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You had chosen the right sport at the right time of your life, you could have been an olympic athelete?
Before you ask, I do wonder, but christ knows what sport it would have been. If I could swim it might have been the triathalon but my negative boyancy precluded that I feel.
Before you ask, I do wonder, but christ knows what sport it would have been. If I could swim it might have been the triathalon but my negative boyancy precluded that I feel.
In reply to Al Evans:
Don't care about the Olypmic athelete thing but I do wonder how good at climbing I could be if I had started 25 years ago as a teenager.
I think I may have been good (simply based on my childhood memories of tree & scaffold climbing). If I could I would go back in time & try to interest my younger self in it (school turned me off sports for about 20 years from trying to force participation in team sports I was crap at and had no inclination for: thus sports became what the jocks / morons did!)
Don't care about the Olypmic athelete thing but I do wonder how good at climbing I could be if I had started 25 years ago as a teenager.
I think I may have been good (simply based on my childhood memories of tree & scaffold climbing). If I could I would go back in time & try to interest my younger self in it (school turned me off sports for about 20 years from trying to force participation in team sports I was crap at and had no inclination for: thus sports became what the jocks / morons did!)
In reply to Al Evans: No, not really. Insufficient fast-twitch muscle, dreadful eyesight, but good enough at things to stop me competing in an olympic competition for 'person least likely to win anything at all ever'. Mind you, given the paradoxical logical loop that follows on from that, that might have made me suitable...
T.
T.
In reply to Flinticus: Hmmmm, I started climbing at round about 13, but my interest and messing about with it started even earlier. I carried on improving for about 20 years or so, but I still don't think it was my best sport option. However I have no idea what was. My middle years were spent on a reasonable attempt at distance/fell running but I'm not sure I would have done any better if I had specialised on running earlier. You just never know do you?
In reply to Al Evans: I always wonder what would have happened if i'd continued a healthy interest I had in sailing when i was younger. I did a fair amount of racing and got asked to join a youth racing training scheme. But it was based a long way away and when asked by parents if i wanted to do that (and only that) i chose to continue doing everything!
i wonder if i'd joined.. where i'd be now (probably NOT in the olympic team!).
i wonder if i'd joined.. where i'd be now (probably NOT in the olympic team!).
In reply to Flinticus:
I wonder this a lot, did try climbing in my teens, but only tried. Then again I know my mental attitude to training at anything has only come with a certain maturity. If only I could be as fit and flexible as I was at 20 with the mental fortitude of 40.
> (In reply to Al Evans)
> Don't care about the Olypmic athelete thing but I do wonder how good at climbing I could be if I had started 25 years ago as a teenager.
> Don't care about the Olypmic athelete thing but I do wonder how good at climbing I could be if I had started 25 years ago as a teenager.
I wonder this a lot, did try climbing in my teens, but only tried. Then again I know my mental attitude to training at anything has only come with a certain maturity. If only I could be as fit and flexible as I was at 20 with the mental fortitude of 40.
In reply to Al Evans:
Probably swimming - I was county-level at age 13 and used to swim 6 days a week. Unfortunately my eyesight went really bad and I could see neither the flags (backstroke) or the side of the pool (front crawl) - not knowing when to tumble meant several painful experiences before I more or less gave it up, competitively at least. It was getting silly - I was having to be led to the right blocks by other members of the team.
Fencing, well I was in the right school, but had no interest - If I'd been interested I'd probably have been in the GB team - more or less everyone in my school who fenced and kept with it was in the U18 team.
Probably swimming - I was county-level at age 13 and used to swim 6 days a week. Unfortunately my eyesight went really bad and I could see neither the flags (backstroke) or the side of the pool (front crawl) - not knowing when to tumble meant several painful experiences before I more or less gave it up, competitively at least. It was getting silly - I was having to be led to the right blocks by other members of the team.
Fencing, well I was in the right school, but had no interest - If I'd been interested I'd probably have been in the GB team - more or less everyone in my school who fenced and kept with it was in the U18 team.
In reply to Al Evans: Unfortunately, jumping off roof tops is not an Olympic event...
In reply to Al Evans:
No, the sport I'm best at I was doing at the 'right time' of my life and just not good (or committed enough).
