Olympics watching
There is another way of watching the Olympics other than staying up all night which I know a fellow Ruster and I adopt – namely to go to bed at 9 and arise in the early hours. Yesterday morning at 3am I settled down for the woman’s 68 kg freestyle wrestling contested between Dosho of Japan and Verbova of Russia. It’s not wrestling as I know from Saturday afternoons years ago (Mick Macmanus v TV Jackie Pallo). The two contestants extend their arms and circle like two wary tigers. Then with incredible speed the Japanese girl upended the Russian and secured her by gripping one thigh and rending her in two. We were then treated to the beach volleyball final between Brazil and Germany. The Brazilian team had passionate support but the German duo won with a Teutonic efficiency. One Laura Ludwig is a blond Rhein maiden with a figure to die for. Before I get carried away and incur the wrath of the feminist let me say that is a fascinating sport of blocking, retrieval and smashing and one in which can understand the tactics quickly.
Over lunch a sports journalist made the point that one does not watch such sports from year to year. This is precisely the reason why I enjoy the Olympics. There is another reason. If you watch football there is a positive barrage of betting adverts. None of the Olympic sports attract this . Put it another way, you don’t have Pargie on the phone or texting for tips. The favourite is the one likeliest to win not the evens runner. A point in which I was in agreement with my journo friend was you cannot call a sport a sport if it involves marks. Bob Tickler’s p/a, an accomplished show jumper, observed that dressage is dependent on referees who differ in standard and therefore you cannot be sure if you have won or not.
This morning I rose at 1-30am. I watched Jade Jones win the taekwando – another sport whose technique and practice is not that easy to fathom – before the showpiece when Usain Bolt won his eighth gold. You cannot say he blew away the field but there was no doubt he would win and the the competitive interest lay in who medalled.
Now back to bed.
