A word on patriotism in sport
November 1st 2007 15:29
They say that sport is the cousin of war and to the layman of athletics, the person who once a year tunes into the television coverage of the latest major athletics event, what side an athlete is on matters a great deal.
It represents a solitary chance to express the patriotism that goes unmarked in every other vestige of society.
The athletes themselves become pantomime characters with people cheering for their own and jeering the foreign opposition.
Even the media gets in on the act – when an athlete underperforms there is the ever-present hint that they should apologise for letting the country they represent down.
For those of us who watch a grand prix or golden league meet or two we learn that the athlete competes first and foremost for themselves.
With no country strips the fields are dominated by Adidas and Nike clothes.
But even then the commentators are constantly reminding you of and talking up the home grown talent – even if they do finish well down the field.
What we must realise before we hang our patriotic hopes on an individual is that they are just that – an individual.
Representing your country for them is not the highest honour but merely a means to an end.
It would be interesting to see how many athletes if offered the choice of running for themselves rather than their nation at a major event would shed their national colours.
No pressure but equally if you win no glory.
Athletes are human and everybody wants to be loved.
Do athletes deserve to carry the burden of national expectation or should we, the public just learn to enjoy athletics in its most simplistic form?
To see the colour of the medals not the colour of the flag.
It represents a solitary chance to express the patriotism that goes unmarked in every other vestige of society.
The athletes themselves become pantomime characters with people cheering for their own and jeering the foreign opposition.
Even the media gets in on the act – when an athlete underperforms there is the ever-present hint that they should apologise for letting the country they represent down.
For those of us who watch a grand prix or golden league meet or two we learn that the athlete competes first and foremost for themselves.
With no country strips the fields are dominated by Adidas and Nike clothes.
But even then the commentators are constantly reminding you of and talking up the home grown talent – even if they do finish well down the field.
What we must realise before we hang our patriotic hopes on an individual is that they are just that – an individual.
Representing your country for them is not the highest honour but merely a means to an end.
It would be interesting to see how many athletes if offered the choice of running for themselves rather than their nation at a major event would shed their national colours.
No pressure but equally if you win no glory.
Athletes are human and everybody wants to be loved.
Do athletes deserve to carry the burden of national expectation or should we, the public just learn to enjoy athletics in its most simplistic form?
To see the colour of the medals not the colour of the flag.
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