Paula Radcliffe, Jimmy White and Tim Henman are three names that spring immediately to mind. Radcliffe has won numerous titles, sports personality of the year, pooed by the side of the road and still won the London Marathon. Jimmy White, the cockney geezer, has moved from a highly successful snooker career to become world poker champion and one of the world's leading pool players (as well as changing his name to Jimmy Brown in a bizarre promotional tie-up with HP Sauce, although that isn't strictly relevant here). Henman is loved by all as the epitomy of fighting spirit, a true whiter-than-white British champion. He is now a popular commentator and mentor to our younger tennis players.
So what, you may ask, have they got in common? And what has Rafi got in common with these revered names? The answer, of course, is a complete lack of bottle when it comes to the key moments. How many Olympic medals has Radcliffe? (0) How many world titles defeats has White (Brown?)? (6) How many Grand Slam semi-final defeats has Henman? (several, 7 I reckon although this may be wrong) When it comes to the crunch, these elite British sportmen were never able to keep their nerve, to last it through and achieve their ultimate goals.
After 8km straight up on day one and a further 1.5km straight up starting at 3am, I was left with 1.7km to go (that's just over 1 mile in Brit-speak). The final straight of the mountain. A final push. But I choked. I couldn't do it. Altitude sickness and an affinity to British sporting heroes past and present took over and I stopped and came back. And I was still sore the next day.
The story has a happy ending in that everyone who did make it to the top got absolutely zero view due to clouds (although I'm guessing their sense of achievement is slightly greater than mine). Like Henman's commentary, Radcliffe's popularity and White's lucrative sponsorship, I have prevailed against adversity despite a failure of nerve at the crucial moment.
This week I have also:
- Got bitten by a leach - Having received detailed instructions of exactly how to take it off, squish it and flick it away, I screamed like a girl and made the tour guide take it off
- Seen elephants and orang-utans. I can now relate to the story of dumbo in a way that I always struggled to when I was a kid. Once you see an elephant flying, it's quite a spectacular site
- Wondered why people are so obsessed with taking photos. They are simply capturing an 'experience' that they are simply not experiencing. It's a bizarre facet of postmodernity that I will leave you to ponder
1 comment:
What a true Brit. Good lad.
Hope none of the people in your tour got swallowed in the ginger vortex when you were around those orang-utans.
Jez - stop reading Rafi's blogs and spend some time with your wife on your honeymoon!!! BTW - I'm sure you already know but you signed Jack Hobbs (on loan I think) from Liverpool.
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