My mum always used to tell me that I could always compete for Wales if I wasn't good enough for England
No, the sport I'm best at I was doing at the 'right time' of my life and just not good (or committed enough).
My mum always used to tell me that I could always compete for Wales if I wasn't good enough for England
In reply to Al Evans: Not really. Unless eating sausages with English mustard becomes an Olympic event.
In reply to John Lewis:
I'm fitter and more flexible than when I was 20 but haven't got the same stamina (used to work long hours in a kitchen, go gigging, get really drunk, crash a few hours then back to work early the next morning & turn in another full on shift).
Climbing never ever cropped up in my thoughts when younger: no-one I knew did it, no-one whom they knew did it and so on: it was like it never exisitng before but, once found, it was, 'Hey! Where have you been all my life?'
I'm fitter and more flexible than when I was 20 but haven't got the same stamina (used to work long hours in a kitchen, go gigging, get really drunk, crash a few hours then back to work early the next morning & turn in another full on shift).
Climbing never ever cropped up in my thoughts when younger: no-one I knew did it, no-one whom they knew did it and so on: it was like it never exisitng before but, once found, it was, 'Hey! Where have you been all my life?'
In reply to Al Evans:
Nope never. Me and sport are like the opposite pole of a magnet we just repel each other. I was the sort of kid that got put out on the out field during cricket to dig holes with his foot in the ground, football was spent avoiding the ball, tennis? forget it. My hand to eye co-ordination is lousy so anything that involves throwing is out. I was passably good at rifle shooting however but found it boring. In fact really I find most sport boring, which is odd because I have a competitive streak.
Nope never. Me and sport are like the opposite pole of a magnet we just repel each other. I was the sort of kid that got put out on the out field during cricket to dig holes with his foot in the ground, football was spent avoiding the ball, tennis? forget it. My hand to eye co-ordination is lousy so anything that involves throwing is out. I was passably good at rifle shooting however but found it boring. In fact really I find most sport boring, which is odd because I have a competitive streak.
In reply to ebygomm: I know most kids in my area wanted to play soccer, but I wanted to play cricket for Yorkshire. Either that or run 800mts for England.
In reply to Al Evans:
I doubt I ever would have been good enough at any overtly competitive event, which is pretty much everything in the olympics - everything worth doing anyway. I was always good at sport but I never had a winner's mentality. I always did - and still do - prefer exploration to performance, and when there's a chance to combine the two I'm in my element. But I think I'm too soft to want to batter other competitors into the ground!
I doubt I ever would have been good enough at any overtly competitive event, which is pretty much everything in the olympics - everything worth doing anyway. I was always good at sport but I never had a winner's mentality. I always did - and still do - prefer exploration to performance, and when there's a chance to combine the two I'm in my element. But I think I'm too soft to want to batter other competitors into the ground!
In reply to Al Evans:
hmm. maybe. If I'd had more money to throw at it I'm pretty sure I could have been formation skydiving at a national pro level (used to jump with others who had and hold my own but it's so expensive if you take it seriously...). I'm quite naturally good at running (which I'm thankful for) but I'm yet to see what I can get up to with proper consistent training - though starting to compete actually this week!.
I was also pretty good at badminton and used to hold my own against the guys in school were on the team, though I was only playing once a week for a term a year or so.
Thing is though, I think one of the key must haves to get really good at any sport is to be utterly dedicated to it. I came pretty close with skydiving and ended up quitting (for now!) due to not being able to throw myself 100% at it due to money, but in general I just can't focus completely on one thing. I've an active social life, like to do lots of things, like a drink, am not the type to be in a relationship and still spend the majority of my time training (for anything) etc.
oh and I'm crap at getting up in the mornings so know damn well I'm never going to start getting up at 6 to go for a run/swim/cycle/anything.
Due to that I doubt I'd ever be good enough for Olympic or similar level or competitive sport.
hmm. maybe. If I'd had more money to throw at it I'm pretty sure I could have been formation skydiving at a national pro level (used to jump with others who had and hold my own but it's so expensive if you take it seriously...). I'm quite naturally good at running (which I'm thankful for) but I'm yet to see what I can get up to with proper consistent training - though starting to compete actually this week!.
I was also pretty good at badminton and used to hold my own against the guys in school were on the team, though I was only playing once a week for a term a year or so.
