Unfair advantage

Posting this in 2016 after the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics and a great success for the British Team. I was however somewhat surprised on seeing an interview with the Head of "Team GB's" equipe. On being asked how he planned to maintain this level of success for the next olympics, he replied he needed to make sure we concentrated on developing sportsmen and women for competitions where there were medals to be won. When asked how, he replied, "I'm not going to tell you that and let other countries know what we are doing". Thank goodness the head of the equally successful disabled Olympians didn't give the same replies. Seems the UK (May/Brexit/Plan/Negotiations/Art 50) though is taking secret plans to heart.

Some may recognise the guy in the middle - Duncan Goodhew CBE, winner of Gold and Bronze at the rather depleted 1980 Moscow Olympics.Generally a liked, humorous guy.

He was the guest speaker at a works bash held at the Bournemouth International Centre. My diary just says "National Managers Meeting". I think it must have been the Manager's of Grand Metropolitan Pubs & Restaurants Division. I frankly don't remember much about the evening, it was at a time when there were loads of changes happening and or being imagined. Probably felt a bit like a fish out of water but still a free meal and night out in Bournemouth.

Goodhew was quite open about his "weaknesses" and of course turned them in to strengths. One of these was that as a child he had fallen out of a tree which had caused all his body hair to vanish - an "illness" called alopecia universalis. Gave him an unfair advantage as a swimmer and certainly saved many painful hours of being "waxed".