Blog J

Call me what you like, but this male gets joy in the company of the female form; frumps and lumps need not apply, and when I take a break from the relentless restoration of a very ancient post and beam farm building into a melange of ancient and modern designer chic, and I switch on the TV in this tiny country, I get more coverage of sport, than an ordinary bloke could ask for, canoe races, international athletics meetings, soccer, bloody soccer, handball, volleyball, swimming, and shoot me dead lord, rhythmic gymnastics. Now I'm a normal bloke, and I don't know if you get coverage of RG in your section of the world, but what I see there could gladden the heart of the most jaded couch potato. They're all teenage girls, and dressed in girls' gymnastic tights, but garnished by the most dedicated embroiderers, (look closely; little old ladies slave thousands of hours to make their grandchildren look good here..) and they perform; hell do they perform. I have only a vague idea of how many hours in the backstreet gymnasiums of Azerbaidjan and Poland these youngsters slave, to attain the precision and physical stamina to get on the podia of Europe, but the result is, overwhelmingly, joy, for me. For you too possibly, but I dread that you know more of Paris Hilton, or Kylie or....... there is, in talent, an adage of 90% Perspiration, 10% Inspiration. These girls, not even young women, a lot of them, have so much talent and dedication, and the stadia they perform in are so often half empty, that I wonder what drives them? Do you have the name of a current RG champion on your lips? I can't recall the number of ice skaters I've seen who've 'made it big' and disappeared into obscurity, but for a quotient of joy, for an amazing few minutes of sheer impossibility, set to music, see what a youngster from some newly emergent republic can put together under the spotlight; I've watched the smoothest Nikest ladies of the 100 metres sprint persuasion, the highest high jumpers, and the pole vaulters, all awesome, but if you've missed this season's output of RG puppies, you've done your eyes a disservice. Joy, pure Joy, but do they feel it? I wonder? The 100 metres girl will get $30,000 for her first place; I don't know what these girls of the RG persuasion get, but think about where you put your eyes and money this season, and give the rythmic gymnasts their due. Nuff said.