The sweat pours wistfully from your brow

and like many before you,

Thompson backflip, Coe eminence,

Ovett working class maverick, Wells

my hero at the age of nine, dipping head

on the line, Lyndon Davies grace in the air,

sand undisturbed, Sean Kerly, an honour

to have met before he won Gold,

David Wilkie years after he became an icon,

Steve Redgrave, Linford Christie, Matthew Pinsett,

ninety six disappointment, crushed memories,

weightless and unimpressed, my own failure

at the heart of it…

Kelly Holmes resurgent, beautiful, bold and a queen

of the track, reminding me of Sharon Davies in her prime,

Helen Glover, Katherine Grainger, Heather Stanning…

My all time favourite Jessica Ennis who I once saw

on the track in Birmingham, dark days, desperate days,

two weeks in the shade and shame,

I wanted to be Alan Wells in that moment in Moscow,

your sweat as you run in Rio, Mo,

I respect you as much as the lightning bolt,

I can but salute you and hold

your image for all time…moving, significant,

the achievement and the distinction;

you are Mo, a momentum in fire

and I celebrate ten enthralling games

knowing I could never be in your shadow.

 

Ian D. Hall 2016