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