Its good to be British
After the near misses of the F1 World Championship and the Rugby World Cup, finally we have had a weekend to be proud of. I’m not just talking about Portsmouth’s demolition of Newcastle this weekend (incidentally a result, which puts them in the Champions League spot), but the wins of Justin Rose, Paula Radcliffe and Joe Calzaghe.
Joe Calzaghe was the first to win, defending his Super Middle Weight title successfully against the Dane Mikel Kessler. This fight was not a full gone conclusion and Calzaghe was hit with some good shots and rocked a couple of times, but ultimately his guts, determination, stamina and ability to adapt got him through. He is now eyeing up a step up to light heavy weight after defending his title an amazing 21 times.
Then came Paula Radcliffe, who won a close run London Martathon on Sunday. The win itself is remarkable enough and something to be proud of, but considering she gave birth to her daughter Isla just 10 months ago, it is made even more remarkable.
And then Sunday afternoon up stepped Justin Rose in the Volvo Masters, knowing that a win would also give him the European Order of Merit Title. He seemed to be coasting 4 shots clear until the 11th, where he made a double bogey, and then went on to drop 2 more shots in the next 3 holes. This was compounded when Graeme McDowell produced an Albatross 2 at the 17th to show that anyone of 5 could potentially win. However, it was the 18th hole at Valerama, which once again gave us the drama, with the top 3 (Rose, Dyson and Kjeldson) all taking bogeys, and going into a 3-way play off. With Padraig Harrington finishing 2 shots down in 4th, it meant that Rose was assured the Order of Merit title and this seemed to relax him enough to go on and win the play off with a 12 foot putt.
The timing for all three couldn’t be better in terms of spot lighting their sports with the Sports Personality of the Year Award coming up in December. All should be in contention along with Lewis Hamilton, and of course Jonny Wilkinson. Let’s hope it does go to one of the “smaller” sports and for somebody who actually won something rather than just came close. Britain needs to celebrate winners rather than the “nearly men”.