fixing and doping…..there has been in recent times a visible decline in sporting achievement……The Tour was a sham….and the hitherto invincible Federer had his heel cruelly pierced by the unerring forehands of a Spaniard in overtight shorts and sleeveless T-Shirts. (For all the Rafa fans , I can only say…that to a Roman…Hannibal will hardly appear a hero.)
I was honestly not too enthusiastic about the Games……never perhaps has my judgment about sport been so drastically wrong….and, boy…am I glad about it.
A marfanoid American with an albatross arm span jumped into the pool….and emerged the greatest Olympian of all time. Opinions will vary and the likes of Nurmi , Zatopek , Owens, Nadia , Lewis…not to mention Spitz , will all feature in the debate. Whatever may be the outcome , the exploits of Phelps provided a welcome throwback to the age of heroes and that of legends ( albeit with a little help , most notably from the admirable Jason Lezack). It was sheer poetry….reminded me of the Rohirrim at cockcrow, on the field of Pelennor….
“ and then all the host burst into song and they sang as they slew for the joy of battle was upon them.”
(There’s something about the name Michael you know…..just consider the sheer number of true sporting Gods who’ve borne it…….Jordan , Schumacher , Johnson and now Phelps.)
If Phelps created a symphony in the pool, a lanky Jamaican caused a bloodbath on the sprint track. The Bird Nest stadium in Beijing provided the a suitable setting – a throwback to the Collosseum of Rome . and in stepped the mighty gladiator Usain Bolt , and simply annihilated and outrightly humiliated all opposition in a manner that scarce will have been witnessed in the history of the Olymics. (I have not seen Jesse Owens at Berlin ’36 , but I doubt even the Ebony Express could have afforded to slow down over the last 10 m , running almost sideways, arms raised in celebration.)
(Perhaps one of the reasons why the concept of GOD is such a successful meme in human society…a virus that feeds of the insatiable human need for a deity to adulate.)
So, from Achilles to Einstein….from Jesus Christ to John Lennon, we have had over the course of history people, who at their zenith have held the rapt attention of massive sections of the crowd; awing all and sundry with the enormity of their deeds.
Alas , in the modern age of cynicism , suffocating ingenuity and overbearing in your face theatricality, such heroes are all to few and sparse.
All the modern day icons (or the so-called ones)….. are but paper statuettes….raised onto an exalted pedestal in a solitary sundown…..and ripped to shreds within a tenth of that time.
Our political figures…… uninspiring and untrustworthy
Writers….. Unimaginative
Media…..well , villainous.
Musicians and Poets….. long dead.
Thinkers…… ah , kidding…. One is not meant to think for oneself these days, is One?
Amidst such stifling mediocrity….it is only the sportsmen and their deeds of surpassing physical endeavour that really ignite passion.
Agreed… the Saidar of sport has been tainted by the oily murk of match fixing and doping…..there has been in recent times a visible decline in sporting achievement……The Tour was a sham….and the hitherto invincible Federer had his heel cruelly pierced by the unerring forehands of a Spaniard in overtight shorts and sleeveless T-Shirts. (For all the Rafa fans , I can only say…that to a Roman…Hannibal will hardly appear a hero.)
I was honestly not too enthusiastic about the Games……never perhaps has my judgment about sport been so drastically wrong….and, boy…am I glad about it.
A marfanoid American with an albatross arm span jumped into the pool….and emerged the greatest Olympian of all time. Opinions will vary and the likes of Nurmi , Zatopek , Owens, Nadia , Lewis…not to mention Spitz , will all feature in the debate. Whatever may be the outcome , the exploits of Phelps provided a welcome throwback to the age of heroes and that of legends ( albeit with a little help , most notably from the admirable Jason Lezack). It was sheer poetry….reminded me of the Rohirrim at cockcrow, on the field of Pelennor….
“ and then all the host burst into song and they sang as they slew for the joy of battle was upon them.”
(There’s something about the name Michael you know…..just consider the sheer number of true sporting Gods who’ve borne it…….Jordan , Schumacher , Johnson and now Phelps.)
If Phelps created a symphony in the pool, a lanky Jamaican caused a bloodbath on the sprint track. The Bird Nest stadium in Beijing provided the a suitable setting – a throwback to the Collosseum of Rome . and in stepped the mighty gladiator Usain Bolt , and simply annihilated and outrightly humiliated all opposition in a manner that scarce will have been witnessed in the history of the Olymics. (I have not seen Jesse Owens at Berlin ’36 , but I doubt even the Ebony Express could have afforded to slow down over the last 10 m , running almost sideways, arms raised in celebration.)
It was not merely the historic treble of the 100m, 200m and 4x 100 m relay in world record times , but so dominant was Bolt , that the all the opposition admitted an utter helplessness in being able to match his times were he too keep up form and fitness.
These games more than any other in recent memory, have celebrated human endeavour. Citius , Altius , Fortus ….. was never more applicable. In the likes of Bolt and Phelps , we have heroes to compare with any age from the past.
….and what with a certain ‘striped’ American staging a quiet recovery from knee surgery, there’s hope for the world yet.