Thing is though, I think one of the key must haves to get really good at any sport is to be utterly dedicated to it. I came pretty close with skydiving and ended up quitting (for now!) due to not being able to throw myself 100% at it due to money, but in general I just can't focus completely on one thing. I've an active social life, like to do lots of things, like a drink, am not the type to be in a relationship and still spend the majority of my time training (for anything) etc.
oh and I'm crap at getting up in the mornings so know damn well I'm never going to start getting up at 6 to go for a run/swim/cycle/anything.
Due to that I doubt I'd ever be good enough for Olympic or similar level or competitive sport.
In reply to Duncan Bourne: From what I remember - you could have been a dancer
In reply to Al Evans: I wished I ran earlier in life, maybe biked too, but then again I think I needed competitive contact sports at that stage of my life.
I intend to attempt to break the 10 minute mile later, in preparation for my athletics career.
In reply to Al Evans:
In my first two years at secondary school I competed at county level in shot and discus. Unfortunately our enlightened PE teacher left when the school became comprehensive and the new guy gave us a choice of two sports year round, football and litter picking. Obviously this is why I am a football-hating environmentalist rather than an Olympian shot-putter.
In my first two years at secondary school I competed at county level in shot and discus. Unfortunately our enlightened PE teacher left when the school became comprehensive and the new guy gave us a choice of two sports year round, football and litter picking. Obviously this is why I am a football-hating environmentalist rather than an Olympian shot-putter.
In reply to Al Evans:
I'd say pretty much any fit person can be an olympic athlete if they are rich enough. They just need to choose a minority sport where there is a massive financial barrier to entry (e.g. equestrianism). Or find a tiny impoverished country to compete for.
> You had chosen the right sport at the right time of your life, you could have been an olympic athelete?
I'd say pretty much any fit person can be an olympic athlete if they are rich enough. They just need to choose a minority sport where there is a massive financial barrier to entry (e.g. equestrianism). Or find a tiny impoverished country to compete for.
In reply to Al Evans: Rugby. Played to County level and was asked to try out for Leicester Tigers, i was getting on a bit by then and had pretty bad knees, so didn't go. Should have tried earlier in my career though.
Fool!!
Fool!!
In reply to Al Evans: Skiing possibly (If winter Olympics are allowed).
I used to be pretty good (by British Standards - which lets be honest, isn't saying much), and did it competitively both downhill/slalom and freestyle (when it was in it's infancy).
However - before I had a chance to prove I probably wasn't good enough - a drunken, and chemically assisted crash, while showing off on one ski on the Gun barrel/West Wall on Cairngorm, smashed my right knee, and I've had restricted movement ever since, so it was game over for competitive skiing.
Ironically, my wife was in the Italian national team in the early 80's, and suffered the same fate whilst training on the Lauberhorn prior to a downhill event.
God help us in our old age - we'll probably both be on walking sticks when the arthritis kicks in!!!!!!
I used to be pretty good (by British Standards - which lets be honest, isn't saying much), and did it competitively both downhill/slalom and freestyle (when it was in it's infancy).
However - before I had a chance to prove I probably wasn't good enough - a drunken, and chemically assisted crash, while showing off on one ski on the Gun barrel/West Wall on Cairngorm, smashed my right knee, and I've had restricted movement ever since, so it was game over for competitive skiing.
Ironically, my wife was in the Italian national team in the early 80's, and suffered the same fate whilst training on the Lauberhorn prior to a downhill event.
God help us in our old age - we'll probably both be on walking sticks when the arthritis kicks in!!!!!!
In reply to Al Evans:
This is going to be a sad thead of a load of dreamers
I was only ever very average at most sports but I had a mix of determination and fine control which meant I was shooting 'possibles' (ie 100/100) in reasionably serious target shooting comp's over a range of distances but was never encouraged to take it further. Not the most exciting of olympic sports but I do regret never being encouraged to take it further. The story of my life really, which I'm trying tp put right a bit by having some self starting ambition rather late in life. It's ok criticising pushy parents but I do think you need something like that as a child - at least until you can really make your own decisoins. The problem is that it's hard to get spotted if you don't have someone pushing yoru forwards and giving you a steer.
