3 juin 2012

TRIATHLON HISTORY AND MACCA


Most of the historians did not have the chance of getting to the sources and everything becomes a “real creation” of the historian, something like a novel.  Even Freud and the old psychiatric literature is more art than History; reason why Freud won a prize for his literature.  Everything becomes a “big fraud/Freud” after years if we do not have the sources because the context changes rapidly and the “originals” were destroyed.  Miguel León-Portilla mentioned something related to such thing, and I mentioned it April 16 in this blog, WHAT A CYBERNETIC TRIATHLON HISTORY IS:

Wikipedia says: Miguel León-Portilla (born in Mexico City, February 22, 1926) is a Mexican anthropologist and historian, and a prime authority on Nahuatl thought and literature.  During the conference, he mentioned: “I found an Aztec Codices in a remote village, but it was written in a “Scribe” notebook; I asked for the original and they answered: ‘We copied the old one into this scribe. It was impossible to keep the old one’…THIS IS HISTORY.”

We have a wealth of historical knowledge in Macca’s interview.  Macca was born as a triathlete with the first generation; he grew up with the second; and now he is with the third generation.  He was an ITU World Champion (1997) with the second generation of the History of triathlon and twice an ironman champion. 

He knows that Ironman is a different sport.  An “old dude” as Armstrong can win an Ironman but would not have a chance in an ITU race.  It is not “a wet run,” it is more than that.  Athletes need to be relatively good swimmers; relatively good cyclist but very smart cycling to take advantage of every move, even better than a Tour de France cyclist tactically; and the best they can be as runners.  Today, our sources of information are digital and we can have a more accurate context that could last forever.  I put down the interview link and will point out what it is of interest for me, but this interview is a historical piece for triathlon and humanity.  What is more important than sports and what happens to them nowadays?  Hardly anything, except bad economy.


“They´re bright Aussie kids, Brandon, Royle…If the sport is cruel, if you keep it cruel… Keep the Olympic Selection simple…You can destroy a lot of athletes mentally and physically…

They are broken athletes…They are going to survive this process…

The kids are good.  The Brownlees are exceptional.  THE SPORT IS MOVED MANY NOTCHES…The sport is huge now… The Aussies do well… We live on our successes in the 90´s.

The selection is key…Sport is cruel…Three races…Three people to qualify, six months.  Keep it simple.”

Remember León-Portilla, he wrote a book reading the old manuscripts (originals) called, “El Reverso de la Conquista.” It was “strangely” translated as, "The Broken Spears:”

…chronicles present only one side of the story, that of the conquerors. For some reason-scorn, perhaps-historians have failed to consider that the conquered might have set down their own version in their own language. This book is the first to offer a selection from those indigenous accounts, some of them written as early as 1528, only seven years after the fall of the city. These writings make up a brief history of the Conquest as told by the victims, and include passages written by native priests and wise men who managed to survive the persecution and death that attended the final struggle. The manuscripts from which we have drawn are now preserved in a number of different libraries, of which the most important are the National Library in Paris, the Laurenziana Library in Florence and the library of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan/aztec.html

It is difficult to speak clearly but I try my best, as my teacher Thomas Szasz said:

 “We all know the first and ‘original’ sin: ‘the knowledge of the good and evil.’ But we do not know, or tend to forget, what is the second sin: ´speaking clearly! ´” It was written in this blog, February 26, 2012.  VO2 MAX IMPROVEMENT AND THE SECOND SIN.

Being politically correct is one thing but sometimes it is beyond any dialogue.  What has happened to our athletes regarding the right to compete is horrible.  I have to approach it with jokes to sound better.

A young Jewish man auditions for a job as a radio announcer. When a friend asks if he got the job, he shakes his head sadly. "Why did they turn you down?" the friend asks and he replies, "S-s-s-same old th-th-th-thing. P-p-p-rejudice" (Levine 325; 492 n. 18). http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/10399/1/RAEI_21_08.pdf

Even if we do not believe it, please use your common sense about this joke:

“Heaven is where the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians.”


I started to believe the “Gallegos jokes” when I read the Mexican Federation web page regarding research and followed what the Mexican Federation has done with our athletes.

