These past months have been spent pursuing a dream to qualify for the Olympics. To quote Brad Pitt in the Devil’s Own.
“Don’t look for a happy ending. It’s not an American story. It’s an Irish one”
You could say it began when I was 8 years old but for the sake of currency it started in August 2007, when my good friend Gordon Kennedy and I sat down and discussed what was our best chance of getting to the Olympics in Beijing. As 400m runners the choice was obvious - the 4*400m relay. On a global level, Ireland has greater depth in the 400m sprint than probably any other sporting discipline, but the public are not aware of this at all. We wanted to inform the Irish audience about this and get our team to the Olympics.
So we got all the 400m runners on the same page, including our superstars, David Gillick and Paul McKee and branded our efforts as Project 400. We needed an event to get all the guys in the one spot, so with the help of the Sunday Independent we organised a photoshoot in Dublin with their photographer David Conachy, while sportswriter John O’Brien documented our efforts in a 2 page spread before Christmas.
Athletics does not pay the bills unless you are a megastar so if you want to pursue the dream you need a source of funding. For me it was my business so I structured my working day according to my training, and tried to get the balance just right. Throughout the summer I managed to keep on top of both work and training, but the Blog was the obvious casualty.
Having signed off on a bunch of work in late March, I fled to the warmer climes of Portugal where I put in a month’s training with the other 400m guys. Portugal was fantastic. Nice weather, great facilities and top class athletes to train with. All of us really progressed in Portugal and we were in great spirits for the forthcoming summer season.
Having put my body throught the wringer for 8 months I was in the shape of my life in early April. However as the season edged closer little niggles turned to injury in what would become a summer long battle with my own body. Strained tendons, Torn Muscles, Dislocated knees. I didn’t wnat to wallow in self pity, there was a ticket to Beijing available and nothing could distract me from the goal of getting the team to qualify. A qualified team would mean more time to prove I was in shape so I never felt the panic of an athlete forcing to get themself in shape.
Qualification for the Olympics involved ranking in the top 16 in the World for the years 2007-2008 based on the aggregate of your 2 best times. Having no time down on paper for 2007, meant that we had to do it all this year and that was going to be tough. Our first qualification race was in Namur Belgium. I didn’t get to even see myself as a hamstring tear meant I was spending most of my free time with needles in my leg. We finished 3rd in Namur in a time of 3:04.71, beaten by an inch by a South African team that would ultimately make the Olympics.
A week later we had to put in our second time. My leg had healed sufficiently to travel to Estonia with the team as the sub. Being the 5th man is not a pleasant role but it is necessary and at least I’d be able to roar encouragement from the stands. The odds were stacked against us in Estonia. The weather was poor, there was no competition and there wasn’t a big crowd. However the Irish supporters made themselves heard and the team produced an incredible performance given the circumstances - 3.04.43. We checked the Top 16 lists. We were in 17th missing out by 1/100th of a second.
We couldn’t miss the Olympics by so little.
We checked the IAAF list of races. There was one opportunity left in Salamanca in Spain in 2 weeks time. In between the 2 relay races David Gillick set a new Irish record and leading time in Europe this year. Everything was falling in to place. People were getting faster, we’d get to run in a warmer climate in a bigger race knowing that a good run would mean we’d be going to the Olympics. I had just shaken off my injuries so I was looking for a run out myself. And then it happened.
2 days before the race - we get a phone call. The race is cancelled. Not the entire event, just the 4*400m. I’d like to go into the details about what happened but suffice to say it was more than just a lack of beds that lead to the cancelling of our final Olympic qualification attempt. This article does a good job of explaining the situation.
We ended the season 15th in the World for the year but 18th on the aggregate list, 2/10ths of a second off of our dream. Less than the time it takes to clap your hands over a course of a mile in length. The hardest part of it all is not losing on your own terms and being denied the chance to prove yourself. We’ll always know we were good enough to go, but its scant consolation when the party is 5,000 miles away and you are at home.
So the Beijing Olympics will be spent cheering on our friends on the Irish team, in particular David Gillick who qualified individually. I’d rather be in the Crow’s nest than on the couch. I’m looking for the silver lining, but I think this story is more of a smog haze than cloud.
No Regrets.
]]>Priorities
Of my favourite parts of the presentation is when Guy tells the story of a professor teaching his students about priorities. The professor takes an empty mayonaisse jar and fills it to the brim with big stones and asks the class “is the jar full?” To which they respond “Yes”. The professor proceeds to fill the spaces between the stones with gravel and asks the class again “is the jar full now?” The class once again say “Yes” and the professor then adds sand into the jar. He asks the class is it full for a third time and they realise where it’s going and say “No”. The professor then fills the jar with water and turns to the class and asks “What is the message I’m trying to communicate?”. A student naively answers “no matter how much you have on your plate you can always add a little more” .
