When Grown Men Weep! - Open Mic

There are few things, if any, capable of producing streams of tears from a man’s eyes.  Of those things that can, we will never actually admit to the vast majority of them.

It would seem that it is only in the world of sports that it is acceptable for grown men to cry tears of sadness or (in those rare experiences) tears of joy.  Our passion for our favorite sports, and the stars and teams within them, allows us to follow the ups and downs, the triumphs and catastrophic failures, hand in hand with screaming, celebrating, or falling to pieces at the end result.

Being a Brit—it has to be said—means that there are more lows than highs, as our sporting rostrum reads like a who’s who of nearly men.

By this I mean the teams and individuals of world class quality who consistently reach the climax of the top of their sport, be it a semi final appearance or second place on a podium and then choke, always falling at the last hurdle. Tim Henman, David Coulthard and the England Football team are to name but a few.

But we can console ourselves by reminding each other that we always knew they were nearly men, destined to do well until they lined up in competition against the dominant sportsman or team of their sport.

So when it comes to the day, match or race where they lose their last chance of glory we expect it, and thus the pain we suffer as devoted fans is extreme, but relatively easy to get over.

Once every so often though there is an event, a sport professional, or a team who’s failure to secure the top prize causes us to break into the involuntary position of crying like a baby!

I have shed a tear or too when Liverpool won the Champions league—although I was ill at the time, so if anyone asks that was the excuse—but the sports event that set me off to the land of Alice and her sea of tears takes me back to Athens 2004.

Let me give you some clues as to what event I am referring to. I’m going to see if you can guess before I reveal all!

It was an emotional time for not just me, but for the whole country! The traditional events of the Olympics are by no stretch of the imagination a defining area of sports in the United Kingdom. Generally the population tend to pick it up here and there, some only ever watch the Olympic events, and some don’t pay attention at all.

However this was until we were given a British athlete who excelled so much in their sport to the point of domination, that we are forced to take note and idolise their impact on a sport, which before was given little recognition. We had Jonathan Edwards, Triple Jump extraordinaire, we’ve had relay triumphs and of course the surprise stunner that is Kelly Holmes in recent years.

But none have dominated their sport as much as another of our celebrated athletes who was cruelly brought back down to Earth with devastating consequences in Athens.

Before the Olympic Games started we were assured that this athlete guaranteed us at least one Gold medal, and at worst a silver medal. She had set records right, left and centre in a variety of different distance events, and in her now specialised event has produced four of the five fastest runs in the history of that event.

The person in question is the talented superstar that is Paula Radcliffe. Known for her long white socks, her titling head movements, and most importantly her mantelpiece full of World, Commonwealth, and various marathon world titles, here is an athlete who has dominated and subsequently redefined the sport of long distance running in the process. An inspiration to millions, a golden hope for British athletics and a shining example of how grit and determination over a period of time can produce massive, history making results.

Her transformation from ten thousand metre and cross country runner to marathon runner was remarkable, winning her first marathon and then breaking world record after world record in the next couple of years.

It has been said that her world record time in the marathon is equivalent to running a 9.76 lap in the one hundred metre sprint! She was said to be as invincible as the Titanic was said to be unsinkable.

So when it came to the Olympic Games in 2004 she was the obvious favourite and all expected her to follow her usual running style of disappearing into the distance never to be caught or troubled for victory!

What followed was a country’s hopes and dreams for our beloved athlete being shattered in the most spectacular way, leading to anger, disappointment, heartbreak beyond expectations for a sport that hardly anybody took notice of before Radcliffe existed within it.

The alarm bells in the race began when Radcliffe—known for her strong starts and edging out unassailable leads—failed to take control of the race, ending up miraculously out of the lead and drifting behind. A whole nation could just sit, watch and wonder what was happening.

The whole country tuned in to see a British athlete demonstrate her domination, and yet here we were watching her evident personal struggle, and visible signs of excruciating distress. A morbid fascination ensued, painful to watch but at the same time a spectacle: To see an unexpectedly disturbing and shocking fall from grace.

       What followed the race was a variety of reactions:

       Some were angry that Paula had let ‘us’ down, some were disappointed that she couldn’t get the accolade she so badly deserved and craved, some felt the same shattering blow that was highly evident when she eventually gave her first post marathon interview.

    Presented in said interview was a wrecked soul, a mentally and physically destroyed athlete who could not seem to comprehend how her career had taken the hugest nose dive humanely possible for an world class athlete, streaks ahead of her opponents.

    The words lifted from her lips were mousy, her body language a frightful mess, and her past confidence seemingly wiped off the face of the Earth, a past memory never to return.  The pain was there for all of us to see and feel, and even those who doubted her ability after her dramatic failure began to see that here was a woman, who expected so much from herself, but for some reason or another her body let her down, leaving her to deal with the devastating consequences.

    Tears were shed by many, including myself watching both the race and the post marathon interview, and I am not ashamed to admit it. Watching an athlete grow at such a rapid pace, following her spectacular progress before being brought down to the ground with a shattering spectacle was not a pleasant sight, and probably the worst I will ever witness as a sports fanatic.

    What has recently made those events even more tragic is that Paula, now in her mid thirties, obviously has a limited amount of time to redeem herself and achieve the highest accolade of a long distance runner’s career.

The Olympic Gold is still the accolade that seemingly eludes her, but optimistically her determination to run in both the Beijing and London Olympics in 2008 and 2012 respectively, give us hope for at least a piece of silverware along the way.

The recent news of a worrying foot injury, which has kept her out of vital pre-Olympic training, cannot deter me from thinking that the girl can still prove everybody wrong and show why she is the clear world record holder and why she is capable of Olympic domination.

       It is a big dream for Paula. We do have lower expectations now following Athens coupled with her recent slower times, but as a nation we are ready to provide a barrage of support in the hope that the deserved result is the outcome.

    Ultimately of course we hope she provides a reason for us to emit tears of joy rather than tears of sadness. Maybe she could provide a homage to the toilet break incident which preceded her winning comeback after Athens!