Tag: triathlon

On the Olympics: legacy?

I deliberately kept the weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics as free from work commitments as possible. You see, as one of the official BT Olympic Storytellers, I felt it was my duty to watch as much as I could. And, as planned, I spent most of those weeks sitting in front of the television with the remote control in my hand, watching everything cycling, swimming, rowing, football, volley ball, sailing, tennis and the glorious track and field events.

Shortly after the Olympics finished, I went to support our eldest daughter (Ella Fields) as she took part in the Vitruvian Triathlon at Rutland Water – a punishing open-water swim, followed by a 50K 50 mile bike ride, followed by a half-marathon run. The weather was sunny and hot. I am proud to report that our daughter successfully completed the event. Despite finishing way back in the field, she looked cool and fit at the end – unlike most of the competitors who looked grey and ill.

If watching sports people perform could get you fit, I would be an Olympic champion myself.

Having put on a few pounds in weight (watching people being sporty makes me hungry), I have enrolled myself in a circuit-training fitness programme and, so far so good, have been exercising three times a week and dropped a couple of pounds.

Can we chalk this up as part of the legacy of the Olympics?

1st assignment for Olympic Storytellers

Well, what questions would you ask the Brownlee brothers, British Olympic hopefuls in the triathlon? And how do I choose …?

This is my first assignment as an official Olympic Storyteller:

World champion triathletes and London 2012 medal-hopefuls, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, have agreed to be interviewed …. send in your questions and they will pick twenty of their favourites to answer. The answers will go live on the BT Storytellers website when it launches on 14th July. You can send a maximum of three questions – one of your questions must be related to London 2012, whereas the other two can be about anything at all!

Here were some of the ideas I came up with:

  • What advice would you give my daughter (who is an amateur triathlete doing much shortened distances)?
  • Which is the hardest discipline – swimming, cycling or running?
  • If you could switch the order of events, how would you change the order and why?
  • What music would you choose to train to?
  • What food do you eat for maximum energy benefit?
  • If you could have a rest from training for a week (with no consequences), what would you do?
  • What is your favourite colour?
  • If you could choose to travel to a different planet, moon or star, where would you go?
  • How would you cope with being sex symbols?
  • Does sport unify or divide nations?
  • What achievement are you proudest of to date?
  • Who is your most feared competitor?

In reality, I chose three different questions. More later ….