Hero to Zero (Mo Farah content)?
Discussion
Nobody flies birds, atmospheric or otherwise out of some notion of duty. They do it because they are the most driven and egotistical SOBs around.
Pilots are a law unto themselves and will quite happily remind you of this fact
Test pilots even more so but with added delusions of grandeur.
They are of course tremendous company and I always enjoy drinks with them. And of course to point out that we do 90% of their job for them anyway now and so the lazy b
ds should just retire and let's us do the rest of the job properly
They then smile, flash their pearly whites and every female in the vicinity creams their knickers and victory is once again assured for the wings - which is pretty much the reason they wanted to earn them in the first place
Pilots are a law unto themselves and will quite happily remind you of this fact
Test pilots even more so but with added delusions of grandeur.
They are of course tremendous company and I always enjoy drinks with them. And of course to point out that we do 90% of their job for them anyway now and so the lazy b
ds should just retire and let's us do the rest of the job properly They then smile, flash their pearly whites and every female in the vicinity creams their knickers and victory is once again assured for the wings - which is pretty much the reason they wanted to earn them in the first place
TwigtheWonderkid said:
He's clearly the greatest British athlete ever, living or dead. Not sure who would surpass him as the greatest living Brit. Maybe someone like Tim Berners Lee. Mo Farah has to be in with a shout. 5 & 10K metres champion in 3 successive tournaments, 2 world championships and an Olympics. Just amazing.
Even if he were the 'greatest British athlete' ever, for what that would be worth and which is highly debatable, he wouldn't come remotely close to being on a list of greatest Brits, living or dead, for me. There are some very worthy postmen and lollipop ladies about.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
He's clearly the greatest British athlete ever, living or dead. Not sure who would surpass him as the greatest living Brit. Maybe someone like Tim Berners Lee. Mo Farah has to be in with a shout. 5 & 10K metres champion in 3 successive tournaments, 2 world championships and an Olympics. Just amazing.
Not heard of Daley Thompson then? Possibly the best all round athelete the world has seen, let alone Britain. Not only holding Olympic and Commonwealth Records at the same time, he was the world record holder for many of the individual events that make up the Decathlon. Even, on one occasion, being able to beat the the world record in an event (that wasnt his best event) but holding back to put his energy into one he could.David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:24
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:26
TwigtheWonderkid said:
He's clearly the greatest British athlete ever, living or dead. Not sure who would surpass him as the greatest living Brit. Maybe someone like Tim Berners Lee. Mo Farah has to be in with a shout. 5 & 10K metres champion in 3 successive tournaments, 2 world championships and an Olympics. Just amazing.
Not heard of Daley Thompson then? Possibly the best all round athelete the world has seen, let alone Britain. Not only holding Olympic and Commonwealth Records at the same time, he was the world record holder for many of the individual events that make up the Decathlon. Even, on one occasion, being able to beat the the world record in an event (that wasnt his best event) but holding back to put his energy into one he could.David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:24
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:28
Eric Mc said:
You've obviously been reading "The Right Stuff" again!
Although I'm not altogether sure Eric Brown or Neil Armstrong would fit into your character summary of test pilots.
Yes they would Eric. Quite quite easily. And no, I haven't read the Right Stuff in yrs. Its just the difference between the day job and your romantic ideas.Although I'm not altogether sure Eric Brown or Neil Armstrong would fit into your character summary of test pilots.
None of which has anything to do with a bloke who runs round a track in a very efficient manner...or does it!
Mo is remorseless. Like all the best high-level athletes they are essentially highly tuned killing machines in that victory is conquest and there is a whole of psychosis in there. Very very similar attributes to fighter pilots.
TVR1 said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
He's clearly the greatest British athlete ever, living or dead. Not sure who would surpass him as the greatest living Brit. Maybe someone like Tim Berners Lee. Mo Farah has to be in with a shout. 5 & 10K metres champion in 3 successive tournaments, 2 world championships and an Olympics. Just amazing.
Not heard of Daley Thompson then? Possibly the best all round athelete the world has seen, let alone Britain. Not only holding Olympic and Commonwealth Records at the same time, he was the world record holder for many of the individual events that make up the Decathlon. Even, on one occasion, being able to beat the the world record in an event (that wasnt his best event) but holding back to put his energy into one he could.David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:24
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:28
Five times Olympic champion over 16 years plus he's managed it all despite being a diabetic.
GloverMart said:
TVR1 said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
He's clearly the greatest British athlete ever, living or dead. Not sure who would surpass him as the greatest living Brit. Maybe someone like Tim Berners Lee. Mo Farah has to be in with a shout. 5 & 10K metres champion in 3 successive tournaments, 2 world championships and an Olympics. Just amazing.
Not heard of Daley Thompson then? Possibly the best all round athelete the world has seen, let alone Britain. Not only holding Olympic and Commonwealth Records at the same time, he was the world record holder for many of the individual events that make up the Decathlon. Even, on one occasion, being able to beat the the world record in an event (that wasnt his best event) but holding back to put his energy into one he could.David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:24
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:28
Five times Olympic champion over 16 years plus he's managed it all despite being a diabetic.
TVR1 said:
Not heard of Daley Thompson then? Possibly the best all round athelete the world has seen, let alone Britain. Not only holding Olympic and Commonwealth Records at the same time, he was the world record holder for many of the individual events that make up the Decathlon. Even, on one occasion, being able to beat the the world record in an event (that wasnt his best event) but holding back to put his energy into one he could.
David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Which world records did Daley joked for individual events in the decathlon? I'm not sure that's true at all.David Attenborough has my shout as the greatest living Brit though....
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:24
Edited by TVR1 on Sunday 30th August 19:26
He was a great athlete, phenomenal but I don't think any of his decathlon event bests were world records .
Willhire89 said:
Given his association with Alberto Salazar (which he refuses to break) I would be amazed if he is any different to Lance Armstrong.
We'll have to wait for the future to tell us.....and then confirm his zero status...... legend my @rse
Admittedly the 800m final wasn't quick, at 5 seconds behind world record pace, but even so, it seems highly dubious that he was able to run the final 600m of his 5,000m race faster than Rudisha ran the final 600m to win the 800....We'll have to wait for the future to tell us.....and then confirm his zero status...... legend my @rse
DJRC said:
Eric Mc said:
You've obviously been reading "The Right Stuff" again!
Although I'm not altogether sure Eric Brown or Neil Armstrong would fit into your character summary of test pilots.
Yes they would Eric. Quite quite easily. And no, I haven't read the Right Stuff in yrs. Its just the difference between the day job and your romantic ideas.Although I'm not altogether sure Eric Brown or Neil Armstrong would fit into your character summary of test pilots.
None of which has anything to do with a bloke who runs round a track in a very efficient manner...or does it!
Mo is remorseless. Like all the best high-level athletes they are essentially highly tuned killing machines in that victory is conquest and there is a whole of psychosis in there. Very very similar attributes to fighter pilots.
But you are missing the gist of what I was saying. I'm not denying that many test pilots are very ambitious and maybe even a tad ruthless. What is different about them and top level sportsmen and women is that they the test pilots often are on relatively modest salaries especially compared to the risks they are taking.
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 31st August 09:21
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