This is going to be a sad thead of a load of dreamers
I was only ever very average at most sports but I had a mix of determination and fine control which meant I was shooting 'possibles' (ie 100/100) in reasionably serious target shooting comp's over a range of distances but was never encouraged to take it further. Not the most exciting of olympic sports but I do regret never being encouraged to take it further. The story of my life really, which I'm trying tp put right a bit by having some self starting ambition rather late in life. It's ok criticising pushy parents but I do think you need something like that as a child - at least until you can really make your own decisoins. The problem is that it's hard to get spotted if you don't have someone pushing yoru forwards and giving you a steer.
In reply to Al Evans: I have known quite a few people who've been to the Olympics, and a friend won a silver on the track. I think getting to the Olympics is harder than you'd imagine. I have some England vests as a senior, and know full well I was nowhere near.
In 20 years of training with hundreds of people I have met one 'unknown' person who I thought could pretty much walk into the team for the US (she was american) if she tried. She was busy with her job and children, but as a benchmark we went to the track to run once and she ran a set of kilometres in 2.53 - 2.55 with not much rest (burning off someone getting ready for Atlanta) , and she ran round London in 2.36 or 38 (I'd need to check) despite an absense of any long runs, and thought she could go a fair bit quicker next time. She was better at 5k anyway. She was also tested on a stationary bike and produced power numbers that were pretty much world class as well, so track cycling wouldalso have been an option.
In 20 years of training with hundreds of people I have met one 'unknown' person who I thought could pretty much walk into the team for the US (she was american) if she tried. She was busy with her job and children, but as a benchmark we went to the track to run once and she ran a set of kilometres in 2.53 - 2.55 with not much rest (burning off someone getting ready for Atlanta) , and she ran round London in 2.36 or 38 (I'd need to check) despite an absense of any long runs, and thought she could go a fair bit quicker next time. She was better at 5k anyway. She was also tested on a stationary bike and produced power numbers that were pretty much world class as well, so track cycling wouldalso have been an option.
In reply to Al Evans: I started sailing at the age of 4 and was national youth champion in my class of boat (GP14) when I was 19. To get to be a sailing Olympian you really have to focus on competing in one of the Olympic classes in order to get close to the qualifying events, which for me would have meant switching to a boat which didn't get raced locally to me and then moving somewhere else in order to race regularly. I'm not sure I'm competitive or driven enough to really have succeeded, even if we'd been able to make the switch to a more modern class at a young age. I don't have the mental attributes or the single-mindedness.
I haven't sailed competitively for at least ten years now but whenever you get one of those days with a blue sky and a frisky breeze my first thought is that I should be in a boat.
I haven't sailed competitively for at least ten years now but whenever you get one of those days with a blue sky and a frisky breeze my first thought is that I should be in a boat.
In reply to Al Evans: Went to a grammar school, and there you were supposed to excel! So as I had to wear specs all the time football was out (try heading a leather ball that weighs a ton with a pound and a half of glass in front of your eyes.) Cricket, couldn't stand still for long enough. Athletics, loved it went in every event and was always somewhere between 4th and 6th whatever event. I had heard of decathlon (the event not the superstore) so I wanted to do that. School said that it was too vague, so I gave up on sport and became a drinking womaniser!
Tried a variety of other stuff after starting work. Clay pigeon shooting, expensive, rifle shooting, boring, fencing, pretty good but no match for the good guys who were tiny and only half my weight, skiing, cost too much, etc etc etc . Then was forced to go to an ODP centre by work. Found climbing, and now I am an old fogey who lives for it. Not real good but I enjoy it. I often wonder how good I would have been if I hadn't had a 22 year frustrating lay off. I have now divorced the cause of that and am working my way through the grades, if only the British weather would coooperate!
Olympic level? Maybe in decathlon, as, in interschool events I was, as usual, always in the top few in any single sport school allowed me to enter. This was without formal training, just doing P.E. lessons and running round the field and running the 3 miles home so I could have the bus-fare to spend on something useful.
Aaaaaah! If ifs and shoulds were done and dids!
Tried a variety of other stuff after starting work. Clay pigeon shooting, expensive, rifle shooting, boring, fencing, pretty good but no match for the good guys who were tiny and only half my weight, skiing, cost too much, etc etc etc . Then was forced to go to an ODP centre by work. Found climbing, and now I am an old fogey who lives for it. Not real good but I enjoy it. I often wonder how good I would have been if I hadn't had a 22 year frustrating lay off. I have now divorced the cause of that and am working my way through the grades, if only the British weather would coooperate!
