The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
US Open winners will deserve title
Along with phrases like the ‘new normal’ and ‘bio-secure bubble’, ‘asterisk’ and ‘tainted trophy’ have been very popular over the last few months.
When it comes to assessing whether a winner’s achievement has been devalued you have to take each case individually, as far as I’m concerned.
If two clubs were very close to each other when the last football season was shut and one of them was given the title, that would be one example when you would have to say it has been diminished.
But all of the football competitions that resumed under different circumstances don’t fall into that category.
The English Premier League teams had to adapt in the same way and that was the case for the Champions League too.
You can tell by the reaction of the winners and losers of the final on Sunday night that this year’s competition meant just as much as previous ones.
Yes, changing circumstances might suit teams or individuals better (Ronnie O’Sullivan liked the fact there were no fans at the Crucible) but a level playing field is all that you can ask for as an athlete.
The US Open tennis is the next one to have the ‘asterisk’ debate.
Neither the men’s nor the women’s defending champion will be there and there are plenty of other big names who have opted to give New York a miss.
Choice is a big factor for me. Nobody is stopping the likes of Nadal and Federer from competing so the winners can justifiably say that they deserve their title.
I actually think there is less of an asterisk debate in this instance than there was in the days when major nations were boycotting events like the Olympic Games or when there was a big boycott of the Wimbledon that Virginia Wade won.
From an athlete’s point of view, I wouldn’t want to be remembered for winning when one of my main competitors was prevented from playing by others.
Trust me, we all know when it’s not 100% right.
My first world medal came in 2010 and I used to look back on it wondering whether the fact that because it came two weeks after an Olympics, and that was everybody’s main motivation that year, did that silver mean as much?
My own hope for the US Open is that we don’t get one-off champions.
If the man and woman lifting the trophies in a fortnight have either done it before or go on to win more grand slams, people will be less likely to put a big question mark over the whole event when it gets talked about in years to come.
If they turn out to be one-hit wonders, they’ll always have a doubt when their heads hit the pillow at night.
European hopes fading
We’ve had full team sessions on the ice this week which has been another step forward.
Unfortunately, the chances of us competing any time soon are getting smaller rather than bigger.
It’s now pretty certain we can write off September – and October is very doubtful as well.
The European Championships are due to take place towards the end of November and if I had to put my mortgage on it taking place in Norway or being called off, I would have to say the latter.