Sir Bradley Wiggins
Comments
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harrydaisy wrote:RDW wrote:New Year Honours just announced.
sorry but this is madness....great sporting achievement and deserves an MBE or something similar but a Knighhood? :roll:
Let him complete his cycling career - get stuck into some charity work - make a difference and then when he's in his early 50's give him the "hood"
You're not wrong.
Sorry, Squire, if I'm talking out of line; but what utter twaddle you spout.
The British Honours system is fundamentally a nonsense in 2013: what would "The Establishment" do, abolish it?
Course not.
Traditionally "honouring" somebody was essentially a political move; Wiggins is no different. Clearly a popular choice. He's bitten the bullet as far as laying down his working class credentials; so he's one of "the few" from that side of the fence who gets the nod.
Seriously; look at the lists of the "Honoured" from the last 60 years and tell me that there was a balanced sense of merit Vs family connections/status/school & university attended.
The whole system is fundamentally a slap on the back for all the jolly good chaps who played a bloody good game (plus a nod of recognition, for all those simply marvellous other boys and girls who show such pluck - despite going to schools you or I have ever heard of).
Little bit of politics, there...
That aside: 1st British Tour winner not become a "Sir"!?! Are you kidding?!? Conservative peer Sebastian Coe became a fuKcing lord and no one made much of a fuss about that. Wiggins's achievements dwarf Coe's, in my opinion - where the hell is the enquiry about that?
All of this is the stuff that will be looked back upon in decades to come as some strange medieval pageant that we cling onto (like the Royal Family, Rover cars and Boris Johnson - all medieval relics).
And another thing: the idea that on a British cycling forum that you should propose anyone more worthy than our first TdF winner !?!.... (WTF?!?)0 -
Jeez, After a bit of a break I came back to this forum expecting to see posts about bikes and riders, and boy was I in for a surprise.
Seems its all about the price of milk and eggs these days.
All valuable arguments I'm sure................................just not here.
For the record OCDuPalais ( and others I'm sure) is right - its all about politics.
Wiggo was given this due to the outrage that would have been dished out from the press and public if he hadn't got it, while some Eton twerp did.
He had a hell of a year last year and has proved his worth on many occasions where other political and business recipients also getting a title haven't, IMHO.
I don't have an issue with him getting a "Sir". Its an unfair, unbalanced system, but in this case if it gives him some more clout to support cyclist and cycling in general then it can't be all bad.Can I upgrade???0 -
OCDuPalais wrote:Wiggins's achievements dwarf Coe's, in my opinion - where the hell is the enquiry about that?
I write this as a huge fan of Wiggo and an unashamed fan of Steve Ovett. (I remember crying as a 12 year old when Coe beat him in the Moscow 1500 metres final.)
Coe's achievements on the track are phenomenal. One can't compare across sports and generations very easily, but I'd say Coe's achievements are at least on a par with those of Sir Brad or infact any British sportsman. The fact that Coe was an MP and continues to be an egotistical kn*bhead cannot detract from this!
Edited highlights include:
- Double Olympic champion on the track
- The only man to defend the 1500m in the OGs
- 13 World Records, including three in 41 days in 1979 and the mile twice in 9 days in 1981
- The only man to hold the 800m, 1500m and mile World Records simultaneously
- For an hour in 1980, he actually held these three records plus the 1000m World Record. (He broke the 1000m record and then watched Ovett break his mile record an hour later! Yippee!!)
- Even 31 years later, his 800m PB would still rank him #1 or #2 in the world each year and is only 0.8s slower than the current world record
- His 1000m PB is still the second fastest ever run, only 0.22s off the World Record set in 1999, when EPO use in athletics was as prevalent as it was in cycling at the time0 -
Ovett rocked. Love for the chippy scrapper over the smooth thoroughbred, s'pose.0
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Brailsford bending to injustice.
Contador is the Greatest0 -
Wallace and Gromit wrote:OCDuPalais wrote:Wiggins's achievements dwarf Coe's, in my opinion - where the hell is the enquiry about that?
I write this as a huge fan of Wiggo and an unashamed fan of Steve Ovett. (I remember crying as a 12 year old when Coe beat him in the Moscow 1500 metres final.)
Coe's achievements on the track are phenomenal. One can't compare across sports and generations very easily, but I'd say Coe's achievements are at least on a par with those of Sir Brad or infact any British sportsman. The fact that Coe was an MP and continues to be an egotistical kn*bhead cannot detract from this!
