To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Goldfish bowl world where triumph and tragedy meet
Share this:
As the reputation of South African blade runner, Oskar Pistorius, spirals ever downwards from the pinnacle of his fame, and as more apparently damning evidence unfolds on an almost hourly basis about the killing of his girlfriend, he leaves a shattered world in his wake.
Just how many more heroes must fall from grace before we become disolusioned of ever finding the exemplary role models we crave? Subsumed as society is in the shallow ‘bling bling’ cult of mediocre celebrity hood, where real talent, intelligence and humanity counts for nothing, an inspiring character such as Pistorius was a shining example of human fortitude.
Who really knows what happened in his luxury home in a high security gated community in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine’s Day that led to the death of a South African model.
Not that the victim was just any model. Reeva Steenkamp, was the most famous in the rainbow country and in the A-list celebrity league alongside her boyfriend. They were the South African equivalent of ‘Posh and Becks’.
Each had attained celebrity status in vastly different ways and no matter what emerges when Pistorius comes to trail, until last week he was the most powerful athlete in the world. A global icon for triumph over adversity, he overcame severe physical disability throughout his 26 years to make para-sports mainstream. The double amputee, who excelled at a variety of sports from childhood, and made history by competing in both the London Olympics and Paralympics, was a colossus among athletes, able and disabled.
Moreover, he was held up as a role model to be admired, as the world of sport was at pains to put its house in order after decades of drug-assisted performances had tarnished so many reputations.
The shattering of his previously carefully marketed image, coming so soon after the shaming of Lance Armstrong, has shocked the millions who admired both men, me included.
Parents, who previously encouraged children to follow their examples now have to explain what it means to fall from grace. Yet while Armstrong’s persistent cheating has seen him stripped of his titles, it is not – as yet, anyway – Pistorius’s sporting prowess and records that are in question.
Even if Pistorius is found innocent of premeditated murder; convicted of a lesser charge or – like O J Simpson – walks from the court a free man thanks to the A-list legal team being assembled to defend him, the shame of being responsible for the death of a fellow human being will haunt him for the rest of his life. It would be a miracle if he could ever expect to rebuild his career and reputation after all the stories being published about his supposed character flaws.
Notwithstanding, there is a message to be learned by aspiring champions from this sad story.
When it comes to the icons of celebrity culture, or those who live their lives on the public stage, then people are quick to judge. The media frenzy and the excited speculation of the gossip mongerers who inhabit the realm of social media is akin to the Roman mob in the Coliseum baying for the Christians to be thrown to the lions.
Why let justice and the rule of law get in the way of turning a personal earth-shattering incident for two families into a global spectacle?
Until Valentine’s Day, Pistorius was a hero, lauded, admired and feted wherever he went. Come the following day when he was charged with murder, his image was being removed from advertising hoardings the length and breadth of South Africa. The price of fame is worthless and popular opinion can be reversed overnight when a hero’s fortunes and value as a commodity change.
Like many, I admired his courage, his athletic prowess, compassion and intelligence; a mix of qualities that is rarely so complete in the world of sporting excellence. He came over as kind man who was fighting as much to make people see beyond disability to the real person as he did to come first and be the best.
Was it all a myth perpetuated by a media obsessed with celebrity as eager to hail the hero, as it is to shoot them down? Did he have a ‘dark side’ of wild parties, domestic violence, illegal substance abuse and a fascination with guns that the media chose to ignore?
It is not for us to judge Pistorius until due process has been undertaken through the South African judicial system. Nor will it be too long before another light blazes as brightly to blind us with his or her talent.
The Olympics and Paralympics produced many new ‘heroes’ and pretenders to Pistorius’s crown, though most have a long way to go to match his sporting achievements. Even Sir Bradley Wiggins needs a couple more Yellow Jerseys – and preferably is succession – to become a true icon of world cycling
When the next idol is rolled out for us to worship by a fawning media extolling their clean-living lifestyles, family values and other admirable qualities, will we swallow the story hook, line and sinker?
Pardon my cynicism, but I can’t help suspecting that a sinister skeleton or two may be lurking in dark cupboards patiently waiting for the day for the door to creak open and set them free to spoil the show.
Related