5 Aug 2012

Saluting the Olympians

As you know, if you are reading this article through choice, Speedmonkey is a website dedicated to all things automobile and motorcycle.  We celebrate new and old cars and bikes and we celebrate (and sometimes derive humour from) the competitive racing of cars and bikes.

But today Speedmonkey celebrates the Olympics and the Olympians who compete in them.

Motor racing was invented in 1894.  Athletics was invented in 776 BC.  Since the dawn of man we have run, thrown things, jumped over things, swum, made boats and sailed or rowed in them and tamed horses and ridden them.  Since the invention of the motor car and motorcycle we have raced them.

The skills required to compete in the Olympics and race motorised machinery are largely similar.  Dressage riding, tennis playing, sprinting and racing all require different skills both mentally and physically.  Arguably the finest all round athletes are those who compete in the heptathlon and decathlon.

All of the above require strength, determination, fitness, dedication and talent.  The two attributes that differentiate car and bike racers from athletes who compete in the Olympics are money and luck.

Mo Farah came to the UK from civil war stricken Somalia as an 8 year old.  His teacher spotted his ability to run during football trials.  He wasn't a top footballer player but he could run.  A £10,000 bursary from the Lottery fund was the boost he need to allow him to move from a part-time amateur to a full time professional and ultimately a gold medal winning Olympian.

If only it were so for motor racers.  Karting, Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 2.  These (and many variants on the theme) all require huge amounts of money.  Sometimes an aspiring racer is supported by their parents to a certain level and then, despite their talent, may fade away or move up the ladder - by a stroke of fortune.

Lewis Hamilton would not be in Formula 1 today were it not for his hard working father but also for the McLaren team who spotted his talent at an early age and nurtured, and paid for him, to continue racing as a professional.

Anyone can run.  Anyone can play tennis.  The talented runners, tennis players, javelin throwers and swimmers can progress to a point where their talent is spotted and the step required to become professional and represent their country is then down to some money, but mainly talent, hard work and all the other attributes listed above.

There are many, many talented race drivers and riders who did not make it and would never stand the chance of doing so because they lack the funds - or luck - required to do so.

Race drivers are athletes.  They need to be fitter than some Olympic disciplines, they require as much nerve as others and all of them require a truckload of talent.  Motor racing isn't even as dangerous as the most dangerous Olympic discipline.  That dubious honour belongs to horse riding.

So racers and riders differ from their Olympic counterparts but not as much as you would have thought.    Rowers sit down, sailors steer, shooters suffer loud noise and impacts and horse riders slow their steed when required.  Indeed some Olympians utilise machinery, or animals, that may vary from competitor to competitor.  Guns, horses, boats, tennis racquets, bicycles, running shoes, racing cars are all tools used by a person to show that their talent, their years of dedication, their perseverance, their fitness makes them a winner.

And they celebrate in the same style.  Jumping, laughing, crying, thanking their team and ultimately a trophy or medal.

Speedmonkey is a British website and today we celebrate the British Olympians.  We have won more medals than ever before.  To date (Sunday 5 August at 7pm) the list of British Gold medal winners is:

Bradley Wiggins - Cycling Time Trial
Helen Glover & Heather Stanning - Rowing
Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott - Canoe Slalom
Philip Hindes, Chris Hoy & Jason Kenny - Cycling Track
Peter Wilson - Shooting
Victoria Pendleton - Cycling Track
Anna Watkins & Katherine Grainger - Rowing
Greg Rutherford - Long Jump
Mo Farah - 10,000m
Jessica Ennis - Heptathlon
Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James & Andrew Triggs Hodge - Rowing
Edward Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke & Peter Kennaugh - Cycling Track
Dani King, Laura Trott & Joanna Rowsell - Cycling Track
Ben Ainslie - Sailing
Andy Murray - tennis

And this list will grow as the Olympics progresses over the next week.  But let us also celebrate the British Formula 1 World Champions of recent years - Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.  And let us also celebrate James Toseland and Neil Hodgson - both World Superbike champion in the 2000s.  Lewis, Jenson, Neil and James are true athletes and true British heroes.

The Olympics takes in many sports.  Maybe it is time for it to introduce some kind of motorised racing as an Olympic discipline.  The Olympic Race of Champion has a certain ring.