New world champions will be crowned this week and new records broken but there will be nobody more heroic than Aruba 5,000m runner Jonathan Busby.
Or more sporting than Guinea-Bissau’s Braima Suncar Dabo.
Now stop for a minute, as Dabo did, and think about the sporting sacrifice that he made in interrupting his own race to help his staggering fellow athlete get over the line.
In the searing heat of Doha, Qatar.
Athletics was my first, and still my best, sporting endeavour and it became my manual for life.
Give your all, never give up no matter how hard the road gets, and always champion your fellow runners.
If you break your personal best then that’s your victory.
If you finish second last when you’re used to being last then that’s a triumph.
And if you are last but beat your best then hat’s off to you.
On the occasions my Dear Old Dad, a sporting nut, did see me compete in anything I overcompensated big time.
I was a Scottish Schools athletics winner but it didn’t stop me tearing off like a bat out of hell at the start of the 3,000m Steeplechase only to run out of steam and inevitably get past by everyone.
I was devastated but looking back now, I finished.
Of course your health always comes first and there are athletes dropping like flies in the Qatar heat and humidity.
This is the wrong time to hold such feats of sporting endurance. I only hope that the World Cup there in the winter of 2022 will be less taxing.
Flying high
All of which should not take away from Qatar as a destination.
Qatar Airways are the people to go with http://www.qatarairways.com, fly from London Heathrow. Both here and to the Far East and Australia.
As a sample of the Maldives which I know and love… from £684pp https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/12/atoll-tale-the-maldives/
The eyes of the sporting world are on Japan at the moment with the Rugby World Cup. And Qatar have Tokyo premium ticket from £2388pp.
