Congratulations, Mr. Peaty, but . . .

Yes indeed, young Adam Peaty won a gold medal at the Olympics breaking the World Record not once but twice, a terrific performance for which he deserves huge congratulations.  It speaks of a dedicated young life spent endlessly in the gym and the pool and I know what that means because up until a year ago I was in my local pool five mornings a week dead on 7.00am.  Mind you, if I swam a hundred metres non-stop, a very rare occurrence, you could smoke a fag and take the dog for a walk before I crossed the finish line and then you would have to call the medics!

It is difficult for us old 'stodgers' to even imagine the sort of drive and determination displayed by Adam Peaty and thus it is all the more pitiable that through no fault of his, as the well-deserved congratulations flood in, there will hover overhead the unspoken question, the dread suspicion, the rank stench engendered by the acts of others over the years that have reduced the once noble spirit of the Games to suspicion and mistrust.

ADDITIONAL:  For those old curmudgeons like me who loathe the whole Olympic farrago this headline from The Mirror is simply too, too delicious:

Rio 2016 : Olympic security chief attacked after opening ceremony before knife-wielding robber shot dead by police

 

Comments

[Loz]

Up the Paras! No, not the red bereted lot, the Para-Olympians ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/paralympic-sport/2016/08/07/international--paralympic-committee-puts-olympic-chiefs-to-shame/

What a beautiful irony. That those who through misfortune are less able physically have yet found the moral strength to defy Putin and the cheats, in stark contrast to their able bodied colleagues.

I was grumpy-as-you-like this morning, until I read that.

SoD

[Oswald Thake]

Dammit, Duffers. I'm a substantive seventy-seven years old today; it's eleven-thirty in the morning, and still no Monday Funnies.
Pull your finger out, do.

[Whitewall]

Oswald....happy substantive birthday!

[Whitewall]

"knife wielding robber". Muslim jihadi?

[David Duff]

Congratulations, Col. Thake, have a large one on me!