Still Dignity in Sport - Joannie Rochette

Still dignity in sport

 Amid the Ashley Cole saga, the Tiger Woods confession, Jose Mourinho strutting and preening and the various financial disasters that is football, one piece of news from the Winter Olympics touched me.


Joannie Rochette, a 24-year-old Canadian skater, competed a few hours after her mother died of a heart attack. She was 55.


In an age when we’re Twittering, have our own Facebook page, text and emails, Rochette said she and her father were greatly comforted by the messages she’d received from all over the world. So social networking does have some benefits.


I’m glad. And I hope she skates well enough later to grab a medal. She’s in contention after a personal best score in the short programme.


Ice skating has to be one of the most boring sports on the planet – just ahead of equestrianism – but I wish her a golden Games.