I am acutely aware that some readers may think I live a glamorous life trotting around the globe. I do not always feel the need to dispel this myth and must admit I am incredibly fortunate to have these wonderful opportunities. On the face of it, working at the European Games in Baku sounds like another one of those trips.
The last week I have had the pleasure of commentating on numerous gold medal performances by British athletes in both triathlon and diving. TeamGB ended up dominating in the diving pool, overtaking Russia on the medal table on the closing night and the divers won a total of four European Games titles at this junior event. You can imagine how exciting this has been for a Brit to commentate on. The real challenge has been remaining neutral. The feed is going out at home on BT Sport but I am working for the international host broadcaster and we are very clearly instructed to show no bias at any point.
The sports I am covering are all roughly linked to my background in Modern Pentathlon; triathlon being a multi sport event and diving - well I guess it is water based? For the next five days I'm remaining poolside for a busy programme of swimming; a junior event and hopefully another chance to see the Union flag on the podium.
I do, however, have a small confession to make; this trip couldn’t actually be further from glamorous. It doesn't involve me touring around the lively city of Baku attending all the competition venues. Quite the opposite, I am spending most of the daylight hours in a small windowless box. The broadcast is all being transmitted from the International Broadcast Centre and therefore all commentators are watching and reacting to the feed from a studio doing their best to bring the event to life.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
European Games
This week I am in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, soaking up the spectacle of the inaugural European Games. As a commentator and journalist, I have to fully immerse myself in the event so it’s difficult to gauge, from this far flung corner of Europe, what kind of impact the competition is having at home.
The Games were conceived just three years ago, will be held every four and are vying for Olympic credibility on a European scale. The host city of Baku proudly boasts a rich cultural heritage and has undergone huge redevelopment in recent years thanks to a thriving petroleum industry. Azerbaijan seized the opportunity to showcase itself on Friday night during a spectacular opening ceremony featuring over a thousand dancers, an enormous hydraulic stage and a performance by the pop singer Lady Gaga.
A significant challenge for these games is the credibility of individual events. A few of the major sports have insisted it remains as a junior level competition so as not to detract from the European or World Championships that they organise themselves. An outsider might imagine that the major sports would be happy to take advantage of the world class facilities in Baku and pass on the administrative burden but there are other financial factors at play. For example, swimming and athletics can sell the television rights as well as gain huge sponsorship deals when owning the big meets themselves. As a result all of the aquatics disciplines are under eighteen and athletics has been graded a third tier event. On the other hand there are several ‘Road to Rio’ qualifiers throughout the seventeen days and TeamGB have already experienced success in the men’s triathlon.
As a commentator and spectator, living and breathing the event, it feels a success. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the world views Baku and its European Games.
The Games were conceived just three years ago, will be held every four and are vying for Olympic credibility on a European scale. The host city of Baku proudly boasts a rich cultural heritage and has undergone huge redevelopment in recent years thanks to a thriving petroleum industry. Azerbaijan seized the opportunity to showcase itself on Friday night during a spectacular opening ceremony featuring over a thousand dancers, an enormous hydraulic stage and a performance by the pop singer Lady Gaga.
A significant challenge for these games is the credibility of individual events. A few of the major sports have insisted it remains as a junior level competition so as not to detract from the European or World Championships that they organise themselves. An outsider might imagine that the major sports would be happy to take advantage of the world class facilities in Baku and pass on the administrative burden but there are other financial factors at play. For example, swimming and athletics can sell the television rights as well as gain huge sponsorship deals when owning the big meets themselves. As a result all of the aquatics disciplines are under eighteen and athletics has been graded a third tier event. On the other hand there are several ‘Road to Rio’ qualifiers throughout the seventeen days and TeamGB have already experienced success in the men’s triathlon.
As a commentator and spectator, living and breathing the event, it feels a success. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the world views Baku and its European Games.
Dark times for sport
To say it has been a depressing week for international sport is probably an understatement. Both stories had been brewing for sometime; it just took a while to gather all the evidence before the allegations made the press.
