Perceptions
PerceptionsI stood on the rostrum in the warm sunshine. I was bursting with pride. I spread out the Union Jack behind my shoulders and reflected that I had never expected to win a gold medal for Great Britain. I heard the anthem begin and thought this is an unusual arrangement of God Save the Queen. It certainly was as it turned out to be the Finnish national anthem. A gentle reminder not to take myself too seriously.
This event was the 4th European Transplant and Dialysis Sports Federation (ETDSF) Games held in Pecs, Hungary, August 13th – 20th 2006. I was attending as the first competitor from Great Britain accompanied by my wife as the requisite Flag Bearer. The Transplant Sports Association of Great Britain (TSAGB) has only recently joined the ETDSF organization and does not allow dialyzed athletes in its own games, nor the World Games, but kindly permitted me to go and represent them and Great Britain.
Pecs is ancient and beautiful, a cross between Istanbul and Vienna. It is a charming town of friendly people who all lined the streets to welcome us. We joined a massed parade of 360 athletes from 21 nations proceeding up the High Street and around the main square to be welcomed by the people and formally presented to the dignitaries. Amongst them were Vince Korosztos who organized these games; a big genial Irishman, and a lady in a peach trouser suit. These three clearly identified with us and smiled a lot. I later discovered the lady was Judit Berente, an important member of the administration. Judit is a transplant sportswoman, an enthusiast for our games, and a charming lady.
The Hungarians had provided a small army of fluent English speaking students to help the competitors, English being the Lingua Franca of the games. We took a little train ride through the streets and discovered a warren of alleys and little squares peppered with statues, fountains and public gardens. Most of the medieval city walls are intact, I should know, I had to run round them in the mini marathon. The town has one of the oldest universities in Europe and education is its industry. There is a European street café culture and joining the locals people watching was a delight, especially as 2 beers in a pavement café was only a pound.
My first event was the mini marathon. I arrived early at the start to stretch out. I had decided not to do a warm up run, it was too hot and I was by no means certain I would complete the steep 5km course. There was a field of about 30 competitors but only 3 dialyzed people among them. One was an athletic young Czech who turned out to be their national champion at 1500m and decathlon before beginning dialysis 8 months ago. Another was a delightfully jolly German lady running the 3k route and me.
The townsfolk turned out in force to line the streets and applauded us all the way. I was a little embarrassed. I felt a fraud amongst those fit transplant athletes. I came very last, but I was the only dialyzed man to finish and as I was one of the few older men to take part I ended up with a Bronze medal. A little girl who had run out from the crowd to welcome us at the Opening Parade was there waiting for me with her mum at the finish. You would have thought from the cheering that I had won. I was more than a little choked up.
The games were competitive and 2 world records were set. And yet these games are the most truly sporting event I have ever taken part in. Everyone had trained hard and wanted to do well, but they also wanted everyone else to do well too. I remember watching Donny, a heart and lung transplantee really going for it on the running track. He was last in the race but he knew he would be before he chose to come. Heart and lung transplants don’t have all the nerves connected so he wasn’t getting any adrenaline. He is an example to us all.
There were so many remarkable individuals I cannot tell you about them all. I should mention the Irish though. They were kind and welcoming, full of banter and joy. Their Team Manager Colin White was extremely professional, patient, and supportive. The big genial Irishman turned out to be Mark Murphy, an important official both at the games and in Ireland, more importantly the champion of sportsmanship and bonhomie. They all supported each other and even me. I think they need a special mention as the team which best embodies the spirit of sportsmanship in the games. They have got it right, it is not about winning, it’s about doing your best and enjoying the competition and friendship of the games. Kipling put it rather well in his poem ‘IF’ - “If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same”….What is important is the spirit in which you compete, enjoying not only your own but each others successes and celebrating each others achievements.
There were 100 dialysed competitors which meant that in some of the more popular events there were enough of us to justify separate races. I benefited from that. However the most fun events I did were two 4 x 50m swimming relays and a 4 x 100m sprint relay where we entered combined teams of Irish, Norwegians, Brits, Czechs and Germans. We came home with our cheeks aching from laughing and smiling so much.
In Europe they have a different attitude to dialyzed people taking part. Most kidney transplants will be on dialysis at some stages of their lives either before, between transplants, or after. Dialysed people suffer serious long term and temporary physical damage as a result of the minimal renal function which is all that dialysis can provide. Exercise can to some extent mitigate and protect against this decline and should therefore be encouraged. Exercise also releases all those feel good chemicals that help us to enjoy life and maintain a positive outlook. In the future I expect we will have maintenance treatments for other people waiting for vital organs and it will be desirable for them to be encouraged to maintain their health and morale too.
It has been said that the dialyzed competitors can deter potential organ donors. The reality is that dialyzed competitors will always highlight the huge disadvantage they are at in physical activity compared to most transplants. Good media management would show this disadvantage and point out that we already have 20,000 people on dialysis hoping for transplants. Also that kidneys naturally decline at up to 1% a year as we age so, if we live long enough, we will all have end stage renal failure, and the numbers are growing by 8% year on year as we live longer.
To my delight I have made many new friends. I was asked where many British transplanted athletes were and I explained it was only an unfortunate coincidence that the TSAGB Bath games were on at the same time. I hope the TSAGB decide to send a team to the next ETDSF Games in Wurtsburg, Bavaria, Germany, August 31st – September 6th, 2008. And I hope they include dialyzed people like me. I will of course enter anyway and I will try to recruit as many dialysed people as possible because these games are such great fun we should share the experience with as many other people as possible.
I hope you will be there too.
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Page created: 21 October 2006
Last updated: 29 April 2009