Day 5 – 8 Aug Part 2 – AOC

Great ceremony.  Watched the first part downstairs in the lobby of the hotel with all the Chinese staff.  They were loving it and clapping regularly at all the good bits.  Thought the scroll in the middle of the track was great and the athletes footprints as a painting was also a brilliant idea.  Might have to work out our own version of that for some of the Olympic days that we run in schools.

Went back up to my room to watch the teams coming in.  Pretty good showing by the paddlers as they were three of the flag bearers:

Estanguet for France
Stepanka for Czech
Kaliska for Slovakia

The latter two are both Gold Medallists in Heather’s event.

Watched intently as the US team came in but didn’t see Heather.  She managed to phone me just as the team were about to enter the stadium, to tell me she was on the inside of the track and about a third of the way down…..but still didn’t catch a glimpse.   Have to say that I felt a bit emotional watching the teams come in.  You start to think about the last few years and how hard we have worked against pretty big odds and for a number of the years, with the GB Governing Body working against us……..and how it would seem like justice if Heth won a medal.   But that isn’t how sport works…..nobody gives you medals because you deserve them or because you worked hard………..you really do have to win them.  When I stop and think rationally I am ecstatic that Heth made the team and the Games.   It really is life changing to be an Olympian……rightly or wrongly…it has currency, which pretty much lasts a lifetime.  21st of 21 would be a good result….anymore will be a bonus. (have told Heather though that I won’t feel like I got value for money from the trip here unless she gets all four runs and makes the final (thus meaning a top 10 finish!!!!!).

What a brilliant start to the Games.

I sense that things will change from here on in, with me moving to Shunyi tomorrow.  Heather has her last training session between 15.00h and 16.00h tomorrow…..our usual last session that we have done for the last 5 years, namely 2 full racing runs.

This method of “funnelling” the athlete in the last few days of training allows for a sense of familiarity.  With all the things going on around the athlete, training needs to be familiar and comfortable to allow the athlete a “place to be” which is very comforting and known and promotes confidence.

Hope this is a good session.  Heather will be tired after the ceremony and will have to travel in the morning, from the village back to Shunyi and the course.  She also has some final bits and pieces to do with her kit and the boat, as tomorrow is also the first opportunity for boat weighing and kit checks.

The boat must weigh more than 9Kg and must be a minimum width and length and above a certain thickness at either end.  The kit will be checked to ensure that the helmet meets safety regulations, the life jacket can support a 15Kg weight in a tank of water, without sinking, and the logo’s will be checked on both the boat and the kit.  (This will be done again on race day).

I hope to make it to the hotel at about 17.00h tomorrow.

On a separate note, I have been watching an interview with Lord Moynighan, the Chair of the BOA.  I quite like Colin, even though he remains an archetypal politician at all times.  He was discussing the drug debate with the BBC and the athletes views and the British Athletes Commission.  As many of you know I was heavily involved in establishing the principle of a fully funded athletes organisation and fought the good fight to get it through and ran it for the first few years.

There really is some twaddle spoken about the athlete voice and their views on drugs.  Of course athletes support the lifetime ban from the Olympic games for drug cheats when asked in the athlete survey carried out as they return from the Olympic Games.  The problem is that they are never exposed to a rounder argument and the Governing Bodies, BOA, UK Sport etc. have absolutely no interest in educating them otherwise.   Shocking really.  I continue to be a lone voice when it comes to athlete education and representation, but I am happy to be so…..British sport is morally pretty bankrupt at the moment….its all smoke and mirrors and posturing.

At the same time that everyone in sport was condemning Dwain Chambers, UK Sport elected a convicted drug taker, David Miller the cyclist, to be the UK’s representative on the World Anti Doping Association’s Athlete Committee.  (This was against the will of the British Athletes Commission).

Where was the moral outrage then?  I didn’t see the BOA arguing against the choice or threatening legal action to protect the moral integrity of British sport by not having a convicted drug taker represent us on the WADA committee.  No Governing Bodies writing to the papers…..no BBC coverage.   As I understand it, I was the only person who lobbied UK Sport and expressed my disgust at the choice (no personal feelings as I don’t even know David Miller) and asked how could I be proud of my representative if he is a convicted drug cheat?

If there is one thing I hate more than a cheat in sport…… it is hypocritical Governing Bodies, International Federations and administrations!
Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons