PSA: BBC1 9pm Weds

So refreshing to watch that – complex character and sad that she (still) feels the need for others’ recognition and approval after all she has achieved. But just shows we all have different drivers. Made all of us watching feel much more emotionally attached to her and wishing her all the best success for the perfect send off.

Go VP – bash Mears in the final 2-0!

Which book is that kryton?

That was a shining example of paying too much attention to the rule book and not the person.

Familiar story.

They couldn’t even fully concede they handled the situation poorly.

Rules are rules, computer says no.

I was quite amazed to see how mentally weak she was. There again she got over it all and beat nearly everyone in her way, so maybe she isn’t mentally weak, just emotional…

Interesting insight.

On her own she is mentally weaker. With her bloke back in the team, he provides enough of a mental crutch to overcome it. The real weakness is to not realise that and adapt to overcome, which thankfully they have now accepted.

It’s more complex because this is the mental side of sport which is still the side that is least known – but if it was a technical aspect (eg: say they wanted her to use a specific gear ratio but then found that she went better with a different one) they’d have no problem adapting the set up to allow that.

At this top level there are fractions of hundredths of second between the top athletes. Whatever it takes (legally) is fair game in my book, and if that’s gear ratios, skinsuits, favoured coaches or lucky underpants on Fridays – if it makes her half a wheel faster, then do it.

What a Birthday Present for me! (tis my Birthday tomorrow you know…)

Mine too (assuming you meant today). Happy birthday!

I was quite amazed to see how mentally weak she was. There again she got over it all and beat nearly everyone in her way, so maybe she isn’t mentally weak, just emotional…

(assuming an edited documentary is a fair summary of those involved)

A pushy, bitter “I coulda been a contender” dad, a twin brother with childhood cancer meaning you got no attention for 3 years, no wonder she is keen to please and used cycling (dad’s sport) to do so when she discovered she was good at it.

Because a boundary was set that said that relationships between coaches and athletes were absolutely uncrossable. Whether that is a boundary that should exist is not the question

I think it should. Position of responsibility and access to people when they might be at their most vulnerable means the athlete could be taken advantage of, and potentially undermines the authority of the coach who can’t be objective with that athlete. Whether it’s realistic or not is another matter, but to me its comparable to doctors and patients, police officers and victims of crime etc. Hope she is successful and they are happy together, and she finds more contentment outside cycling if she does retire.

I thought Shane Sutton was pretty clear that it was the wrong decision though?

She’s ill-at-ease with herself for the reasons given, but not mentally weak at all IMO. All that brutal self-examination is what has pushed her, made her hard and fast and a winner. She’s nails!

Go girl. Do it for your bloke, and to show your dad.

Fascinating stuff. Amazing how fragile some pro cyclists are, despite appearing hard as nails on the bike.

She may be emotionally weak but she must have mental toughness to of won all her WC & medals, she has low esteem and needs the support of someone close to prop her up, thats how she is wired. She is a romantic at heart.

Well said buzz!

I thoroughly enjoyed it. My missus (surprisingy!) did too despite not even knowing who she was and asking “what kind of cycling is that”. By the end mrs CSW was a big fan.

That’s why i said mentally weaker – I don’t think she’s weak per se, just that with her BF coach around she’s tougher.

I guess if it was phrased that she was mentally slightly less tough when he wasn’t around that’s a fairer reflection.

I found the most interesting bit to be the pressure that came from other’s success. Not feeling part of the team until she’d won the WC for the first time, and then the pressure in Beijing where others had participated and won before she’d even got on the track. I haven’t looked at the schedule, but this sort of thing is what home advantage should be about – is she up early so those fears are reduced.

Crikey I knew she was a bit fragile, especially post-Beijing but she came across as a bit of a fruit-cake in that. I was expecting her to burst out laughing after that bit she stares into the camera and says she believes she’s the better athlete (than Anna Meares), I wasn’t overly convinced she actually believed it…
Interesting back story though although not sure I’d want that laid out just before the Olympics, if I was a competitor I’m sure I’d have a dig about some of the stuff to wind her up.
Would have been nice to see more insight into the training she has to do as well as I thought that was glossed over a bit and it came across almost as all she had to do was get her head straight and she’d win whereas there’s obviously a lot more daily grind and hard work going on in the background.

Go girl. Do it for your bloke yourself, and to show your dad.

😉

I thought Shane Sutton was pretty clear that it was the wrong decision though?

Funny, as I understood it ,he thought it was the right decision, they just handled it badly by firing him as soon as she’d won

Good summations above really…. The surprising thing to me is that she seemed to do it to please other people or because she is good at it but never because she loves bikes. Seems to me like the fundamental bit is missing.

Maybe it’s the difference with MTB but you take a MTB pro like Marco Aurelio Fontana…Italian cyclo cross champ…top 10 world cup xc rider…When he’s not MTB training he’s at cyclo cross or playing on some downhill and if he’s not doing downhill then he’s out on his MX bike…clearly just loves to be on 2 wheels..