Edited highlights include:
- Double Olympic champion on the track
- The only man to defend the 1500m in the OGs
- 13 World Records, including three in 41 days in 1979 and the mile twice in 9 days in 1981
- The only man to hold the 800m, 1500m and mile World Records simultaneously
- For an hour in 1980, he actually held these three records plus the 1000m World Record. (He broke the 1000m record and then watched Ovett break his mile record an hour later! Yippee!!)
- Even 31 years later, his 800m PB would still rank him #1 or #2 in the world each year and is only 0.8s slower than the current world record
- His 1000m PB is still the second fastest ever run, only 0.22s off the World Record set in 1999, when EPO use in athletics was as prevalent as it was in cycling at the time
Only 2 people have held the 800m record in the 31 years since.
Like you I was an Ovett fan but you've got to respect Coe's achievements on the track.0 -
frenchfighter wrote:Brailsford bending to injustice.
Why did he bring his trolley suitcase?0 -
frenchfighter wrote:Is this Sir Clive Woodward. ?Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720
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Wallace and Gromit wrote:OCDuPalais wrote:Wiggins's achievements dwarf Coe's, in my opinion - where the hell is the enquiry about that?
I write this as a huge fan of Wiggo and an unashamed fan of Steve Ovett. (I remember crying as a 12 year old when Coe beat him in the Moscow 1500 metres final.)
Coe's achievements on the track are phenomenal. One can't compare across sports and generations very easily, but I'd say Coe's achievements are at least on a par with those of Sir Brad or infact any British sportsman. The fact that Coe was an MP and continues to be an egotistical kn*bhead cannot detract from this!
Edited highlights include:
- Double Olympic champion on the track
- The only man to defend the 1500m in the OGs
- 13 World Records, including three in 41 days in 1979 and the mile twice in 9 days in 1981
- The only man to hold the 800m, 1500m and mile World Records simultaneously
- For an hour in 1980, he actually held these three records plus the 1000m World Record. (He broke the 1000m record and then watched Ovett break his mile record an hour later! Yippee!!)
- Even 31 years later, his 800m PB would still rank him #1 or #2 in the world each year and is only 0.8s slower than the current world record
- His 1000m PB is still the second fastest ever run, only 0.22s off the World Record set in 1999, when EPO use in athletics was as prevalent as it was in cycling at the time
Alf Tupper was, and always will be, the greatest middle distance runner of all time!
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Back to cycling and cyclists....
Love love this anecdote....isnt this one of the reasons we love this sport
http://rouleurmagazine.wordpress.com/20 ... mp-on-lad/0 -
Love it. It is this kind of incident which separates cycling from the more mundane sports (and I say this as a keen runner/triathlete.) cheers RR.0
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Did he bridge?Contador is the Greatest0
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Do you know what race it was? It doesn't say he bridged in the article. And he finished well off the pace in all three races. I suppose he could have been bridging from group 3 to 2.
Ps. the M-G kit is awesome. I just checked the team lineup and was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Peters there - have seen him in action at Redbridge, Crystal Palace and tearing past as a youngster in the early hours of the morning at Dunwich Dynamo.Contador is the Greatest0 -
frenchfighter wrote:Do you know what race it was? It doesn't say he bridged in the article. And he finished well off the pace in all three races. I suppose he could have been bridging from group 3 to 2.
Ps. the M-G kit is awesome. I just checked the team lineup and was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Peters there - have seen him in action at Redbridge, Crystal Palace and tearing past as a youngster in the early hours of the morning at Dunwich Dynamo.
Isn't the story about Wiggins being told by Alex Peters?0 -
It doesn't say (and yes I can see the photo), not that it matters who it is.Contador is the Greatest0
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Who does Wiggins think he is? Lording it around the peloton like some self-appointed patron... He makes me sick.0
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frenchfighter wrote:Do you know what race it was? It doesn't say he bridged in the article. And he finished well off the pace in all three races. I suppose he could have been bridging from group 3 to 2.
It doesn't say what stage of the race this occurred, just that the bunch split in half. My inference would be that they bridged back to the front half.0 -
OCDuPalais wrote:Who does Wiggins think he is? Lording it around the peloton like some self-appointed patron... He makes me sick.
I know, I know. What with him being winner of the Tour De France, Critérium du Dauphiné, Paris–Nice, Tour de Romandie and four Olympic Gold medals. Terrible, really.0 -
Exceptionally well written piece, very evocative and captures the spirit of cycling.0
