I write this in retrospect of the last few months, Lance Armstrong admitting to doping rather ungracefully, Paul Gascoigne being placed in intensive care, and in the past couple of days, Oscar Pistorius, one of the faces of the Paralympics becoming embroiled in an alleged murder case, the latter being in its early stages and of course all being alleged. The Armstrong scandal was a huge blow for sport on the whole, never mind cycling. I am not a huge follower of cycling, I watch it when I can, but Armstrong’s confession really hurt me; for years I would have defended him, and why not, he never failed a doping test. I would never have entertained the thought he was potentially part of a wide-scale doping syndicate, so the revelation of the scale of doping in cycling saddened me as a sport enthusiast. As I sat there watching Lance reveal his true nature, I felt a pang of pain at the fact that a man, who I (and plenty of cycling followers) had put my trust in, so recklessly abused it and duped the world.
Gascoigne too, sure he had major problems but he was supposedly on the mend, but in the past couple of weeks has been submitted to intensive care in the United States. The man was an incredible footballer, he had so much talent, but one wonders how successful he would have been, had he ditched the drink in his career. The main damage appears to have been done following his career; football was what he lived for, and when that had gone, he was just left with the drink. Sure it’s self-inflicting, and sure he could have stopped, but that doesn’t make me feel less sad for him and his family. This links to a further discussion of life after sport for athletes; an athletes career is short, so when they have retired at thirty five, there is a huge void to fill. Ricky Hatton is yet another tragic example of a man who couldn’t leave boxing behind. His successive losses to Mayweather a few years ago sent him down a spiral of depression, and once his career was over, he didn’t fill it with anything. His promoting on the side did little to prevent his drug and alcohol abuse which replaced his training. He made a comeback fight later last year and was well beaten and one wonders how he is doing now. Unfortunately for Hatton, he boxed in an era when Mayweather and Pacquiao also boxed, and they are quite simply much better than him; they are the best. Mayweather has of course also courted controversy, spending a short stint in jail.
The London 2012 Olympic games was an incredible show, and the general consensus amongst the public was “this is how sports stars should behave…these men and women who compete admirably”, many choosing to scrutinise footballers in comparison, arguably unfairly. But the Olympics and Paralympics bought a feel-good factor which was much needed in sport. So imagine the scale of the bubble bursting when yesterday, it was revealed that history-making competitor inĀ both the Olympics and the Paralympics, Oscar Pistorius, was charged with the alleged murder of his girlfriend. Whilst we in the UK cannot quite gauge the scale of these allegations compared to in South Africa, imagine if one of our olympians, say Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins or Jessica Ennis were charged with such accusations. The whole country would stand still, and that is the extent to how shocking this is. It puts a huge dent in the idealistic Olympic reputation in the eyes of the public, not to mention the countless dopers caught following the games and sends shockwaves through the world of sport altogether. It also tars another top athlete with more controversy, the case continues however.
Of course, there are athletes who we can look up to and feel proud of, but the scandals of recent have truly shaken our faith in these people; there’s always the thought of ‘what if?’, when someone wins a gold medal and breaks the world record by a considerable amount, we question ‘what if?’.
The conversation I had a few years ago regarding these top sports stars and controversy, I also had recently too which led to the writing of this piece, and it would appear that not a whole lot has changed. Perhaps a negative slant, but it’s worth highlighting the dangers of hero worship, and that applies not only to sport, but the culture of celebrity on the whole, the Saville scandal blowing public adoration of national treasures wide open. Be careful who you court with praise.