{"id":11023,"date":"2011-09-09T12:04:46","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T11:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=11023"},"modified":"2011-09-09T12:04:46","modified_gmt":"2011-09-09T11:04:46","slug":"domhnall-macauley-fitness-beauty-rowing-and-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2011\/09\/09\/domhnall-macauley-fitness-beauty-rowing-and-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Domhnall MacAuley: Fitness, beauty, rowing, and reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/site\/blog\/icons\/domhnall.jpg\" alt=\"Domhnall Macauley\" width=\"162\" height=\"110\" align=\"left\" \/>A festival of fitness, athleticism, and aesthetic beauty &#8211; the world rowing championships. After a week watching some of the world\u2019s top athletes, you begin to think everyone is tall, muscular, toned, and tanned. Only for mirrors you might believe you were one too. Very few fatties to be seen and only\u00a0amongst the coaches or supporters (who won chocolate chip medals?).\u00a0It was a nostalgic trip to an event in which I competed before most of these competitors were born. And,\u00a0I wasn\u2019t the only one. I saw many former athletes in their forties and fifties, (competitors in the\u00a0 \u201979 and \u201989 World Champs at the same venue)\u00a0 looking wistfully across the water at their\u00a0past. Youth racing by.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A living moving gallery of beautifully sculpted men and women. A magical world untouched by the cruel brush of illness.\u00a0Almost. For one can never escape.\u00a0There was an outbreak of gastroenteritis in one of the hotels &#8211; some athletes succumbed\u00a0and performed below expectation.\u00a0 A minor drama to the outside world but a major event in this sporting microcosm. There were athletes competing while recovering from injury and a few not quite making it in time. There was at least one fairytale return &#8211; Fiona Patterson, a New Zealand athlete was competing after recovery from cancer and chemotherapy.\u00a0And, as the adaptive rowers took their place on the medal winners\u2019 podium the spectators applause clearly recognised their particular achievements.\u00a0And, who can imagine the psychological burden that one German rower will carry for the rest of his life &#8211; he caught a crab (his oar stuck in the water) in the very last stroke of a closely fought tussle\u00a0costing his crew the gold medal by inches.\u00a0He was distraught.<\/p>\n<p>It was an extraordinary escape from the sick, the sedentary, and the smokers.\u00a0But, on Monday morning, the real world reclaimed the village. Tourists of all shapes and sizes wandered back into town. The dream ended and normal life with all its imperfections was visible again. Sport, in spite of\u00a0 its beauty,\u00a0was a glorious irrelevance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Domhnall MacAuley<\/strong> is primary care editor, <em>BMJ<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A festival of fitness, athleticism, and aesthetic beauty &#8211; the world rowing championships. After a week watching some of the world\u2019s top athletes, you begin to think everyone is tall, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2011\/09\/09\/domhnall-macauley-fitness-beauty-rowing-and-reality\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1287],"tags":[2531,1584,241,217],"class_list":["post-11023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domhnall-macauley","tag-rowing","tag-sport","tag-sports-injury","tag-sports-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Domhnall MacAuley: Fitness, beauty, rowing, and reality - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2011\/09\/09\/domhnall-macauley-fitness-beauty-rowing-and-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Domhnall MacAuley: Fitness, beauty, rowing, and reality - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A festival of fitness, athleticism, and aesthetic beauty &#8211; the world rowing championships. 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