thehog said:
Agreed. Similar to Australia an Olympic gold medal is worth more than any other event.
Your reaching.
A second ago you said Cav was loved in the UK. Now you say only a gold medal will do it. Make up your mind.
For the record an olympic gold medal is not worth more than any other event. The football premier league (1st division), championship (2nd division), league 1 (3rd division), league 2 (4th division) are all worth way way more. The UK childrens football cup is worth more. The UK corrections system football league is worth more. Being the runner up in any of the above mentioned leagues is worth more. Football is, with the exception of rugby once every 4 years, the only sport that matters.
On a more serious note, the olympic gold is not actually worth that much. How many Gold medal olympians from the last olympics can the avaerage Briton name. Maybe half will be able to name Chris Hoy because he got knigted (shows what a messed up country it is when thats what you get knighthoods for). A few will name Addlington. Otherwise they wont be able to give you a name. there were something like 20 GOld medals won by the UK, won by about 15 athletes. I doubt many of those athletes had more than 2 minutes of fame. On the other hand ask them to name 5 liverpool players from 3 decades ago and 90% of the population will list you the whole team.
In 2012 the number of UK winners will be even higher. Im not sure if Cav will get such big publicity, if on the same day UK get 2 other golds. And even if he did, that publicity will disapear the next day. Especially since anyone watching the 2012 race will just see a proccession around London for 200k before the Cav sprint 300m from the end.
I think Cavs best bet is next year to win his 5 tdf stages and the Green jersey. THen win the worlds. This bbc sports personality thing means a lot to people for some reason. Usually Cav wouldnt have a chance because the bbc dont like giving the award to any sport not covered by the bbc. But last year he got nominated for his 6 tdf wins alone. Next year they can nominate him for the 6 tdf wins, make him a favourite because of the green jersey, and have him pushed over the edge by the worlds and most importantly, the lack of British talent around to challenge him.
From then on the 2 inch articles he gets in the press will be 4 inch articles. When he wins a tdf stage it will get a brief mention in the news. ITV might move the occasional tdf highlights from itv 4 to itv 1.
And for a year, any time Britain sees Cav in the press they will see the rainbow jersey and his popularity will go up because, whatever the sport, he is the world champion.
He does this and he will get what he deserves. Unfortunately if Cavs 2011 season is anything less than that, an olympic gold medal will not make up for his lost chance.