To win the Olympic Games in my home city is beyond words. This is my home, this is where I grew up.
I don’t watch much of the Olympics. The people who are suddenly huge fans of sports like canoe slalom when their country is in the medal rounds are tiresome. As is the flag-waving jingoism of feeling proud to be “X” nationality just because your country has the fastest yacht team.
I prefer the sports in which every country can compete, the traditional sports of running, jumping, throwing, and erm.. kicking a football. These sports don’t require an Olympic swimming pool and there’s no technological arms race over who can hoist the jib the quickest. Whomever runs the fastest or jumps the furthest, wins. And I honestly don’t care who wins as long as it’s a good race, an incredible jump, or a moment of amazing sportsmanship which overcomes all of the flag waving and teaches us something about the Olympic spirit. Which brings me to the men’s 10,000m race of a few days ago.
Mo Farah was born in Somalia and raised in London. He trained for this XXX Olympics in Oregon under the guidance of Cuban-born coach Alberto Salazar. And by all accounts his “teammate” in his gold-medal winning 10,000m run was the man who came second, American Galen Rupp. Given that diverse background, it only makes sense to me that Mo Farah also calls himself an Arsenal supporter. It also makes sense that so many Gunners embrace Mo so quickly in return. After all we are the Arsenal; the English club with the French manager who once famously said of his players “I don’t look at the passport of people, I look at their quality and their attitude.”
My favorite revelation after the run came from silver medalist Galen Rupp. There was a point about half way through the race where Rupp wanted to tear off with the pack and Mo told him to hold back a bit saying, “Take it easy, mate. You’re going to be all right.” It was enough to calm Rupp down and keep him on pace and revealed a lot about the character of Mo. Mo Farah had no reason to reach out like that to Galen Rupp, USA and Great Britain weren’t officially teammates. Not only that but Mo knew that Galen was his biggest threat. That at the end of the race, Rupp has a superb kick and that Rupp and Farah had the same game plan: use their sprint at the end to win. And so it would have benefited Mo to let Galen run himself down. But Mo and Galen are friends. They train together in Oregon. They play FIFA together when they aren’t training. So, instead of just letting Rupp run himself out, he helped his best friend. Helped a man who is not British. Helped him win the silver medal.
And so it was more than just a great race for me. It was Mo Farah showing the world that it really doesn’t matter where you come from, where you are raised, or who you team up with. It’s about the team and it’s about winning the right way.
We as Arsenal fans know that. The club embraces all fans, no matter where were were born as long as they love the Arsenal. Arsene Wenger will take any player no matter what his passport. And we demand a certain loyalty in return which is why Nasri and now van Persie’s transfers caused so much tumult.
So it was no surprise that Mo Farah, the Somali-born Englishman who is a great teammate and great sportsman, is also a Gunner.
Well said, Tim.
of course, with our horrible USA centric NBC coverage, we didn’t see the race in primetime or live, so i need to go find it online. Thanks for the good post. Gunners!
Agree that NBC’s coverage has been abysmal, but the race was shown live on NBC on Saturday afternoon.
At least it was in the central time zone.
I guess those of us on East coast weren’t so lucky. Apparently equestrian is far more important to NBC than showing the fastest man and women on the planet.
I watched the race and was hugely impressed with your Galen Rupp, to watch a white man (not racist) to beat the best of the east africans at their own game, it gives everyone hope.
But why didn’t Mo wear his Arsenal shoes?
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One of your best posts ever in my book, Tim.
I’m feeling proud as hell right now and I have no idea why.
Damn it.
not surprised one bit with Mo’s reactions. He is a modest, humble and thoughtful guy which make him a model muslim and a good human being in todays cut throat, dog eat dog world. Makes me proud does our little Mo !!!!!
I also read about this special bond between Mo and Galen and I think it is one of the best stories in the Olympics. I hope they repeat the feat in the 5000!
hear hear!
Team Earth.
Well written Tim and I absolutely concur.
If you have any of the major cable or satellite providers, you should be able to get the live streams from NBC online.
I absolutely refuse to wait 10 hrs to see a 100 meter race. They are very comprehensive and show all of the T&F events in detail.
As a huge T&F fanatic since birth, especially hailing from the land of Usain, my work is interfering with my viewing habits
Did watch the highlights of my girl Serena totally humiliating Sharapova.
BTW, seems like the arsenal dotcom has also being touting Allyson Felix and Rutherford (long jump winner) as being serious Gooners.
Up the Gooners (meant in a nice way).
Rutherford grandfather was the oldest man to play for the gunners.
Try bbc online you should get as it happens telly.
Not in the US. NBC has put paid to that one.
Rutherford’s grandaddy was a player for us in the 1920′s.
great grandaddy actually.
I enjoyed your post Tim; it added to my enjoyment of a sunny long weekend, when it seems a good time to accentuate the positive.
There’s an interview with MO Farah on Arsenal player – he met some of the AFC players during training, and seemed genuinely excited (somewhat overwhelmed even) at meeting some of the people whom he thought of as being his very own sports heroes. I found it touching, considering that he a great athlete himself – he came across as being a modest and appreciative guy.
Well, I’m not going to win any +1s for saying it: The sentiments hit the right note, but it’s a slippery slope that leads to uncomfortable conclusions when pursued in light of (in)famous fans who are less than savory. I’m thinking especially of one now dead Arsenal fan who was world famous for all the wrong reasons.
The Nazis proved once and for all (in the 20th century anyway) that having an eye for a good athlete, sports team, or work of art has no corresponding relationship to good ethics. Nonetheless, I suppose the pertinent remark here is “surprising,” as in we are not surprised to see that someone of great character is an Arsenal fan, but perhaps we are surprised to learn that Osama bin Laden was one. But it sounds awfully self-serving, doesn’t it?
Sorry. Please -1 me now. This has to be the most witless (or at least humorless) remark I’ve made on this site, and I can only hope you know it’s not the norm for me. Most of the time, I’m gallant and witty and desperately good looking. Except for the sweaty ball sack.
Not getting your point, Bunners. There are good and bad people at any rally and people like Bin Laden often use associations with clubs like Arsenal to clean up their image.
I once went on an anti-war march and these weird guys showed up and hung out together. They looked like skinheads but us all being liberal douchebags we just let them hang out. Then, when we all queued up, they joined the end of the line and once we started marching they unfurled their neo-nazi banners.
Were they anti-war? Were we neo-Nazis? Does it tarnish Arsenal that Bin Laden once said he likes Arsenal? I don’t think so. No more than it made me skinhead puke because they joined our march.
The sun is cooking your delicate Canadian brain.
I believe there is a point somewhere in there that is pertinent to the sentiments of today’s blog, but I suppose I’ve done a poor job of articulating it. Good thing I get paid to do just that sort of thing… Scary.
Delicate Canadian brain? You’ve clearly not been reading up on the latest in geo-humoral theory. I mean, seriously man. Like, get real.
Thank you for finally admitting it.
That I have a sweaty ball sack? Wow. How long since you noticed?
Nice perspective on Mo Farah’s epic gold winning race that I’d never have known ie helping his friend along the way.
That’s the spirit of The Arsenal at play. Doing things the right way and embracing the spirit of fair play.
Well done Mo’. Keep Gunning…
“Victory through harmony”
he has signed
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-sign-spain-midfielder-santi-cazorla
Beat me to the punch.
I’m happy as a pig in shit right now, and before everyone starts saying “right now we need ………..”. Let’s take a moment to appreciate what we’ve currently got!