Felicien can't hurdle over cynics ...

There’s a nasty tone to many of the comments regarding Perdita Felicien’s unfortunate withdrawal from the Beijing Games, not only on this blog but also on the CBC’s Olympic website and the internet in general.

It was the same when she went crashing into that first hurdle in Athens four years ago. You could write it off as being just a few lunatics, if there wasn’t so many of them. Of course, few of them, if any, have the guts to put their real names behind their comments.

Are people still mad at her because she didn’t deliver the gold the country wanted so desperately in Athens?

That’s the thing, we ignore our Olympic athletes for four years and then for two weeks the attitude becomes for many “C’mon win us a gold – or you suck.”

Speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon, who empathized with Felicien when she hit that first hurdle, has experienced the very same thing for his Olympic disappointments, despite being one of the greatest winter athletes this country has ever known.

The tone of the more printable emails he got after falling at the start of the men’s 500 metres at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, which he was also expected to win, was something like “I can’t believe you screwed up. What were you thinking? What were you doing?”

Then there are those who think Felicien should suck it up. My colleague Carol Coles saw a guy on the street interviewed by CBC yesterday who said “I still think she should go and compete.”

She’s got a serious foot injury. She’s a hurdler. This is her livelihood. She’d give anything to be competitive for Beijing. What part don’t you get?

Let’s face it, the Olympics are the biggest stage. In both Athens and Salt Lake City, Felicien and Wotherspoon seemed to crumble under that pressure. That only makes them human and worthy of a bit of compassion, not scorn.

When people dish out the latter, it says much more about them than the athletes they ridicule.

Blurring Borders: We’ve got another dispatch from the intrepid Astrid Lange in the Star library. (At this rate, she’ll soon be co-authoring this blog)

Astrid is suggesting Olympic fans check out the current issue of Fast Company, which has a cover story on the tech labs at Nike, Adidas and Speedo and their designs for Olympic athletes, like the Speedo LZR suits.

Reports Astrid: “Some of the equipment is pretty wild, but it really shows how borders are blurred before the Olympics start. Like this ... German company Adidas made American (and Texan) runner Jeremy Wariner a racing spike called Lone Star where the spike pattern leans to the left. Why? On a track oval, there are no right turns, so the shoes provide leftward propulsion. The sole is 20 times stronger than steel. By the way, the head of the team which developed the shoe ... Mic Lussier, a French-Canadian.”

But Simon Drouin, my colleague and good buddy from La Presse, notes that since Wariner started wearing the Lone Star shoes, he's been beaten twice by LaShawn Merritt.

Personally, I think most of these "technological" improvements are gimmicks designed to get publicity.

How about some of these geniuses designing need something to make us write faster -- and better -- in Beijing?

Comments

[Deidra Dionne]

Hey Randy,

I think this last post was well needed, I read some of the comments myself and I was a little put off. As an athlete who almost had to miss the Olympics myself because of injury I totally empathize for Perdita. The Olympics are a snapshot of a career and she wakes up every morning committing herself to representing Canada with the gift she was given. Any suggestions to the contrary are unfortunate.

Love your blog!!

Deidra

[Jeremy Diamond]

Perdita exemplifies all that should be valued by Canadians. This was obviously a very difficult decision for her to make and she has handled herself, as always, with class. Let's hope we haven't seen the last of this great champion!

JD

[douglas]

Ok but old news really. best of luck in the future. Meanwhile has it been noticed that 3 Canadian men have met the A standard in the hotly contested 1500 meters. Has this ever been done before at the Olympics.

douglas

[Josee G]

It was so nice to find a little compassion for Perdita in your blog.

(“...that only makes them human and worthy of a bit of compassion, not scorn. When people dish out the latter, it says much more about them than the athletes they ridicule.”)

Finally, someone said it! And I couldn’t agree more!

To the non-athletic couch potatoes who bash the performances of our finest athletes: get off your tooshes, train 30 + hours a week, abandon your social lives, miss christmas and thanksgiving with your families, give up your beloved McFood, your beer and your doughnuts, and qualify to compete internationally in a sport (Rockband and Guitar Hero don't count), and THEN, your lament might mean something to us.

Josee in North Bay