America's FBI made the first move as they arrested several FIFA board members for corruption and money laundering. The head of football’s world governing body, Sepp Blatter, went straight into damage limitation overdrive, denying knowledge of any wrongdoings within his sport. The timing was dangerously inconvenient as the news broke only days before the presidential elections were due to take place but somehow he was still re-elected. Thankfully due to mounting pressure Blatter has agreed to step down next year and I just hope that will mark the end of an era of corruption within the sport.
Athletics was the second sport to enter the firing line. Although the allegations are less concrete, the fact that Panorama has highlighted Mo Farah’s coach as a drugs cheat places an uncomfortable degree of scrutiny on the double Olympic champion. The inference was that athletics had many similarities with that of the Lance Armstrong era in cycling. I sincerely hope the accusations turn out to be false.
Cycling though, had a positive news story to end the week as Bradley Wiggins smashed the hour world record covering over fifty four kilometres in the London Velodrome on Sunday night. On another encouraging note we saw the inaugural women's sport week celebrated across the country which coincided with the start of the women's football World Cup. FIFA, despite all of its wrongdoings, has at least recognised the need for equality in the sport which the BBC has decided to follow by showing full coverage of all the games. It might be one step back but I feel we have taken two large ones forward.
America's FBI made the first move as they arrested several FIFA board members for corruption and money laundering. The head of football’s world governing body, Sepp Blatter, went straight into damage limitation overdrive, denying knowledge of any wrongdoings within his sport. The timing was dangerously inconvenient as the news broke only days before the presidential elections were due to take place but somehow he was still re-elected. Thankfully due to mounting pressure Blatter has agreed to step down next year and I just hope that will mark the end of an era of corruption within the sport.
Athletics was the second sport to enter the firing line. Although the allegations are less concrete, the fact that Panorama has highlighted Mo Farah’s coach as a drugs cheat places an uncomfortable degree of scrutiny on the double Olympic champion. The inference was that athletics had many similarities with that of the Lance Armstrong era in cycling. I sincerely hope the accusations turn out to be false.
Cycling though, had a positive news story to end the week as Bradley Wiggins smashed the hour world record covering over fifty four kilometres in the London Velodrome on Sunday night. On another encouraging note we saw the inaugural women's sport week celebrated across the country which coincided with the start of the women's football World Cup. FIFA, despite all of its wrongdoings, has at least recognised the need for equality in the sport which the BBC has decided to follow by showing full coverage of all the games. It might be one step back but I feel we have taken two large ones forward.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
I survived
It would have been easy to focus this column purely on my debut triathlon experience if there hadn't been some significantly more important sporting events taking place. First off was the finale of an exciting premiership rugby season. A couple of weeks ago it was disappointment for Exeter Chiefs as they got within touching distance of the play offs finishing tied with third and fourth but losing out on points difference. Another impressive season for the home grown Devon club and one they will take many positives from.
Westcountry hopes then lay with Bath who made it comfortably into the final positioning themselves as marginal favourites to take the title. The final clashed with my triathlon registration so I resorted to finding a sports bar in Nottingham. Sadly it was hardly worth the effort as Bath had a disappointing performance that resulted in a painful loss to Saracens. Meanwhile on the international sporting scene Great Britain won medals in triathlon and rowing whilst Jess Ennis-Hill made a her comeback ahead of Rio.
On a significantly more amateur level I completed and even enjoyed my first ever triathlon. Waking up in the wee small hours on a Sunday morning, listening to the wind and the rain beating against the window I was starting to seriously question what I was doing. Things didn't improve when I had to jump into a cold murky lake and tread water for ten minutes before we were allowed to start. I suddenly realised this challenge was larger than I first anticipated. Coming from a swimming background and being brought up on the wet hills of Dartmoor actually meant I was better prepared than most; combined with safe pacing and a strategic nutrition plan I surprised myself by winning my age group and finishing fourth woman overall.
