World-record marathoner Eliud Kipchoge is an inspiring mix of heart and science
Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE
Note the inspirational/motivational function of sports for society as a whole, which is not confined to endeavours in sports alone but all other fields....Having a Gold Medalist like Joseph Schooling does not just serve as an inspiration for local athletes, but everyone in Singapore, in our own realm -- that small as we are as a little red dot, we are capable of punching above our weight and achieve the unimaginable!
At lunch the other day with a couple of athletes, I mentioned that I saw them as rebels. Because every morning they mount a daily resistance against what people think they can't do. To break a record, or athletically roam further than they once did, is nothing but a revolt against limits.
Michael Phelps once wrote that "so many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach". But to travel like he did, and Kipchoge has, where no one has ventured before, to think that big, requires a certain audacity.
He can tell them about humility (he cleans toilets when it's his turn at training camps). He can drive them with his persistence. He can remind them there is so much further they can go, that they have not yet closed in on their potential or touched the brilliant borders of their limits.
Note also the impact of technology on sport, how it can aid sport, but too much of it can also take the shine away from sport and compromise sport's ability to inspire and awe the admirers....consider how an F1 racer managed to break a record...would we be awed by man's ability to stretch the limits of his physical body? or would this magic be dimmed by our knowledge of the fact that the real star here is the technology behind the race car? Likewise, would we still admire Kipchoge as much if we know that he managed to accomplish his feat largely with the help of the specially-designed shoes that gives an overall improved efficiency of over 4 percent?
He knows this because it is what he did on Saturday. Aided, yes, but even as this might have resembled an expensive science experiment, Kipchoge himself couldn't be programmed. He's just a human, who had to run and hurt and endure. Who had to conquer. Not just a clock, but first himself.
Qn: 'Technology and sport should not mix.' Discuss.
If can't access above link, click HERE
Note the inspirational/motivational function of sports for society as a whole, which is not confined to endeavours in sports alone but all other fields....Having a Gold Medalist like Joseph Schooling does not just serve as an inspiration for local athletes, but everyone in Singapore, in our own realm -- that small as we are as a little red dot, we are capable of punching above our weight and achieve the unimaginable!
At lunch the other day with a couple of athletes, I mentioned that I saw them as rebels. Because every morning they mount a daily resistance against what people think they can't do. To break a record, or athletically roam further than they once did, is nothing but a revolt against limits.
Michael Phelps once wrote that "so many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach". But to travel like he did, and Kipchoge has, where no one has ventured before, to think that big, requires a certain audacity.
He can tell them about humility (he cleans toilets when it's his turn at training camps). He can drive them with his persistence. He can remind them there is so much further they can go, that they have not yet closed in on their potential or touched the brilliant borders of their limits.
Note also the impact of technology on sport, how it can aid sport, but too much of it can also take the shine away from sport and compromise sport's ability to inspire and awe the admirers....consider how an F1 racer managed to break a record...would we be awed by man's ability to stretch the limits of his physical body? or would this magic be dimmed by our knowledge of the fact that the real star here is the technology behind the race car? Likewise, would we still admire Kipchoge as much if we know that he managed to accomplish his feat largely with the help of the specially-designed shoes that gives an overall improved efficiency of over 4 percent?
He knows this because it is what he did on Saturday. Aided, yes, but even as this might have resembled an expensive science experiment, Kipchoge himself couldn't be programmed. He's just a human, who had to run and hurt and endure. Who had to conquer. Not just a clock, but first himself.
Qn: 'Technology and sport should not mix.' Discuss.
posted by Dark Shadow | 2:03 PM
<< Home