Bradley Simpson

If you had to choose a sport – any sport – that you had to try to become a World Champion in, what would you choose?

I bet it would not be the 100m.

I have previously referred to how some sportspeople do not have a lot of competition in their sport, and so comparing them with other (more popular) sports is massively unfair. Say, for example, comparing the 100m Butterfly gold medalist to the 100m running gold medalist in any competition is a little unfair because the 100m runner has faced so much more competition than the swimmer in their career.

My point is emphasised when I hear yesterday Usain Bolt is considering taking up the Long Jump, and instantly people are discussing the 8.95m World Record (which is 18 years old). Admittedly there is a correlation between the requirements for these events, but could you imagine Tiger Woods announcing he was going to take up Baseball and people speculating if he would break the season home run record? Likewise if A-Rod announced he was going to try to play on the PGA Tour, no one would speculate that Jack Nicklaus‘ Major record was in danger.

I have to say I would be a little put out if I were the current Long Jump World Champion, as what people are effectively saying is: “Someone who has never competed in your event may take it up in the future, and if they do they will beat you by over 30cm”.

Another example is the occasional article we see in the newspaper or on the news about a World Champion sportsperson who is struggling to be able to afford to fund the requirements for their sport. I personally feel for these people because they have obviously worked hard to achieve the pinnacle of their sport – and I think this is excellent – but cynically think that if enough people really cared they would not be the feature of such articles.

This is not an attack on sports that do not face a lot of competition. In fact I personally enjoy participating and watching a number of such sports (most likely because I got beaten badly in SWIS Form-2 100m sprint  final). Additionally, there is little people in these sports can do to overcome this. It is not like I think Rugby players should train to race in Track and Field to prove they are ‘better’ athletes. All they can do is to try and achieve the top of their sport, and all power to them to achieve this.