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Time and tide waits for no man

Occasionally on the pages of this organ contributors, myself included, address aspects of the passing of time upon sporting careers and particularly the point at which top sportsmen and woman decide to call a halt.

In this context the truisms can flow long and hard.

Some elite athletes are prodigies with special talents who burst upon their chosen sport’s global stages in their teens like shooting stars or meteors, almost fully-formed and ready for stardom from the outset.

Others may tread a more gradual path to glory, taking time to grow into and/or develop their strength and skills, sometimes because this is a natural product of their genes and/or perhaps they have suffered ill-luck and/or injuries on their journey through life.

All of them need large slices of good fortune, hard graft, perseverance and grit.

Sometimes we celebrate and/or judge sporting career greatness by the numbers of trophies, championships, medals and events won and/or perhaps the number (or standard) of the world and other records posted.

Sometimes we admire and salute the longevity of sporting careers at the top.

Because all men – and women – are human, they are inevitably susceptible to the weaknesses, stresses and issues that can affect the flesh over the years. In some sports it is a natural process for a star player or exponent to gradually adapt his or her tactics to deflect and/or offset the effect of slowing reflexes and the relentless march of time upon their bodies.

Legion are the examples of great sports stars who have either trained harder, or indeed just “smarter”, in order to prolong their elite careers.

Ultimately, of course, the issue of  “when it the right time to retire from elite competition?” has no simple or easy answer.

If it is a case of simply “either/or”, arguably some (and this might include fans and supporters as well as the athletes themselves) might feel that it is better to retire slightly too early rather than slightly too late.

That way, perhaps, you can leave a lasting impression long into the future of “only ever being at your peak”.

In contrast, the sad alternative (going on too long) might leave behind for future generations a legacy impression of the individual concerned having been “a sad old git who went on too long and started being beaten by youngsters on the way up who in his heyday wouldn’t have been fit to lie his bootlaces”.

And anyway, for example, what particular glory is there ever to be had from being e.g.  Bernard Hopkins, who in 2013 became the oldest man ever to win a recognised world boxing title?

Not even your author – whose prowess at sport was distinctly average though his ego as big as Muhammad Ali’s – would have craved to go down in the history books with that accolade against his name!

I offer these thoughts today after a Wimbledon Fortnight at which Roger Federer, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on 9th August, went out at the quarter final stage of the Men’s Singles competition and a UFC fight over the weekend at which the now very rich 32 year old Irishman Conor McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier for the second time in succession (now in all notching 3 losses in a row) – albeit apparently via a freak incident in which he broke his leg – and, for all his big mouth and money in the bank, is fast becoming a laughing stock.

 

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About Tom Hollingworth

Tom Hollingsworth is a former deputy sports editor of the Daily Express. For many years he worked in a sports agency, representing mainly football players and motor racing drivers. Tom holds a private pilot’s licence and flying is his principal recreation. More Posts