Javier Mon from Galicia was the one who designed the program.  That is the reason why our great Albert Einstein said:  “To be sure, when the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large, scientific methods in most cases fails us.” (47. Science and Religion. Ideas and Opinion).  I have tried to be politically correct but this is too much.

2 commentaires:

  1. REIGNING Olympic champion Emma Snowsill has confirmed that she will appeal her omission from the Australian team for the London Games.

    In a statement on her website, Snowsill said from her German training base that she would fight for the opportunity to defend her Olympic title.

    ''Just a quick message to confirm that I will be appealing my non-nomination to the Australian Olympic Team,'' Snowsill's statement read.

    ''Please understand that I have not taken this decision lightly. I recognise that my decision affects people other than myself and I’m sorry for any hurt that my actions might cause, but I personally feel it is a matter of importance that I take all avenues available to me to achieve my dream of competing at a second Olympic Games.

    ''Whatever the outcome, I will attempt to take all endeavours to see that the process is resolved as quickly as possible to hopefully serve as small a disruption to the team’s preparation.''

    The official announcement of the women's triathlon team, which was selected last Thursday and includes dual world champion Emma Moffatt, Sydney world series event winner Erin Densham and former world junior champion Emma Jackson, has been delayed in expectation of Snowsill's appeal.

    Snowsill said on Twitter that it had been a "long few days" since she was informed on Friday that she had not been selected.

    It is the third time in four Olympics that the women's triathlon team has been engulfed in controversy.

    In 2000, the team was only finalised weeks before the event because of a series of appeals, and in 2004, Snowsill was left out as the reigning world champion, as was Olympic silver medallist Michellie Jones.

    The only time that the team has been selected without drama was in 2008. That is also the only year in which an Australan woman (Snowsill) went on to win the Olympic gold medal. Jones won silver in 2000 and Loretta Harrop was the silver medallist in 2004.

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    1. Snd part of article
      Dual Hawaiian Ironman champion Chris McCormack, who also missed selection but will not appeal, noted on Twitter this morning: "Triathlon on the front page of every major Newspaper in Australia today. Seems like a common theme every 4yrs here. When will they learn!!!!"

      The choice for the third place in the team came down to Snowsill and Jackson, who had almost identical results in the selection races last year, but both failed to impress in the recent selection events in Sydney and San Diego.

      However Jackson beat Snowsill by one place in both the London and Hamburg rounds of the world series last year, which were earmarked as Olympic qualifying races. The youngster was Australia's top performer on the Olympic course (fourth) and took second in an Australian podium sweep in Hamburg.

      However McCormack, in an interview with Triathlon and Multisport magazine last week, warned that the selection process had been so gruelling it had left the athletes "broken".

      "I can tell you right now, they are broken athletes and they will have to survive this selection process and get their heads together in 68 days and be ready to perform well in London," he said.

      McCormack called for a more objective selection process to be introduced for the next Olympics.

      "When you take control out of the athletes hands they lose their way," he said.

      "If there are three races (for selection) it gives every athlete the feeling that they have control of their destiny and they know the process and can plan for it. If they get it wrong then they can live with it.

      "But this way there are people who feel they should be on the team and that it wasn't just and that can leave a bitter taste in the mouth. They need to keep it simple with three races that put control back into the athletes' hands".

      McCormack accused Triathlon Australia of "moving the goalposts" by failing to select the team after the Sydney world series event in April and add first the San Diego and then the Madrid round of the world series to the

      He warned that a discretionary selection policy "can destroy a lot of athletes mentally and physically".

      "Sport is cruel, and you should keep it cruel.

      "They should keep the Olympic selection easy and simple and stop trying to be administrators."

      Snowsill endorsed McCormack's views, tweeting that he had given "a great honest interview about how brutal Olympic selection can be....some good points."

      The men's team was named yesterday. As expected, it comprises Brad Kahlefedlt, who was nominated last year, fellow Beijing Olympian Courtney Atkinson and Victorian Brendan Sexton.

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/triathlete-emma-snowsill-to-appeal-london-olympic-omission/story-e6frg7mf-1226384262755

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