Olympic level? Maybe in decathlon, as, in interschool events I was, as usual, always in the top few in any single sport school allowed me to enter. This was without formal training, just doing P.E. lessons and running round the field and running the 3 miles home so I could have the bus-fare to spend on something useful.
Aaaaaah! If ifs and shoulds were done and dids!
In reply to Al Evans:
I often wonder whether I could have been a high jumper. When we tried it at school we were only shown how to scissor kick and I did really well despite being a bit podgy. I came a really narrow second to a lad that could Fosbury flop when it came to the school team trials - he went on to win the event.
I often wonder whether I could have been a high jumper. When we tried it at school we were only shown how to scissor kick and I did really well despite being a bit podgy. I came a really narrow second to a lad that could Fosbury flop when it came to the school team trials - he went on to win the event.
In reply to Al Evans: I had the chance to turn Pro at Rugby back in the late 60,s and turned it down because I knew it would probably stop me Climbing,always wonder now if I should have gone for it .but Rugby was aSport And Climbing a Passion ...
In reply to Al Evans:
I definitely lacked the killer instinct required. On the rare occasions I was close to winning anything I'd usually back off because it always seemed to matter so much more to my opponent and it seemed a shame to upset them.
I'm completely in awe of the gymnasts and just don't have the spatial awareness for it (unlike my trampolinist daughter). However, I do wonder whether I'd have been able to do the rings. I was light and strong (once) and I can at least imagine how it's done.
Otherwise, maybe dinghy sailing. I'm fighting against getting seriously sucked into that at the moment!
I definitely lacked the killer instinct required. On the rare occasions I was close to winning anything I'd usually back off because it always seemed to matter so much more to my opponent and it seemed a shame to upset them.
I'm completely in awe of the gymnasts and just don't have the spatial awareness for it (unlike my trampolinist daughter). However, I do wonder whether I'd have been able to do the rings. I was light and strong (once) and I can at least imagine how it's done.
Otherwise, maybe dinghy sailing. I'm fighting against getting seriously sucked into that at the moment!
In reply to Al Evans:
No
I'm quite convinced that in whatever sport I'd never be any more than average. Total lack of coordination, poor lung capacity, lack of fast-twitch muscles,injury prone etc. About the only attribute I have going for me is pig-headedness, but even then there are many who would beat me (including many who post on UKC)
> You had chosen the right sport at the right time of your life, you could have been an olympic athelete?
No
I'm quite convinced that in whatever sport I'd never be any more than average. Total lack of coordination, poor lung capacity, lack of fast-twitch muscles,injury prone etc. About the only attribute I have going for me is pig-headedness, but even then there are many who would beat me (including many who post on UKC)
In reply to Al Evans:
I was a pretty good junior shotputter and still hold the junior boys record 20 years on.
Also got myself selected to play under 18 rugby for Scotland before i broke my neck and gave it up.
Reckon if i'd dedicated myself there were 2 or 3 sports i could've been a contender in.
Definitely not these days though!
I was a pretty good junior shotputter and still hold the junior boys record 20 years on.
Also got myself selected to play under 18 rugby for Scotland before i broke my neck and gave it up.
Reckon if i'd dedicated myself there were 2 or 3 sports i could've been a contender in.
Definitely not these days though!
In reply to johncook:
Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think you can get an olympic medal in it
> (In reply to Al Evans) Went to a grammar school, and there you were supposed to excel! So as I had to wear specs all the time football was out (try heading a leather ball that weighs a ton with a pound and a half of glass in front of your eyes.) Cricket, couldn't stand still for long enough. Athletics, loved it went in every event and was always somewhere between 4th and 6th whatever event. I had heard of decathlon (the event not the superstore) so I wanted to do that. School said that it was too vague, so I gave up on sport and became a drinking womaniser!
Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think you can get an olympic medal in it
In reply to Al Evans: See what people thinks of this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/snooker/13267671.stm
One pertinent excerpt: "We have been deluded into the idea that excellence is reserved for a special breed touched by a genetic miracle that passed the rest of us by.
