Weekend Wrap

Awww shucks - if there were more than 3 of you begging I might keep going. But here's one last wrap for the weekend, because there is something I want to get off my chest ...

I love Valerie Vili. No, not in a sexual way - get your minds out of the gutter. To me, she encompasses all that an elite sportsperson should be - a touch of arrogance spiced with at the right times humility (yes I know that's a contradiction), emotion worn on the sleeve that is not scripted for the public a la Sharapova (and yes, let your minds wander into the gutter for a brief sec at this point ...), and I guess it helps she's spent part of her life on the wrong side of the railway tracks.

But do you know what I really love about her? EVERY time - bar one - she's stepped up to the plate in a major competition she has done a personal best. The exception was the 2004 Olympics, where a hospital stay prior was a reasonable excuse. She is one tough cookie and given her age she has the potential to dominate her chosen sport like no other, so long as drug testing regimes stay one step ahead of the cheats.

So as our other famous female field athlete rides off into the sunset (Queen Bea couldn't qualify for the Discus final today), salute our World Champion and make a note to vote for her in the People's Choice awards - she deserves it (no matter what the All Blacks do).

And before I leave the World Athletics Champs, let's dissect the comments of Kimberley Smith, our 10,000m runner who came a more than creditable fifth. The newspaper started their article with the following:

Kimberley Smith came away from the track after finishing fifth in the 10,000m at the world track and field championships yesterday disappointed at not winning a medal but happy with her placing.

Now my interest is piqued. A medal after all, is just another term for a top 3 placing, so how can you be happy with your placing but disappointed at missing a medal? Further on, we get to her quotes:

"Fifth place is very good, I mean I know that. Not many New Zealanders have gone quite fifth on the track. I don't know when the last was, so I mean I'm happy with that, but it's very disappointing."

Now I know it's hot in Osaka and she could be suffering from heatstroke, but there is one big mixed message in there. And then the penny dropped.

You see, thanks to a certain CEO of a certain government department who told us in no uncertain terms 18 months ago that a fourth = failure, our athletes have to be careful not to appear overly satisfied with these tin placings for fear of a Heineken bottle shoved where the sun don't shine and having their mental toughness questioned.

So to paraphrase - Kimberley is bloody stoked to finish fifth - and so she should be, because it is a meritorious performance in a sport where chicken-leg Africans dominate. But she can't say so, because Nick or Trevor will tell her off for being soft.

Comments on the rugby will follow in a couple of days, right now I've got to get my head around another all-nighter in front of the TV trying to work out which of the two most inconsistent sides in ODI cricket is going to come out on top. Pass me a coin someone.