It’s 2012 and here comes the London Oympics, but what about Olympism – the reason  the Olympics exist? Olympism was founded by the ancient Greeks. They actively encouraged citizens to develop all of their physical, moral, intellectual, cultural and artistic qualities.

The Olympic Games celebrated this with the Olympic Games festival involving athletes, artists and scholars from different cultural fields. Sport, art, educational and cultural activities were blended.

Modern Olympism
The modern Olympic Movement was started in 1894 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin.  He resurrected the ancient Greek ideals and gave them to the rest of the world when he staged the first ‘modern’ Olympic Games  in 1896 in Greece’s  newly reconstructed Panathenean Stadium (originally created in 330BC).

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Olympism blends sport with culture and education, and most importantly, Olympism promotes a peaceful way of life which uses ‘sport to promote the balanced development of people as an essential step in building a peaceful society that places a high value on human dignity’.  In fact the Olympic Movement believes ‘sport is an invaluable means of

• educating people,
• cultivating aesthetic and
• moral values,
• fostering friendships
• among young people, and
• bringing people from different nations closer together.’

[See ‘What is the role of Sport in The Olympics? for more.] This is what sportsmanship is all about – morale values (respect, fair play, honesty) and fostering friendship  whilst competing.

So hopefully, we’ll see some true Olympism (sportsmanship) in London Olympics 2012 just like we did in 1908 (Queen Alexander), 1932 (Judy Guinness, fencing), 1936 (Karl Lutz Long, long jump), 1952 (Zatopek, 5k & 10k runner), 1956 (Takhti, wrestler), 1960 (Rudolph, sprinter), 1968 (Akhwari, marathon), 1976 (Fujimoto, gymnast), 1988 (Lemieux, sailing) 1992 (Derek Redmond, 400m), 1994 (Jensen & Koss, speed skaters), 2004 (Cordeiro de Lima, marathon), 2006 (Hakensmoen, Ski-ing), 2008 (Junquan, swimmer). Full stories in the Great Moments Of Sportsmanship eBook (& printed book). Free Sportsmanship Workbook & Tutor’s Guide available for schools also.

1. Romanian captain, Cristian Petre, who after suffering a 67-3 loss to England,  was asked by a reporter about the game and replied “I play rugby for happiness.”  More.
2. The French rugby team won the toss to choose who wears their own home jerseys in the Rugby World Cup Final and declined to wear their treasured ‘bleu’. Instead they felt it was right for Kiwis, as RWC hosts, should  wear their own colours.   More
3. Young Kerry Gaelic football Tomás Ó’Sé after the final whistle carried the ball as a souvenir to the Dublin goal keeper who kicked the winning point in 2011 All Ireland Gaelic Final. Caught on camera! More.
4. Former Somali refugee, Mohamed Farah, won gold for Britain in the 5,000 metres World Athletic Championships – making his new nation very proud while arch rival, Kenyan, Paul Lagat (representing USA) was the first to embrace him and congratulate him. More.
5. Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed honour when he allowed England’s batsman to be reinstated after being ‘run out’ because of a misunderstanding that the game had stopped for tea. More.
6. Vancouver’s Langley Elementary School children displayed true sportsmanship after Ice Hockey riots when they wrote to Boston school children to congratulate the winners, Boston. More.
7. Ex American basket ball pro, ex junkie and now coach, Chris Herren, is a true sportsman as he coaches children and encourages them to always have fun & enjoy their games. More.
8. The Indian & Pakistan cricket fans – arch enemies became friends for life as they shared the excitement & enjoyment of fierce competition as over one billion people watched the match on television.  One man offered to sell his liver … More.
9. 19 year old Japanese golfer, Ryo Ishikawa, donated all this year’s earnings to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  More.
10. Irish rugby coach, Declan Kidney when asked about the illegal Welsh try that won the game said, that ‘while he felt extremely frustrated, he was not going to make an issue of it at a time when so many in the world were suffering. More.

I will tweet later our all time favourite single moment for 2011. Happy New Year  To One and All.  Say ‘Yes’ to Great Sportsmanship in 2012.

It was in 2006, on the 9^th hole in the Carlton Golf Club in Kildare, when Darren Clarke found his ball deep in thick rough grass. Effectively, this would cost him one shot as all he could do was to hack out of the rough sideways and onto the fairway a few yards away instead of shooting straight at the green. He was winning by two shots with 10 holes to play. Suddenly the hooter sounded which meant all players had to leave the course and suspend their matches be­cause of bad weather.

When he returned the next day, he discovered that his ball magically now had an almost perfect lie as it sat on top of the somehow flattened thick grass. It was suggested that the leprechauns had been at work overnight – he could now shoot directly at the green and save himself a shot. So he asked for a ruling and Clarke was informed that he could play the ball in its improved position and he should thank the ‘little people’!