Westcountry hopes then lay with Bath who made it comfortably into the final positioning themselves as marginal favourites to take the title. The final clashed with my triathlon registration so I resorted to finding a sports bar in Nottingham. Sadly it was hardly worth the effort as Bath had a disappointing performance that resulted in a painful loss to Saracens. Meanwhile on the international sporting scene Great Britain won medals in triathlon and rowing whilst Jess Ennis-Hill made a her comeback ahead of Rio.
On a significantly more amateur level I completed and even enjoyed my first ever triathlon. Waking up in the wee small hours on a Sunday morning, listening to the wind and the rain beating against the window I was starting to seriously question what I was doing. Things didn't improve when I had to jump into a cold murky lake and tread water for ten minutes before we were allowed to start. I suddenly realised this challenge was larger than I first anticipated. Coming from a swimming background and being brought up on the wet hills of Dartmoor actually meant I was better prepared than most; combined with safe pacing and a strategic nutrition plan I surprised myself by winning my age group and finishing fourth woman overall.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Tri time
At the end of last year I was looking for a new challenge and that challenge is now only a few days away - I am about to compete in my first triathlon. Several friends have gone on to compete in triathlons after retiring from modern pentathlon and they've done their best to convince me to follow. I'm also friends with some professional triathletes who haven't been quite so encouraging. All I know is: to do the sport seriously you have to have a certain mindset and I'm not so sure I have it any more. Thankfully I will be standing on that start line with one goal - to have fun.
I've had a few of tasters in the last couple of years. My first was a four hundred metre lake swim as part of a sprint relay. I followed that up a year later with a twenty five mile cycle as part of an Olympic distance relay. I've never actually ran a leg of a relay but I think that's the one part that should be the most straightforward for a novice.
Sunday I'll not only be putting all three sports together but I'll be hoping to complete a 70.3 mile course. For some unknown reason I've chosen to enter a half iron man distance triathlon for my inaugural event. I've confidently completed all of those distances in the past but usually with a day or so rest between the swim, bike and run; not a few seconds. Due to my travel schedule over the last three months training for the fifty six mile cycle has gone out of the window however I suspect the real difficulty will come when I get off the bike and try to run the half marathon course. I was after a challenge and now, due to my lack of preparation, I am guaranteed to have one.
I've had a few of tasters in the last couple of years. My first was a four hundred metre lake swim as part of a sprint relay. I followed that up a year later with a twenty five mile cycle as part of an Olympic distance relay. I've never actually ran a leg of a relay but I think that's the one part that should be the most straightforward for a novice.
Sunday I'll not only be putting all three sports together but I'll be hoping to complete a 70.3 mile course. For some unknown reason I've chosen to enter a half iron man distance triathlon for my inaugural event. I've confidently completed all of those distances in the past but usually with a day or so rest between the swim, bike and run; not a few seconds. Due to my travel schedule over the last three months training for the fifty six mile cycle has gone out of the window however I suspect the real difficulty will come when I get off the bike and try to run the half marathon course. I was after a challenge and now, due to my lack of preparation, I am guaranteed to have one.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Accross the bridge
I have just returned from the second of two contrasting but delightful trips to Wales. Admittedly I never ventured far enough to loose sight of our coast but I did pay the bridge toll so that should surely counts towards a stamp in the passport?
On the first occasion I checked into a world class golfing hotel, the Celtic Manor. My knowledge of golf is limited to what I've seen whilst running or riding around the local common land course on Whitchurch Down or visiting my Granny whilst she watched it on the television. My connection to the Celtic Manor might have seemed rather tenuous however I soon discovered they offer far more than just world class golf courses as I found myself enjoying a relaxing massage less than an hour after checking in. That said, I couldn't spend a weekend at the venue that so proudly hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010 and not have a taster session. After one hour of tuition on the driving range I was making a connection with the little white ball and already starting to experience the satisfaction of a smooth successful swing.