The evidence is quite the reverse: we all have the potential for excellence, provided we persevere along the path of personal transformation."
Apply that to climbers such as Dave Mc and Steve McClure and I'd agree. That's not to say anybody could beat Usain Bolt just because they ran a lot of sprints, as you still need to be physically suited to the sport, but a lot of posts refer to sailing and other 'technical' pursuits where technique is just as important as the physical attributes required.
Persevere is the crux for me, as, well to be honest, I'm pretty lazy!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/snooker/13267671.stm
One pertinent excerpt: "We have been deluded into the idea that excellence is reserved for a special breed touched by a genetic miracle that passed the rest of us by.
The evidence is quite the reverse: we all have the potential for excellence, provided we persevere along the path of personal transformation."
Apply that to climbers such as Dave Mc and Steve McClure and I'd agree. That's not to say anybody could beat Usain Bolt just because they ran a lot of sprints, as you still need to be physically suited to the sport, but a lot of posts refer to sailing and other 'technical' pursuits where technique is just as important as the physical attributes required.
Persevere is the crux for me, as, well to be honest, I'm pretty lazy!
In reply to nrhardy:
I'm not entirely sure about that. My youngest brother was pretty awesome at football from the first moment he tried it, so I'm not sure how he managed to get that through perseverance having never tried it before.
On the other hand, a lack of perseverance in his mid teens prevented him from getting any further than semi-pro.
I'm not entirely sure about that. My youngest brother was pretty awesome at football from the first moment he tried it, so I'm not sure how he managed to get that through perseverance having never tried it before.
On the other hand, a lack of perseverance in his mid teens prevented him from getting any further than semi-pro.
In reply to JuneBob: He might have been pretty nifty at kicking/controlling a ball, but that's not the same as being good at football, so his lack of application during the learning years actually reinforces the point of the article.
Of the lads I knew at school that were linked with pro football, the lad who had the most 'successful' career wasn't the most talented, but the hardest working of the bunch.
An interesting book that examines talent v application is 'Iron War' which I can heartily recommend.
Of the lads I knew at school that were linked with pro football, the lad who had the most 'successful' career wasn't the most talented, but the hardest working of the bunch.
An interesting book that examines talent v application is 'Iron War' which I can heartily recommend.
In reply to nrhardy:
Ok, so the end product is down to perserverance but some people are born with a natural headstart (eg basketball as an extreme example) and in a sport such as football there will always be enough of those who did work hard that there is no hope for the rest of us.
So, as other people have mentioned, you'd need to pick a less popular sport.
Ok, so the end product is down to perserverance but some people are born with a natural headstart (eg basketball as an extreme example) and in a sport such as football there will always be enough of those who did work hard that there is no hope for the rest of us.
So, as other people have mentioned, you'd need to pick a less popular sport.
In reply to johncook:
>>rifle shooting, boring
I have to say that after 25 years of it I've yet to get bored . . . I'm still fairly crap at it, mind!
>>rifle shooting, boring
I have to say that after 25 years of it I've yet to get bored . . . I'm still fairly crap at it, mind!
In reply to Al Evans:
I was seriously considering delaying uni for a few years and try to get on the German national team in Judo (which would have meant signing up for the army or federal police as a semi-pro). I was quite far up the national ranking ladder at the time, so might have had a shot. Instead, I dropped down the ladder by for or five places following German reunification, so no point anymore aiming for the single slot in Barcelona 1992.
I went to uni instead, and had a few more years at national league level, before retiring from competition with the birth of my first daughter, too much work to do for my PhD, and a ruptured ACL. I guess I could have dealt with two out of three, but not all.
No regrets, though. With hindsight I don´t even know whether I would have found the pro life as satisfying as I imagined it to be at the time.
However, I only realized this a few years ago when I quit training after more than 30 years in the sport, and didn´t miss it too much.
Still, I have been watching the son of my university coach take a silver medal yesterday, and followed the live stream of my old weight class today. Now I am really itching to get back on the mat once the semester (and uni judo) starts again.
Time to beat up some students (including one of my PhD students, who fortunately happens to be roughly my weight so it doesn´t look like child abuse)
CB
I was seriously considering delaying uni for a few years and try to get on the German national team in Judo (which would have meant signing up for the army or federal police as a semi-pro). I was quite far up the national ranking ladder at the time, so might have had a shot. Instead, I dropped down the ladder by for or five places following German reunification, so no point anymore aiming for the single slot in Barcelona 1992.
