Sometimes you have to give the dour men and women their due, especially when their chosen trade is a sport which, despite its cut-throat competitiveness, tends to needlessly feed off glamour, sexiness, flamboyance and controversy.
By becoming first-time Wimbledon champions, Andy Murray and Marion Bartoli have struck a blow for all those current and former sporting greats who have suffered or continue to suffer in terms of media coverage, adulation from fans or endorsement deals because they are considered “boring”, unattractive or simply matter-of-fact.
Murray’s talent was never in doubt, but it was overshadowed by the flamboyance of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and the almost divine aura of Roger Federer – arguably the greatest gentleman in tennis.
On the women’s front, Maria Sharapova always got better play in the media and in the eyes of the fans because of her stunning blonde looks, while players more talented than her were relegated to second class status because they were not capable of inciting lust in people, as it were.
Murray himself has admitted that he cares two hoots about his “boring” image, saying he prefers to let his game do the talking rather than capture headlines with sensational quotes and antics that might create a controversy.
The media has to take a lot of blame for hyping looks over performance, as exemplified by the controversy created by BBC presenter John Inverdale at Wimbledon. “Do you think,” he said during a live broadcast, “Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘You’re never going to be a looker, you’ll never be a [Maria] Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight’?”
Rightly, the remark was condemned by most people, and Bartoli herself reacted to it with a dignity that would have swelled her fan base considerably.
“It doesn’t matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact,” Bartoli said in a briefing. “Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I’m sorry.”But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes.”
So will her new achievement help her win a few modelling contracts? That, however, remains to be seen.
Miracle in San Francisco
It is nothing short of a miracle that all except two survived the Asiana Airlines plane crash at San Francisco airport on Saturday.
Packed with more than 300 passengers and crew, the ill-fated Boeing 777, flying to San Francisco from Shanghai with a stopover in Seoul, hit a wall separating the runway from the sea, broke into pieces and caught fire, marking the first fatal incident involving a Boeing 777 in its 18 years of service.
Passengers have to thank the plane’s strength – it is built to be a workhorse – and its design, which made quick evacuation possible and prevented a potential disaster of horrific proportions.
But questions do remain. The Korean pilot of the aircraft had over 40,000 flying hours of experience, but less than 50 on a 777 which he was flying to San Francisco for the first time. Also, the Instrument Landing System (ILS) facility on that particular runway was out of order at the time of the crash. The plane was also flying much slower than normal, causing it to hit the seawall just short of the runaway.
Primary indications are that a pilot error caused the crash, but whatever the actual reason is, air travellers will be hoping that the outcome of the investigation would eventually result in better safety in the future.