Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: Welsh Wonder

The treatment of Nicole Cooke in the BBC's Sport Personality Of The Year 
was so diabolically, disgustingly dreadful, I actually thought that I 
must have fallen asleep without realising and missed her glory package 
and interview. But no, the BBC actually planned to snub Nicole by not 
allowing her on stage to receive the applause she deserved, no interview 
by Sue Barker and Gary Lineker and no glossy piece of film to celebrate 
her amazing achievements. Worse still, she was interviewed in the 
audience by sexist sloth Andrew Chiles, who first patronisingly took a 
look at her knees for any grazes and then kept on and on asking her 
about falling off her bike.
He just about stopped short of asking her whether her bike had a little 
bell and if she took her shopping home in a basket on the front.
So just in case you don't know, because you would be none the wiser 
after Sunday night, Nicole has had the most amazing year. She has 
dominated the world of female cycling, becoming the first British 
cyclist (male or female) to be ranked world number one.
No other British cyclist has ever made the top 20 in the rankings. She 
won this year's Women World Cup and the Women's Tour de France, which 
included a win atop Mont Ventoux, something even Lance Armstrong never 
achieved. She's a true sporting superstar. Imagine if Lance Armstrong 
was British and had won the Tour de France, would he have been 
interviewed by Andrew Chiles on the state of his knees?
Would he have been consigned to a minute spot in the audience, with 
offensive, persistent enquiries about how often he fell off his bike? 
The very idea is laughable.
So what is it about Nicole that led to the BBC producers deciding to 
more or less ignore her in the running order?
It can't be her sport. Cycling - unlike show jumping and tobogganing 
(the English Olympic tobogganist silver medallist got to the stage, 
can't remember her name now) is not a minority sport. It is a bona fide 
world sport, and the athletes are really the fittest and most superbly 
trained human beings on earth.
There are two answers. She is a woman. And she is Welsh. Let's not 
pretend otherwise. OK, in a bad year, a woman won the actual trophy, but 
not a great athlete woman, just the Queen's grandchild, and, as the 
saying goes, we are all born equal, but some more equal than others.
I admire Zara Phillips for having the strength of character that is 
essential to succeed at any sport, but to crown her Sports Personality 
Of The Year was ludicrous.
As to being Welsh, well, if Nicole hadn't won, Joe Calzaghe could have 
beaten her to it. But he's Welsh as well, so he didn't.
If Nicole Cooke was English she would have won it. Because she's Welsh, 
not only did she not win, but she was subjected to a demeaning and 
condescending treatment, which no-one had questioned beforehand to be so 
odiously wrong.
Because you're Welsh - you must now do your bit. You must ring that 
number to complain. We must show the BBC that they can't get away with 
such bias.
The nice chap at the end of the line refused to tell me how many Nicole 
Cooke complaints they had had, but he did tell me that it was a 
significant number. Go on, for your own self respect, call now on 
08700100222.
-- 
http://modesta.biciticino.ch
Il sito dedicato alla giovane ciclista lituana Modesta Vzesniauskaite

 08700100222.
I am afraid, I would instead try to correct the mis-print about the Grand
Boucle being the hardest race in the world!
B-