What happened To That Athlete?: #1
A beast should you wander in its path, on your ship and your flesh you serve, you disappear from this world 'till you've been swallowed up - Swallowed Up (In the Belly of the Whale) (2012)
In the sporting world there have been numerous examples of 'one hit wonders'. An athlete wins a competition and for the next few weeks they are the talk of the sporting world. They lie across some of the most well known magazines, promote the newest product and before you know it you can't even remember their names. You can just barely remember their sport if you think really hard and dust off some of the cobwebs that developed in that part of your memory. Sport is a fickle world and unless you continue to perform and more importantly - Win, you are soon forgotten from the nation's consciousness. So here are just some athletes that were left behind by the sporting world as soon as they lost their sporting mojo. (Although, despite being discarded from the athlete's circle they certainly made up for it by appearing on our TV screens, possibly more than we'd care for).
Sue Barker is a regular on our TV screens be it in the form of Sunday afternoon repeats of Question of Sport where the whole family sits in the living room attempting to digest the massive roast they've just consumed or most recently the nation would have witnessed her filling the role of main anchorman on the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. She is most certainly one of Britain's most notable sports presenters but she is not so much remembered for her tennis as she is for dating Cliff Richard. In 1976, with the ruling Queens of tennis such as Billy Jean King, Navratilova and Evert missing, Barker lifted the French Open championship trophy to secure her one and only major title. After this success Barker did
not manage to advance in to another major final and only managed to reach the semis of Wimbledon a year after. Despite Barker's disappointment after winning in Roland Garros the British tennis player went on to enjoy a more than successful media career which has seen her grace our television sets for many a decade.
Another British athlete who shot off our sporting screens almost as quickly has he arrived was the one and only Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards. Edwards holds the title of the first Great British competitor in Olympic ski jumping but despite qualifying for the 1988 Olympics the athlete came last in both the 70m and 90m jumping competition. Although his failure was undeniable the legend of 'The Eagle' had only just began. After his dismal performance Edwards never qualified for another Olympic games - this might have something to do with the 'Eddie The Eagle Rule' which the IOC brought in that meant that only competitors of a certain standard could be allowed to compete. Despite his infamous performance the 'celebrity' life soon followed and the athlete soon found himself out of the snow and under the heat of studio lights promoting products and presenting an array of different television programmes.
The next athlete is a more recent sportsman who is still (I think, maybe) performing on the big stage. Gavin Henson and his silver boots kicked Wales towards their 2005 Grand Slam which eventually led to a wave of Welsh success after the dark, dark days of the 1990s. He was the poster boy of Welsh rugby and a symbol of success, his silver hair and immaculate hair removing precision led to him being known all around the world (maybe not for the right reasons). His relationship with Welsh singing sensation Charlotte Church allowed the press to build his celebrity status by billing them as the Welsh 'Posh and Becks'. However, a turn on the Bachelor, an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and a bag full of fights and disputes led to him being sacked from numerous rugby teams and to the destruction of his relationship with his long term partner and mother of his two children. Unlike many athletes who have disappeared from our radar there is still a chance that Henson might stage a big, miraculous, return to the rugby world but in reality it will be more likely that we see him grace the cover of Hello, Heat and OK magazine for the rest of his days before we see him become a regular on the Millennium Stadium turf.
This is the first instalment of a series I will be conducting on this blog
In the sporting world there have been numerous examples of 'one hit wonders'. An athlete wins a competition and for the next few weeks they are the talk of the sporting world. They lie across some of the most well known magazines, promote the newest product and before you know it you can't even remember their names. You can just barely remember their sport if you think really hard and dust off some of the cobwebs that developed in that part of your memory. Sport is a fickle world and unless you continue to perform and more importantly - Win, you are soon forgotten from the nation's consciousness. So here are just some athletes that were left behind by the sporting world as soon as they lost their sporting mojo. (Although, despite being discarded from the athlete's circle they certainly made up for it by appearing on our TV screens, possibly more than we'd care for).
Sue Barker is a regular on our TV screens be it in the form of Sunday afternoon repeats of Question of Sport where the whole family sits in the living room attempting to digest the massive roast they've just consumed or most recently the nation would have witnessed her filling the role of main anchorman on the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. She is most certainly one of Britain's most notable sports presenters but she is not so much remembered for her tennis as she is for dating Cliff Richard. In 1976, with the ruling Queens of tennis such as Billy Jean King, Navratilova and Evert missing, Barker lifted the French Open championship trophy to secure her one and only major title. After this success Barker did not manage to advance in to another major final and only managed to reach the semis of Wimbledon a year after. Despite Barker's disappointment after winning in Roland Garros the British tennis player went on to enjoy a more than successful media career which has seen her grace our television sets for many a decade.
Another British athlete who shot off our sporting screens almost as quickly has he arrived was the one and only Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards. Edwards holds the title of the first Great British competitor in Olympic ski jumping but despite qualifying for the 1988 Olympics the athlete came last in both the 70m and 90m jumping competition. Although his failure was undeniable the legend of 'The Eagle' had only just began. After his dismal performance Edwards never qualified for another Olympic games - this might have something to do with the 'Eddie The Eagle Rule' which the IOC brought in that meant that only competitors of a certain standard could be allowed to compete. Despite his infamous performance the 'celebrity' life soon followed and the athlete soon found himself out of the snow and under the heat of studio lights promoting products and presenting an array of different television programmes.
The next athlete is a more recent sportsman who is still (I think, maybe) performing on the big stage. Gavin Henson and his silver boots kicked Wales towards their 2005 Grand Slam which eventually led to a wave of Welsh success after the dark, dark days of the 1990s. He was the poster boy of Welsh rugby and a symbol of success, his silver hair and immaculate hair removing precision led to him being known all around the world (maybe not for the right reasons). His relationship with Welsh singing sensation Charlotte Church allowed the press to build his celebrity status by billing them as the Welsh 'Posh and Becks'. However, a turn on the Bachelor, an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and a bag full of fights and disputes led to him being sacked from numerous rugby teams and to the destruction of his relationship with his long term partner and mother of his two children. Unlike many athletes who have disappeared from our radar there is still a chance that Henson might stage a big, miraculous, return to the rugby world but in reality it will be more likely that we see him grace the cover of Hello, Heat and OK magazine for the rest of his days before we see him become a regular on the Millennium Stadium turf.This is the first instalment of a series I will be conducting on this blog
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