I went to uni instead, and had a few more years at national league level, before retiring from competition with the birth of my first daughter, too much work to do for my PhD, and a ruptured ACL. I guess I could have dealt with two out of three, but not all.
No regrets, though. With hindsight I don´t even know whether I would have found the pro life as satisfying as I imagined it to be at the time.
However, I only realized this a few years ago when I quit training after more than 30 years in the sport, and didn´t miss it too much.
Still, I have been watching the son of my university coach take a silver medal yesterday, and followed the live stream of my old weight class today. Now I am really itching to get back on the mat once the semester (and uni judo) starts again.
Time to beat up some students (including one of my PhD students, who fortunately happens to be roughly my weight so it doesn´t look like child abuse)
CB
In reply to Al Evans: I am I only the only person who is moderately rubbish at most sports and could never have conceivably competed internationally?
In reply to MG:
No, but those who have competed internationally (but not made it to the olympics) are more likely to reply,
CB
> (In reply to Al Evans) I am I only the only person who is moderately rubbish at most sports and could never have conceivably competed internationally?
No, but those who have competed internationally (but not made it to the olympics) are more likely to reply,
CB
In reply to MG:
No, you can be in my team.
I'm tall, (was) of athletic build (nowadays more like an athletic stadium) but I have minimal aptitude for sporting endeavours. Always too busy *thinking*.
'Im indoors "coulda been a contender" triathlon-wise but I think that life and work got in the way when he was younger. He still does okay to say that he does naff-all training.
No, you can be in my team.
I'm tall, (was) of athletic build (nowadays more like an athletic stadium) but I have minimal aptitude for sporting endeavours. Always too busy *thinking*.
'Im indoors "coulda been a contender" triathlon-wise but I think that life and work got in the way when he was younger. He still does okay to say that he does naff-all training.
In reply to MG:
No, me too MG. Although I was told I I was rubbish at sport at school ,got poor reports,assumed they knew what the were talking about and gave up trying.
In my 20's a relation talked me into joining the local athletic club and in the first year I won the all rounders cup (decathalon type points competition) then I had kids...…
So never got to ANY level , but was pretty pissed at the gym teacher that discouraged me as I just might have been reasonable, or. Could have had fun trying. I have tried small bore shooting, martial arts, table tennis, and a bit of hill running , but only local level.
What is worrying is that my lack of encouragement was back in the 70's ,and schools seem to have sold off sports grounds since then.
I could not help noticing that even a lot of the kids ,not all, carrying those copper petals at the Olympics looked, well let's just say less than athletes.
(sorry , not trying to be cruel, if there was a story behindthese kids, I would be interested how why they were chosen,)
> (In reply to Al Evans) I am I only the only person who is moderately rubbish at most sports and could never have conceivably competed internationally?
No, me too MG. Although I was told I I was rubbish at sport at school ,got poor reports,assumed they knew what the were talking about and gave up trying.
In my 20's a relation talked me into joining the local athletic club and in the first year I won the all rounders cup (decathalon type points competition) then I had kids...…
So never got to ANY level , but was pretty pissed at the gym teacher that discouraged me as I just might have been reasonable, or. Could have had fun trying. I have tried small bore shooting, martial arts, table tennis, and a bit of hill running , but only local level.
What is worrying is that my lack of encouragement was back in the 70's ,and schools seem to have sold off sports grounds since then.
I could not help noticing that even a lot of the kids ,not all, carrying those copper petals at the Olympics looked, well let's just say less than athletes.
(sorry , not trying to be cruel, if there was a story behindthese kids, I would be interested how why they were chosen,)
In reply to Al Evans: i got to county level swimming as was bloody good, until beer, women got involved, just couldn't deal with training or competing when my mates were all out on the pop with girls, bit of a regret now truth be told. i have alot of respect for these olympians we're watching
In reply to MG: I have been crap at every single sport I have ever tried. I couldnt catch when I was young and I still have terrible coordination. The only times ive done even ok at climbing im pretty sure its taken me at least 1.5x the effort it would take the average person to get to that level.
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