My second trip across the Severn was missing the same level of luxury however it made up for that with adrenaline. I, like hundreds of other young women, headed to the stereotypical destination of Cardiff for a hen party. Thankfully, unlike the opposite sex, girls tend to arrange things they hope the hen will enjoy and this one just so happened to be the adventurous type. We were quite literally in for a blast as we headed out into the choppy, chocolate coloured waters of Cardiff Bay for a high speed spin around in a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat). Alas I had prior commitments so missed the night on the town; that would certainly have been a whole different level of adventure.
On the first occasion I checked into a world class golfing hotel, the Celtic Manor. My knowledge of golf is limited to what I've seen whilst running or riding around the local common land course on Whitchurch Down or visiting my Granny whilst she watched it on the television. My connection to the Celtic Manor might have seemed rather tenuous however I soon discovered they offer far more than just world class golf courses as I found myself enjoying a relaxing massage less than an hour after checking in. That said, I couldn't spend a weekend at the venue that so proudly hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010 and not have a taster session. After one hour of tuition on the driving range I was making a connection with the little white ball and already starting to experience the satisfaction of a smooth successful swing.
My second trip across the Severn was missing the same level of luxury however it made up for that with adrenaline. I, like hundreds of other young women, headed to the stereotypical destination of Cardiff for a hen party. Thankfully, unlike the opposite sex, girls tend to arrange things they hope the hen will enjoy and this one just so happened to be the adventurous type. We were quite literally in for a blast as we headed out into the choppy, chocolate coloured waters of Cardiff Bay for a high speed spin around in a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat). Alas I had prior commitments so missed the night on the town; that would certainly have been a whole different level of adventure.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Great to be back
It seems my friend managed to make a reasonably accurate judge of character, my new temporary lodger and I have survived the first week sharing my small flat. I must admit I was apprehensive when I returned home - exhausted after a twelve hour journey - to meet the 'stranger' in my flat. Thankfully I had nothing to worry about and fingers crossed it'll be this straightforward in a few weeks time when I have to repeat the process.
After spending most of April travelling through airports or in Eastern Europe it's great to be back in the UK for the whole of this month. Admittedly I've been away working with sport but as a result I've not been able to follow or watch any events happening back home. Last weekend was another wonderful example of Great Britain dominating the international sporting landscape as we watched titles won in tennis and equestrian.
Locally William Fox-Pitt maintained his cool to win Badminton Horse trials for the second time of his career. Lifting that eventing trophy at home for a rider is the equivalent of a tennis player winning the title at Wimbledon. Further afield and still a couple of months away from the manicured grass courts of Southwest London Andy Murray stormed to victory over rival Rafael Nadal. This isn't the first win for Murray against the spaniard but to beat him in Madrid and on clay is another significant step forward for the Scotsman's career.
There was one more significant result that I had a nail biting wait for as it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that Exeter Chiefs played their penultimate game of premiership rugby before the potential play offs. After an exciting win the dream stays alive for the Devon club and it all comes down to next Saturday to decide who makes it into the hard fought semi finals.
After spending most of April travelling through airports or in Eastern Europe it's great to be back in the UK for the whole of this month. Admittedly I've been away working with sport but as a result I've not been able to follow or watch any events happening back home. Last weekend was another wonderful example of Great Britain dominating the international sporting landscape as we watched titles won in tennis and equestrian.
Locally William Fox-Pitt maintained his cool to win Badminton Horse trials for the second time of his career. Lifting that eventing trophy at home for a rider is the equivalent of a tennis player winning the title at Wimbledon. Further afield and still a couple of months away from the manicured grass courts of Southwest London Andy Murray stormed to victory over rival Rafael Nadal. This isn't the first win for Murray against the spaniard but to beat him in Madrid and on clay is another significant step forward for the Scotsman's career.
There was one more significant result that I had a nail biting wait for as it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that Exeter Chiefs played their penultimate game of premiership rugby before the potential play offs. After an exciting win the dream stays alive for the Devon club and it all comes down to next Saturday to decide who makes it into the hard fought semi finals.
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