It is always gratifying when a fellow British man or woman triumphs on the world sporting stage and the sense of elation is heightened when that success is at the expense of the Americans.
I have nothing against Americans per se; most of my friends and acquaintances are American. My argument is more with America’s overriding belief that everything American is so much better than what the rest of the world can offer. In many areas of human endeavor, America does indeed excel but not in all fields and certainly not all of the time.
NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing is indicative of the America-first mentality. At the start of the swimming events, as the swimmers limber up, the focus is firmly on the American competitors, especially when they are expected to win, which is usually most of the time.
Dan Hicks, the NBC swimming commentator, had the Women’s 400m Freestyle marked down as no contest. The gold medal was destined for Californian Katie Hoff; the other swimmers were merely present to make up the numbers.
As the swimmers came under starter’s orders, the names of the swimmers and their respective nationalities were superimposed over the lanes in the pool. Britain, I learned, had two finalists — Rebecca Adlington and Jo Jackson in Lanes Five and Six, respectively.
For the British to have two swimmers in an Olympic final is considered a success in itself. As to medals, they are normally reserved for the other competitors. Noting the two lanes for the British girls, I had them coming in fifth and sixth; a massive improvement over seventh and eighth.
The race got underway and France’s Laure Manaudo set the pace for the first 100m but the other swimmers were always in contention. At the half-way stage, it was still anybody’s race but Hoff began to edge into the lead. Hoff still held the advantage as she turned into the final 50m and looked on course for the predicted gold medal.
My eyes diverted to Lanes Five and Six, and the progress of the British girls. Both were doing well and finishing strongly. With 10m to go, the power of the British girls suddenly made it appear that Hoff was going backwards. Her slender lead was diminishing with every stroke and it was touch and go whether she would hold on.
In the final meter, Adlington powered in to touch home first and Hoff’s dreams of the gold medal were gone. If there had been another couple of meters to go, with Jackson also finishing strongly, Hoff would have struggled to hold on to the silver medal position.
Like the Meatloaf song goes, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Britain had gold and bronze. My American wife suddenly became quiet. After dancing around the room with my arms held aloft in celebration, I noticed the crestfallen look on her face. Her acknowledgment of British success was somewhat sullen. I think she would have much preferred Hoff to have been beaten by one of the French girls or the Italian.
But for the British, Adlington’s win is of such historic magnitude that there is already talk of the swimming baths in her hometown of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, being named after her. The 19-year-old is the first British woman to win a gold medal in swimming since Anita Lonsbrough won the 200m Breaststroke in the Rome Olympic Games in 1960; a win I remember seeing on a 12-inch black-and-white TV set.
My wife did not have to wait that long before America struck gold again and the sparkle came back to her eyes. The United States snatched victory from France in the Men’s 4×100m Freestyle Relay in what may prove to be the best race of the entire swimming competition in Beijing. As befitting the best tradition of British sportsmanship, my congratulations were both speedy and hearty. The fact that the French had been beaten into second place made my congratulations all the more enthusiastic.
2 Comments
August 31, 2008 at 5:24 am
Hi Calvin
Good to hear you were cheering Rebecca on – we did indeed rule the pool!
I thought you might like to watch a video clip of our last women’s Olympic Gold swimmer – the legendary Anita Lonsbrough. The film clip shows that nail-biting finish that you remember watching in black and white all those years ago. Follow the link to our website and enjoy!
Alison
August 31, 2008 at 11:58 am
Many thanks for the video clip, Alison. It brought back distant memories. I had forgotten that Anita was a Yorkshire lass.
Calvin.