The Great Gordino Newsletter – Throwing The Discus In Sequinned Platforms?

So, the London 2012 Olympics are over. I heaved a heavy sigh at the end, but it was a sigh of satisfaction. Satisfaction, inspiration, and a little bit of curiosity…
The Great Gordino goal achievement
I haven’t written a newsletter, as such, since before the games, because I was busy. Busy being lucky enough to savour the magical atmosphere at a couple of the events, busy watching the rest on TV, for more hours a day than I have ever watched TV before (and for a telly addict like me that’s saying something!)

I was also busy writing Olympic related articles – well over 20 of them in fact, as the individual stories hit my ‘must write about it’ button! If you type ‘Olympics’ or ‘London 2012’ into the blog search box, you’ll find them.

Something happens every time an Olympics comes around, and it happened again this time – I look at the athletes and think “Hmm, I wonder if I could do that?” I’ve made attempts to try various things in the past. All to pretty much no avail by the way, but I’ve had fun trying.

Pole vault, long jump, running, curling, it seems that none of those will get me to an Olympics.

I am still trying to find something online that allows you to get assessed to see what sports your body type would be good for – I suspect mine would say ‘none, old timer’ but I’d still love to find out.

My main problem? Being probably 4 inches too small – if I had those extra inches, so many sports would open up as possibilities.

I was interested to see the commentator describe the German gold winning discus thrower as using the ‘classic German technique’ – what did that mean compared to the non German technique?

Well, I did some research, and it’s all to do with the follow through after release. That seem interesting to me, and makes me wonder why other nations don’t seem to follow that technique?

I also looked at the physical stats of the discus throwers, and they are all big units! Mostly well over 6 feet, you can imagine the long levers and extra power that gives them.

Maybe I could try it in 4 inch platform heels? And if I wore platform heels, then they would have be covered in sequins, right?

Imagine it in Rio – 80,000 people in the stadium ask who the odd new mascot is, before discovering it’s actually me getting ready for my throw.

I imagine I’ll be giving something a go in the next few weeks – I did find out there is a beach volleyball court within an hour’s drive from me, and the 4,000 tonnes of sand from the Olympic courts will be used in and around London to create courts, as part of the legacy promise of the games.

In all seriousness, the most realistic way of me being at Rio would be in the broadcasting field, but that image doesn’t make me smile as much as the 4 inch sequinned platforms, which is the image I’ll leave you with today!

The London 2012 tag line was “inspire a generation” – well, it didn’t say which generation, and I take that as meaning the generation that watched it. So, were you inspired, and what will you be doing about it?

I want your feedback – seriously tell me about your Olympic inspiration or maybe your lack of it?

‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget my motivational book is still dirt cheap on kindle ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!’

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Reply to Amethyst Mahoney X

14 Comments

  • I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog?

    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.

    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
    Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two
    images. Maybe you could space it out better?

    • I’m often thinking about layout Charles! Not quite sure which way to go though. As for the content, each article is only 400-700 words each, so fairly short really! Cheers, Gordon

  • Oh – please: couldn’t I have the grace, focus and athletic moxie of a gymnast? Those uneven parallel bars, the men’s rings, the touch-the-ceiling floor tumbling. Oh well, if show collecting ever becomes an Olympic sport, you’ll find me up on the gold medal pedestal in my red and pink and green floral beaded 3″ slip ons!

  • lol … Remember Eddie the Eagle? Sounds to me like you could be on a similar path. Maybe you can put on those sequin boots and become Gordino the Great …. fill in gap with preferred sport. I can read in your post that there are actually a few valuable lessons to learn from watching the Olympics so I will go and have a look at some of your previous posts. Happy training!! Oh and don’t get those boots muddy!

    • Who can forget Eddie the Eagle!! In fact he caused a shift in the Olympic movement – lots of people said he was devaluing it, and taking a place away from a ‘proper’ jumper. Others said the Olympic spirit was about taking part.
      It was that debate that led to the introduction of qualifying standards to take part.

      You still get hopeless people taking part, but they are either their national champion, and have reached the ‘B’ standard, or are invited by the Olympic Committe to take part.

      Hopefully there won’t be too much rain/mud in Rio, so the boots will be ok!
      Cheers, Gordon

  • There are absolutely no Olympic skills that I possess, and I am mostly okay with that. Also, I’m pretty sure I possess no skills of any kind that could be carried out in 4 inch heels, sequined or otherwise! Strangely, it makes me feel a tad more incomplete that I can’t walk normally in incredibly high heels than the fact that I’ll never excel athletically. 😉

    • I guess there’ s nothing ‘normal’ about high heels in the first place! I have a friend who is well over 6 feet, and she wears high heels as well ‘just because she can’!
      Maybe that could be an Olympic sport in its’ own right!

  • I love the idea of trying to do what the Olympians do and being so inspired by them! I enjoyed your post a lot. My personal Olympic aspirations would be -well – nothing. I’m delighted when I’m able to move like a normal person for a week! But I do very much admire the sheer commitment that Olympic Athletes have in any field.

    • Yes Emily, the commitment is actually quite hard to believe when they reveal their schedules. Amazing amounts of time and effort planned for years ahead, and in many Olympic events it can go horribly wrong in an instant – and yet they still commit to it.

      I’m aiming to write up about my efforts at Olympianism, but have always been curious at how some athletes can be so far ahead of everyone else in the world at their events. Cheers, Gordon

  • Ha! I didn’t watch the Olympics hardly at all. Maybe that’s because no one was in 4-inch sequined platform boots. I think you’ve got something there.

    If I was going to be in the Olympics, can I just throw around the ribbon twirly things? Preferably without all the bending and spins and somersault-type moves. 🙂

    • Ha! I watched more Olympics than I ever have – every sport had every session shown, so my eyes went a bit square by the end! I watched the Rythmic Gymnastics (ribbin twirly things) and was struck by how quaint it was. Up to maybe the 50s that was all they had for the women gymnasts, and although it looks a bit odd, the spangly costumes did seem fitting! Cheers, Gordon

    • Hi Wesley,
      I could never decide whethe to set one up or not! I did, but since I found myself just posting the samelinks as on my personal profile, I left it. My personal profile is under thegreatgordino or you can search for Gordon Bryan. Think I may well revive that page!
      Thanks for stopping by, Gordon