Elysium Magazine’s Personal Vote for SPOTY 2012

by Paolo Shaoul

 

Unless you’ve been busy burrowing to the centre of the earth, you’ll know that every man and this wife has of late been offering their opinion on who should win this year’s coveted BBC sports award. And what an amazing sporting year 2012 has been.

 

Elysium of course has its very own choice and today we want to tell you why there is one British superhero in particular who should fly away with it. It’s most apt of course that in just a few months we will witness the return of the greatest superhero man has ever known, albeit a fantasy one. The Man of Steel is to once again don his crimson cape and will no doubt be flying around metropolis rescuing cats from trees and avoiding Kryptonite like a dodgy used car dealer running away from the tax man.

 

So while the yanks have got a virtual Superman, us lucky Brits have got the real deal.

 

The Weirwolf

Imagine this. A car with the engine of a Ferrari and the body of a tank;  or a runner with the speed of Usain Bolt and the stamina of Mo Farah; could you even comprehend a footballer with the skill of Messi and the steel of Booby Moore? Quite simply these fantasy combinations just do not exist. Unless your name happens to be David Weir.

 

David Weir quite simply defies the laws of sport. This is a man who conquered the gruelling 800m sprint and followed it by clinching the 26.2 mile marathon. Let’s say that again: a sprint and a marathon. Oh and did we mention the other two gold medals?

 

Now consider the peaks this man has had to climb to reach this summit. Mental and physical, personal and emotional. If he had crossed the finish line at the Olympic stadium wearing a cape, no-one would have blinked an eye. No, not even Kryptonite could stop this man.

 

Yes, Jessica Ennis was stunning across her six events (her running, jumping and throwing wasn’t bad either); while Mo Farah, Bradley Wiggins, Rory McIllroy and Andy Murray all had phenomenal years.  In fact if it wasn’t 2012 they’d all probably win it outright in any other year.  2012 was the year British sport ruled the world and at its summit was a man who simply left us all open-mouthed.

 

And a final postscript. Chris Hoy was knighted for winning three gold’s at one Olympic games – and all he had to do was cycle round a wooden track a few times. Quite what that means we should be bestowing on David Weir (with four) is anyone’s guess. But I should think Lord Weir of Sutton is a pretty good start.

 

Do you agree with Paolo’s view, or think one of the other SPOTY nominees deserves the accolade more? Tweet us your views!