Sportspeople not talking bollocks

High profile sports people are, mostly, idiots. Never mind the physical prowess or skill, when they begin opening their mouths it tends to be to moan, gloat or swear.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve been treated to the classy, asterisked verbiage of John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, the always-charming thoughts of Derek Chisora and David Haye, and today there is some magnificently self-serving bollocks from Luis Suarez.

Suarez bleats and whinges about the political power of Manchester United being repsonsible for his ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra. However, anyone who read the extensive documents released by the panel investigating his behaviour towards Patrice Evra was left with little doubt that the Uruguayan was unreliable, untrustworthy and guilty as sin.

Michael Johnson is a man for whom I must confess a certain degree of doey-eyed man love

So it comes as something of a relief when we are treated to some genuinely elevating and thoughtful offerings from sportspeople.

Stand up Michael Johnson and Bradley Wiggins, and take a bow. These two indulge not in cheeky references to gang rape or chiding about the sexual habits of an opponent’s mother. Neither seems possessed of Suarezian narcissism.

Michael Johnson is a man for whom I must confess a certain degree of doey-eyed man love, because his history-defining sprinting feats over 200m and 400m are connected to a highly articulate and sophisticated brain.

In today’s Daily Telegraph he speaks as eloquently as always, this time about what he perceives as the inappropriateness of Oscar Pistorius competing with able-bodied runners in the 400m, an event which Johnson graced and dominated.

"I consider Oscar a friend of mine, but he knows I am against him running, because this is not about Oscar; it’s not about him as an individual, it is about the rules you will make and put in place for the sport which will apply to anyone, and not just Oscar. If it was just about Oscar my position would be: ‘Absolutely, let him run.’"

One is left with the abiding impression that Johnson admires Pistorius but would have had clear and well-founded reservations about lining up alongside him in a race. I’m not sure I agree with Johnson but I sure as hell respect his opinion and would love to hear even more from him on this sort of subject.

And then there’s Wiggins, whose sideburns and sense of the moment have already catapulted him into Tour de France folklore.

First he ripped into a small number of journalists for their repeated, unjustifiable suggestions that he uses performance enhancing drugs. No snide remarks or haughty refusal to engage from our Wiggo, just a straighforward rebuttal laced with earthy language and blunt requests to shut hell up about the subject. The rest of the assembled media burst into applause, which is not something which happens often.

Then he earned the epithet Le Gentleman from the French media for holding up the peloton to allow arch rival Cadel Evans to catch up after suffering multiple punctures due to tacks being thrown on the road. Wiggins, it seems, is a man who unquestionably wants to win, but to do so cleanly and with a certain amount of dignity. A sort of anti-Terry if you like.

That was underlined by today’s dig at British celebrity culture: "It’s nice in sport when people stop you in the street and respect you for something you have achieved.”

So, well done Messrs Wiggins and Johnson. Everyone loves a winner, but winners who aren’t also complete losers are more rare and very welcome.