Clarke felt bad as he knew that either the crowds of people had miraculously trodden the grass all around the ball or, indeed, the ‘little people’ had been at work. He chose not to take advantage and shoot for the green directly, but instead he played a short chip shot sideways onto the fairway – the same shot he would have had to play if he was still stuck in thick grass (effectively costing him an extra shot and narrowing his lead to just one shot).

Clarke later explained in a BBC interview: “When I went back out the area around the ball had been flattened. It was a much better lie than when I left it. I could have put it on to the front of the green from where it was, but my conscience would not allow me to do it so I just decided the best thing to do was chip out like I would have done the previous night. Hon­esty is part and parcel of the game and I could not have acted any other way.”

A magnificent, noble gesture from a true sportsman.

Nice guys do come first.

Congratulations Darren Clarke.

Notes: (1) This story is taken from the collection of short stories about sportsmanship: ‘Great Moments Of Sportsmanship – & extraordinary sports people ’ (2) You might like to read another stunning golf story about an Englishman in the USA called ‘Nice Guy Beats The Ref & the TV & Wins Forever  (3) Sign up for email alerts when a new story is posted onto this blog – just add your email address in the box in the right hand side column.

Watch out for a new hero next week at the Masters Golf. A brilliant teenage golfer with a big heart.  The 19 year old announced yesterday that  he will donate all of his 2011 earnings to the Japanese earthquake relief fund. He will also dip into his savings and donate an extra  a further £750 for every birdie he makes this season.  Last year, as an 18 year old he earned around £250,000. ‘My goal is to raise 200 million yen (about £1.5million),’ he says.  Good luck Ryo.

Ryder Cup 1969: Then came that magical moment in 1969. On the very last hole, after three days of intense battle, The Open champion, England’s Tony Jacklin, had to make a nerve racking two foot putt to save Britain and Ireland from defeat. Up stepped the world’s greatest golfer, American, Jack Nicklaus, putted his own four and a half foot putt and then astonished the world by picking up Tony Jacklin’s ball marker (which effectively meant that Jacklin didn’t have to take the putt since Nicklaus ‘gave it to him’ or conceded the putt) and said “I know you would not have missed that.” Nicklaus later revealed: “I didn’t want to take the chance that he might miss the putt and have his stature diminished. “

Ryder Cup 2006: It’s 6.30am before the 2006 at the US PGA Golf Championship, when America’s Ryder Cup captain, Tom Lehman, invites fellow professional golfers to a private prayer for his golf friend and Ryder Cup opposition Darren Clarke whose wife, Heather had passed away a short time earlier. Many months later, when the still grieving Clarke walked onto the first tee of the Ryder Cup at Ireland’s K Club, his opposite number, America’s Phil Mickleson, walked towards Clarke, held out his hands and embraced him in a warm bear hug. Clarke hit a great tee shot and went on to play great golf. Then in the final hole of the final match between Paul McGinley and the American rookie JJ Henry, another magical moment occurred. The young American needed to putt a 25 foot putt to halve the hole, draw the overall match and, although the US had lost the Cup, avoid the USA suffering its worst ever defeat. McGinley conceded the putt.

Earlier in the year, the same Darren Clarke was winning by 2 shots with 10 holes to play when he hit his ball into thick rough in the Carton Club. The hooter went off and play was abandoned due to bad weather. When Clarke returned on the Monday he found his ball had magically emerged into a perfect position as all the thick grass was now flattened around his previously ‘almost buried’ ball. All the fans had trampled around the area or perhaps the Leprachauns had helped him. But Clarke refused to aim his next shot at the green, instead he chose to chip out sideways as that was what he would have done originally when the ball was deep in the thick grass. ‘Honesty’ he said ‘is part and parcel of the game and I could not have acted in any other way.’

Ryder Cup 2010: even before a ball has been hit, the European captain, Colin Montgomerie, announced that he had chosen not to use his “home captain’s prerogative” (which is setting the course up to suit the European players). He preferred instead to create an “honest course that would reward the best team”.  Game on! And what a great game it was. It went right to the wire – the very last match. And Europe prevailed.  The Americans displayed honest sportsmanship as they hugged their European victors – even in the early games. Both speeches were laden with honour and nobility as befits a sport that depends on its code of etiquette.  The magic of the Ryder Cup continues.

Note: For the full story of each of these and to explain how a rampaging streaker influenced McGinley’s sporting gesture see Great Moments Of Sportsmanship – a collection of true 2 minute stories about sportsmanship with the foreword written by Paul McGinley.

He was about to win his first tournament when he asked a referee to check the TV’s slow motion replay to see if he had moved a reed slightly (thereby incurring a penalty and effectively forfeiting the opportunity to win). Brian Davis is a hero who quietly chose honour and the essence of sportsmanship over big prize money.