The professor sagely turns to the class and says “No it’s not, if you want to put the big stones in then you have to put them in first!”.
Tourism Ireland
This story came to mind for a few reasons, firstly Damien was continuing the much need debate on Broadband in Ireland and secondly that I saw that Tourism Ireland were having a St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life.
The logic for the St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life appears to be more about column inches rather than business logic. For a semi-state agency to pursue such a strategy is reprehensible. The media coverage seems to be as concerned with Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director Mark Henry as it they are about the event. “Mark Henry…will be represented at the Second Life Dublin parade by his online avatar. Meanwhile the real Mr Henry will be present at events in New York.”
We are very excited about the world’s first virtual St Patrick’s Day parade — it’s an innovative and interesting way to present the island of Ireland as an attractive holiday destination to a new audience,” “Once they have experienced the simulated Ireland, we hope these potential visitors will come and see the real thing”.
Mr. Henry’s strategy does not appear completely foolish at first glance. Get the people from the online version to the real version. We know they are on Second Life so they must have some spare time and some money. If we show them online Ireland maybe they’ll want to spend time and money here.
My gut instinct is that people who spend hours in a virtual world are not the biggest spenders in real world vacations. We know that this audience are very tech savvy people and they will be taking their laptops with them on holiday. My question is has Mr. Henry ever tried to get on the internet in an Irish hotel/guesthouse?
Broadband
I have tried to do so on several occasions and have been either unable to do so or charged through the nose for the privilege (Up to €20/day for Wifi!). I would love to know how much the spend on Second Life has been for Tourism Ireland and how many Wi-Fi hotspots that could have paid for in Irish Hotels/Guesthouses. If anyone actually visits Ireland as a result of this promotion surely we are just setting them up for disappointment.
One tech savvy person to be disappointed was none other than Mr. Kawasaki himself. Guy Kawasaki was in Dublin at end of last month for the Irish Software Association conference. “Been without Internet access in Dublin for the last 14 hours. It’s killing me.” - Guy Kawasaki, Dublin (February 26, 2008). For one of the top 50 bloggers to say that certainly doesn’t do Ireland’s reputation any favours and highlights the problems we have. If a technology evangelist can’t get Internet access when he is over for a Software Conference then surely our priorities are skewed.
Before Tourism Ireland are allowed to spend another penny on Second Life I would urge whoever is in charge to try and put the big stones in place. It may be outside the traditional role of marketing but free wi-fi in Irish hotels and hostels is an amenity that is becoming of a country that prides itself on it’s IT capability. A St. Patricks Day parade in Second Life looks like one man trying to make a name for himself.
{My problems with Tourism Ireland spending money in Second Life are admittedly based on opinion and I welcome any one with hard facts that agree or differ with my position. }
]]>I reviewed the Beta version of the BBC Homepage last December and to be honest not much has changed. Noticing the differences is a Where’s Wally style game of looking for minute changes in colour and shape. (more…)
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]]>As any barista will tell you, Illy make excellent coffee. Whenever I’m in a foreign city I look for the Illy sign to dictate what coffee shop I should call to. Not only do I like the product but I also appreciate the way Illy handle their branding. Their logo is simple, distinctive and clear. Their packaging leads the way not just in terms of aesthetics but in functionality - those famous silver tins preserve coffee much better than highly stressed tinfoil. (more…)
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When I think of a good example of lots of effort but not much success I think of “The Hippies”, a sitcom that was on BBC for one series in 1999. The series was about of clueless British Hippies who ran an underground magazine out of a basement in Notting Hill. The Hippies was created by Father Ted writing partners Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan who were at the time riding the crest of a wave. The show had a great cast including Simon Pegg, Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Darren Boyd who were the four main characters. (more…)
]]>The first thing that I should highlight is that darts is not an easy sell. Darts is not the most dynamic of sports. The protagonists are not cut like Greek gods. Greek salads might be more appropriate but for 2 weeks the organisers made them look like sporting colossuses. (more…)
]]>I’m going to do a more complete review of 2007 in a few days time and maybe make a few predictions for who and what to watch in 2008.
]]>I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. While I’d like to take a complete break from the work I have a few on going things I have to keep on top off.
My current plaything is a bit of Self Promotion under my athletics hat. (In my spare time I’m a member of Ireland’s 4*400m relay squad). So if you would like to see our fledgling website and perhaps give some link love or add a comment - it’s http://www.project400.net
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