Bridie O'Donnell on heroes, sports stars, Cadel Evans, & Mia Freedman
by Sarah Connolly on Jul 26, 2011 6:22 AM EDT
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PrintAn Australian journalist, Mia Freedman, was on Aussie tv talking about how she didn't think Cadel Evans, or other sports stars, should be considered heroes - instead other professionals, including doctors, should be described as "heroic" (she also dismissed Evans as someone just "getting paid a lot of money to ride a bike")
Bridie O'Donnell is an Australian cyclist, riding for Top Girls Fassa Bortolo, and is a former doctor, so she has a great perspective on both careers. This is her open letter to Freedman about why things are not that simple - and why she'd proud to be inspired by Cadel.
Bridie always writes well - head over and read the background, and what she has to say, for herself.
(Bridie's own site is down - it's usually here - and will be back up soon - so this is hosted on the fantastic Cycling Tips blog, which everyone should have bookmarked anyway!)
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I read this this morning. Dr Bridie O'Donnell, Legend!
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Exactly
Sport may not contribute obviously tangible benefits to society like some other professions, but the inspiration athletes can provide to millions of people is real and beneficial.
Bridie herself is also one of those athletes.
she raises good points about motivation
ie. can’t assume that everyone in a particular profession that she might deem as more “heroic” than any sportsperson is doing it for altruistic reasons – and that such professions aren’t entirely awe-inspiring as a whole either.
I did suggest that there should be extra points for blogging goodness
but Jens wasn’t having any of it! Bah!
by Sarah Connolly on Jul 26, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't know, I love Tweetie Birdie
but I was a bit disappointed that, in the end, she did pronounce Evans and his team mates heroes for their sporting achievements.
I guess it’s a matter of definition, which she argued with the dictionary quote. Me personally, while admiring lots of athletes, I would never call them heroes.
"On paper, your team is awesome." -- Pigeons on my WVDS team, and life in general.
Her point about the global presumptions that some professions are always heroic...
…dead on.
Her insistence that people who just aren’t moved by sport for whatever reason should change that view, less convincing. I think she’s right that there’s a lot to admire in Evans if you’re disposed to find athletic achievement meaningful and admirable. I think there are some decent arguments for finding athletic achievement meaningful and admirable. But I’m also pretty sure that some forms of meaning just don’t register very easily for some people, and those folks should probably be let off the hook.
That said, they shouldn’t be let off the hook for easy, uninformed claims about what is ‘better’ or frankly for dismissing what doesn’t register for them as meaningless per se.
But yeah, I think I agree with ted, though possibly for different reasons, that she overplayed her hand a bit in this.
I liked the letter
A bit odd that she’d mention the Maths Olympics medal, though!
Surely to lend herself, just a cyclist after all, more credence from Freedman
and a little joke.
"On paper, your team is awesome." -- Pigeons on my WVDS team, and life in general.
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