Jana Pittman
My return to relevant blogging after a long hiatus (I am lazy)... and what better topic than our Australian athletes? After all, Melbourne is completely sports-mad and will cheer on anything even slightly resembling a sporting event, like two cockroaches racing up a pub wall... or in similarly ridiculous fashion, a sporting competiton that does not include China, Russia or the United States, let alone most of the rest of the world and seems to be a bizarre celebration of our colonial and murderous heritage. Now that I've got that extremely thinly veiled swipe at the Commonwealth Games out of my system... onto the specific subject matter.Jana Pittman. I previously turned a blind eye to her bizarre squabble with Tamsyn Lewis and her other various outbursts in the Australian media, thinking that it was just a silly flurry of activity that I best avoid. A recent event did catch my attention though.
It seems that during one of the female relay events at the Commonwealth Games, the English team crossed the line first but they were stripped of their gold medals on a technicality. Apparently the Aussie team (Pittman alleges it was specifically Tamsyn lewis) complained that the English order had changed and that affected the result of the race. This drew outraged cries from many who believed that England should've won because they were the fastest (well Jamaica was actually the fastest, but they dropped the baton), irrespective of their running order. Others agreed that, although a technicality, it was still a rule and, in all fairness, they should've been disqualified.
I didn't much care for this until recently when I found out that Jana Pittman has actually offered to renounce her gold medal and give it to the English because she was embarassed about the actions of Tamsyn Lewis and wanted to distance herself from them. Lewis is obviously pissed off because she believes Pittman is trying to distance herself from something she was previously, clearly (on photographic evidence) associated with. There are many photos of Pittman standing behind Lewis talking to the official and Pittman happily smiling clutching her gold medal. The idea being thrown around is that Pittman simply wants some "good PR" following the absolute battering she got in the press as a result of all the "drama" between her and Lewis.
I think what Pittman has done in this instance is completely and utterly ridiculous. Firstly, Pittman could not have expected that the English would take her up on her offer, even she is not that crazy. Therefore, it seems to me that it's just one big fat publicity stunt, and a silly one at that. Does Pittman really think she will get good PR in Australia for backing away from her team and causing an unnecessary controversy when the Games are well and truly over? Let alone giving the English aka "those Pommy bastards" aka our most despised nemesis a gold medal... Is that really going to win over the Australian public? Hell no!
Pittman should set herself a goal. Stay out of the press unless it's to do with a sporting achievement.
Alex
posted by LX @ 11:12 PM
Comments: 3