…I reckon he is a happy guy.

(clip shamelessly Knicked from Billysugger’s thread)

“what kind of cycling is that”

I wondered that about the “riding round in circles on a grassy field” stuff her dad was doing. Looked rubbish that.

I enjoyed it, although I felt that she was a bit ‘child’ like during some points of the show.

I remember the statement… ‘I have trained 6 days a week for 10 years’…fair play to her.

Her dad was a bit ‘its all about me’.

I just hope she and the rest of team GB can bring it all together at 2012…..come on Team GB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

As others have said a very enjoyable docu.

A great insight into the British Cycling set-up and how individual athletes are. Vic has confidence issues etc so they bring in a top chap to help. She kept talking about how she did it for other people – her way of coping/motivating herself – everyone is different so to put a programme together to handle a wide range of personalities and to dominate is amazing.

It might have been the editing but her Dad came across in a mixed way.
He wanted her to see how good she could be, as he regretted not doing so himself, which IMO is not a bad attitude, yet when he was looking at her framed WC jersey all he could say was that he wished he could have worn one – Nothing about how well she had done etc – he was all about himself.

Shane Sutton came out of it very well – straight talking, accepted he thought he was wrong but made decisions for what he thought at the time were the right reasons. Someone you’d want on your side.

I shall watch her riding with a different perspective now I think – I’ll be even more nervous.

One of my greatest fears if I become a parent is not being able to resist living vicariously through my child. I have regrets about my own sports career and I just hope I am self aware enough to recognise when I’m trying to make my child’s achievements all about me.

@ teamhurtmore

http://www.chimpparadox.co.uk/

@BruceWee – it’s very difficult not to! My son’s 9 and better at rugby than I ever was! That’s good enough for me 🙂

I thought she was a bit all me, me, me. To be honest… (and having not seen the part about her brother, that kind of makes sense now)

As much as she must work incredibly hard she seemed a right little princess in her own way.

Can understand how one of the coaches said she was hard to work with at times …. I bet.

“Me, me, me” in a documentary specifically about her? Inconceivable!

I thought she was a bit all me, me, me.

Cheers Kryton – he come across as the most balanced person on the whole programme!

I thought she was a bit all me, me, me. To be honest… (and having not seen the part about her brother, that kind of makes sense now)

she seemed a right little princess in her own way.

Don simon = nail. head.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but yours is 180 degrees out from everybody else on here who watched the whole documentary and obviously puts her in context. I got the impression she does everything to please other people as she lacks self confidence and self worth and only feels good through the eyes of others, and that this stems from being ignored in childhood. She discovered she was good at cycling which got her dad’s attention.

As someone else posted, when she looked into camera and said she was a better athlete than Anna Meares, I thought the only person that didnt believe it was her.

Whoa !!

Sorry fan boys to disagree… She seem to me passive aggressive, a trait I can’t abide. I’m just not into puppy dogs eyes and woe is me…. Get over yourself love.

But don’t worry, I’m sure she still look lovely on your bedroom wall posters

Whether that is a boundary that should exist is not the question

I think it should.

You make good points CTM but I don’t think it’s fair for your work to dictate who you can and can’t see. Casual flings are one thing, but you might meet your one true soulmate at work, and it would not be fair to force you to quit one or the other.

I would say see who you like, but don’t let it affect work at all. The crime is letting relationships affect work, not seeing someone from work.

agree with that – I met my wife at work (albeit not an Olympic development program 🙁 )

The issue is when it leads to favouritism, preferential treatment or the like when it becomes unprofessional and unproductive.

This was an odd one because the relationship being a work relationship as well helped rather than hindered the outcome of the work.

Thought it was good and shows how hard it can be to leave your childhood behind, something many of us find difficulty with. Though it may be easy to critical of some in the programme I think were frank, honest and were able to say then were wrong. I wish them all well for the olympics. I suspect her Dad is very proud but did not get the chance to show it in his way.

Phillip Larkin put it into three verses and applies to all parents:

They **** you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were **** up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

I suspect her Dad is very proud but did not get the chance to show it in his way.

I did wonder, playing devils advocote, how much of that was in the editing. He could have spent 5 minutes in front of her WC jersey saying how brilliant she was and how proud he is, but we just saw him saying “I wonder what its like to wear, I never got the chance”.

Somehow I doubt it though 😕

The issue is when it leads to favouritism, preferential treatment or the like when it becomes unprofessional and unproductive

Of course, but those things are the actual issues for your job regardless of why they occur. It’d be like saying everyone at work has to be teetotal in case they become an alcoholic and it affects their job.

theotherjonv – Member

This was an odd one because the relationship being a work relationship as well helped rather than hindered the outcome of the work.

Do you work in porn?

i meant the Pendleton one, but for the record, no!! 😳

can I have a link to teh doc that works from abroad. I player doesn’t work outside the uk

cheers all

(i’m a girl but I still want to perv)