Then comes the Ryder Cup when the world’s best professional golfers abandon money (there is no prize money nor any appearance money – just a fat wad of honour and respect). And when the European captain, Colin Montgomerie and the US captain, Corey Pavin, sat side by side yesterday at the media conference at Celtic Manor in Wales they showed such great respect for each other and for the history of this unique competition. It only comes round every two years.

Photo: Dan Perry    www.danperry.com

So here’s a two part post acknowledging some special Ryder Cup moments (plus a few extra) and revealing great golfers who had great hearts – as they simply made the world a better place.

America’s Arnold Palmer won 7 majors and also played in six US Ryder Cup teams (1961,1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973). He captained the team in 1963 and came back 12 years later to captain it once again. He almost single handedly made ‘The Open’ (the British Open) what it is today as prior to Palmer few Americans would travel over for it. He once said: ‘I’ve got a strong feeling that golf is a great vehicle to bring nations closer together. If I could get all the war torn nations of the world and have the war lords play golf together, I could solve the world’s problems and we could all be peace loving people. That may sound far fetched, but it’s what I believe.”

Although South Africa’s Gary Player would never play in the Ryder Cup, he did bring nations closer together, in his own way. He took his famous black caddie, Alfred Dyer, all over the world with him at a time when this was unheard of in apartheid South Africa. He won all four major championships and was the first non-American to win the US Masters. He was also the only 20^th century golfer to win ‘The Open’ in three different decades (1959, 1968 & 1974). He has donated his winnings to charity and funded educational charities in South Africa and in his adopted home, America.

Then came those magical Ryder Cup moments in 1969, 2006, 2010 (Jacklin, Nicklaus, Leyman, Clarke, Mickleson, McGinley and Monty). …….see part 2 (on Thursday).

Note: For the full story of each of these see Great Moments Of Sportsmanship – a collection of true 2 minute stories about sportsmanship with the foreword written by Paul McGinley. Also See

He had come runner up four times, and after years of dedication his moment seemed to arrive. The dream was crystal clear as he stepped up to play the18th hole again in a ‘Sudden Death’ play-off against the 49 times PGA tournament winner and Ryder Cup golfer, Furyk.

With the light fading over the beautiful harbour and the greens, both players safely reached the fairway from their tee shots. Davis’s second shot ran across the green, over the edge, bounced off some rocks below and finally settled on nicely packed sand with some reeds behind it. However, he successfully chipped up onto the green with his third shot. Now here’s the magic.

No one saw this happen except Davis. As he played his third shot he thought he might have barely touched ‘a loose impediment’ (a loose reed/bit of straw) which is a penalty. “It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. And I thought we’d check on TV, and indeed there was movement,” Davis said.

He immediately called for the tournament referee, Slugger White, and told him what had happened. It was so subtle that the crowd didn’t see it and the TV cameras didn’t see it.

He felt honour-bound to tell the referee, who checked with the TV slow motion replays and duly imposed a two shot penalty for ‘making contact with a loose impediment in a greenside hazard’ (rule 13.4: moving a loose impediment during a takeaway). Davis’s dream was over.

However, his actions on the 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links course, will be remembered by many for a long time to come. You can see this magical sportsmanship moment. Slugger White later said: “He’s class, first class”. Brian Davis has since received floods of congratulation cards, letters, emails from people all over America and in particular from parents who said they told their children this is how you play sport and this is how you live life.

Davis proves that nice guys are winners. In his own words, here’s how good it actually felt after the high tension game was over. “It’s probably the first time in my career, or in any golfer’s, where [you] lost in a play-off and actually drove home more positive than when you left,” he said. “It has been a good experience for me, and it has been great for the game of golf that we do call rules infractions on ourselves. It’s just part of the game.”

Note: Thanks to Ollie Campbell for alerting me about this story.

Dr. Sharon Kay Stoll on why golfers call their own penalties

As he said himself: “it was just a little bit of adrenaline, my hands got into it and I flipped my third shot into the bunker.” However he got ‘up and down’ in two and won it outright. He has a very very bright future. However that’s not why this post is in the blog. It was Justin Rose’s sportsmanship that caught my eye. He had a putt on the 18^th for a birdie 3 that could have won him the competition, or at least forced a play-off (as at that point McIlroy was out of the bunker for three shots and could only hope to get his par 4 with his final putt). Rose missed by less than an inch. He smiled, composed himself and tapped his ball in for a par 4. McIlroy then sank the biggest 4 foot putt of his life to win the competition. Rose was first over and embraced young Mcllroy with real warmth. A fellow competitor who has fought all the way to the wire proved to be a great sportsman. Well done Mr. Rose.

To listen to the Irish  Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

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