July 31. Day 213. Muddying the waters

Throw enough mud and some of it will stick.
We hear it all the time and it is, unfortunately, true. And it stinks (a little like the mangrove mud flats on the North Bank of the Brisbane River which I photographed on my walk this morning).
So media-driven hysteria has allowed us to believe that somehow being the fifth fastest swimmer in your event  in the world is a sign of being fat and lazy and heading off to London on a tax-payer funded jaunt.
Let's be honest, elite athletes can only ever be on top of their game for a short period of time and you can muddy the waters all you like with all the unflattering camera angles and unnamed sources you can generate but that doesn't change the facts.
Wouldn't it be nice if we actually celebrated the remarkable achievements of our athletes instead of throwing mud all the time?
And a little bit more realism, graciousness and humility by all of use might mean that less people come out with mud on their faces when the pots of gold don't materialise.