MISSFIRE

One one-hundredth of a second.

You can’t measure it in distance.  You can barely measure it in time.  However, it does carry an immense amount of weight.

Particularly for The Missile, James Magnussen, who has managed to slightly misfire again.

One one-hundredth of a second.

You may as well have missed by a full body length.  That would have been kinder, you know.  Now The Missile will be forever wondering if he should’ve kicked a little harder?  Shouldn’t have drawn a breath in that last few meters?  Stretched further? Pushed a little more?  Turned differently?

One one-hundredth of a second.

The difference between gold and silver.  The difference between the best in the world, and the second best.

A little bit of karma, perhaps?  Well, it’s a long fall from the lofty heights of self-elevation.  Poor James has been struggling over the past few days since his dismal performance in the 4 x 100 relay, and his even poorer performance out of the pool after the race.

Apparently, over the last few days, he has learnt a lot about himself.  Done some serious soul searching.  It’s been the toughest few days of his life, apparently.  Poor darlin’.

Someone hand the boy a mug of concrete.

Someone also hand him some appreciation and humility.

He has just one a silver medal for his country.  He is the second fastest swimmer in the world.  One one-hundredth of a second.  He’s pretty much the fastest, when you put it into perspective.

However, nothing could mask his bitter disappointment when he ‘lost’ this race.  He could barely speak of the devastation he felt. 

Devastation over what?  The fact that you have been pumped up for gold so much, and you failed?  That Australia has believed the hype for months, and you’ve let everyone down?  Or that you’ve let yourself down.  That you hoped after the Olympics that you would be the fastest in the world, but your ego got in the way?

How was Giaan Rooney’s form after the race?  She shoves a microphone in his face and declares that he must be feeling completely shattered right about now.  Talk about rubbing salt into the wound.  That’s for that G’.

What displeases me though is his apparent disappointment at winning a meagre silver medal, that any other man in the pool would have killed for.  A silver medal is nothing to be scoffed at.  It’s an incredible achievement, but not enough for one James Magnussen.

What annoys me more is the example that he’s showing our future athletes.  The little kids that are swimming their guts out in the local swim comps each weekend.  The kiddies that are running around the little athletics tracks each Saturday; their parents cheering them on.  These kids that look up to him; idolise him.

He is teaching them how to be an ungracious winner.  A bad sport.  He’s sulking over not getting what he wanted, and unappreciative of what he’s achieve.  He’s sending a clear message that only perfecting is acceptable.

He is a sore loser.

These games have been interesting from the perspective that clearly, gold medals are incredibly hard to come by, and it’s putting more weight on the value of silver and bronze.  Any medal in this demanding and intensely competitive arena is gold.

Take a look at our rowing duo: Tait & Hornsey.  After a thrilling race, they snared a silver for Australia (right behind the fucking poms, who won their first Gold.  Bastards).  They were elated to have won silver, and after watching them interviewed this morning on Channel 9, they restored my faith in our Olympic athletes.  They were beside themselves with joy.

Just like the young kid that won silver in the pool earlier this week.  I forget his name now (isn’t that terrible!), but he was so elated he won silver, that he was crying in the pool.  That is sportsmanship.

There difference here though, is that he never expected to win.  James Magnussen did. 

And really, whose fault is that?  Can we really blame James, or should we blame ourselves and the media for putting this pressure on him? 

He did swim his best time.  He was beaten by an Olympic record.  What more can he (or we) expect?

Clearly, a lot.

So he has another race tonight I think.  50 m free.  Not his specialty, apparently, because his strength is in the back leg of the 100 m free.  So, is the media already telling us not to expect glory from him this time around?  Are they softening us for another blow from The Missile?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Peace out.