Look good, play well

‘‘ I’M A GREAT ADMIRER OF FEMALE ATHLETES YET, I CONFESS, NO NAMES IMMEDIATELY SPRING TO MIND. THAT IS DOWNRIGHT TERRIBLE.

I WAS lying in my bed on Sunday morning, half awake half asleep, trying desperately to think of a reason why I need not get up for at last another half an hour.

I often do that!

Suddenly, and with no reason at all, the name Fanny Blankers-Koen came into my mind.

It’s not the kind of name that would flash before your eyes every morning.

She’s Dutch and was born in 1918, died in 2004, and she won four gold medals, including the 100 yards sprint at the 1948 London Olympics.

She was probably unaware that my brother John and I finished first and second in the Twickenham Schools Under 10 100 yards final that very same year.

We attributed her success to having a hyphenated surname, always a sign of superiority.

Our own totally unhyphenated surname was of no use in this regard and the general inability to spell it with the right number of ‘n’s and ‘l’s was always annoying!

Fanny B-K was at the top of her game in those post-war years in an era in which there were many superb emerging athletes.

Names coming to mind include Gordon Pirie, Roger Bannister and the remarkable distance runner Emil Zatopek.

These athletes were our heroes and we regarded them as gods, skinny gods, but gods nonetheless.

Gordon Pirie’s achievements included winning gold and silver medals at various international championships in the period 1952 to 1960.

I remember going to London’s White City Stadium to watch him race and being amazed at how thin he was!

Roger Banister was, of course, the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.

He was another god to those of us who aspired to actually running that distance at a gentle trot, breathing heavily but intent on not collapsing in front of our relatives.

“Going to watch the athletics”, especially at White City or one of the other major stadia was always a very special day out. Athletics in the UK in those years of the ‘fifties was a glamour sport and a great inspiration for those of us who unrealistically fancied ourselves as potential champions, even record-holders….

Now, having begun with a reference to the great Fanny Blankers-Koen, I realise that I have kept all subsequent comments to males.

This disappoints me.

I’m a great admirer of female athletes yet, I confess, no names immediately spring to mind.

That is downright terrible. I can think of dozens of superb female tennis players, crowd pleasers in the way they play, win, or lose but I couldn’t name even one of the Ladies World Cup soccer team.

I can name most of the male Aussie record holders but I can’t think of a single female world record holder.

I would like somebody to tell me why that is so, because it is a pathetic state of affairs!

I want to be able to turn on the tellie in the middle of a women’s national or international sports event and at least know which Aussie sports star I am watching.

With very, very few exceptions I can’t do that!

It’s really irritating not least because, again with very few exceptions, our top female sportswomen look fantastic, play out of their skins, and win or lose with good grace.

The blokes on the other hand have usually forgotten to shave and look as if they have been pulled through a hedge backwards.

I don’t want them to look like centre page pin-ups but I do want them to learn the central truth of the fact that when you look good you have a much better chance of playing well.

That is as true for soccer teams as it is for individual potential champions whatever their sport.