Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those ‘what can we learn from the Olympic Games in the world of work’ type posts. It’s just an observation, that’s all.
Since 1964 Larissa Latynina has held the record for the most medals won by an Olympian. 18 to be precise, including four gold medals in Melbourne, three golds in Rome, and two in Tokyo.
Yesterday evening at The 2012 Olympic Games in London, Michael Phelps eclipsed that record. In the run up to the record changing hands, Latynina said ‘I just lived a normal life, the medals are one thing. Me, myself, my family, my children are another thing. I’m quite happy there is a man in the world who can overcome my record.’
Contrast this with the reaction of John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, on hearing news that Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen had smashed her personal best by at least five seconds in the 400m Medley. Leonard said the performance reminded him of the East German women swimmers in the 1980s, who were doping on a systematic basis. He told the Guardian newspaper, ‘History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this, unbelievable, history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved’.
Phelps has just achieved something most people would define as ‘unbelievable’. I wonder what Mr Leonard makes of that?
And now this morning I read about this farcical display of match fixing at the badminton. Crazy!
Congratulations to Michael Phelps and particularly to Larissa Latynina who has shown humility and good grace as the baton is passed.