The Spectator

I was recently accused by a cousin of being a “media flirt” - I appreciated the restraint in her language.

It was not long ago that I was described in a feature article in a national paper as “lacking the physical attributes of an Olympiad.” Whilst I could argue that it is true - I don’t know what physical attributes would be fitting of an Olympiad, if any - I instead became the ordinary reasonable audience and assumed the writer thought Olympiad was a fancy word for Olympian - in which case it would still be true, but a little bit cutting. I can’t decide if it is better or worse that he made this assumption having never met me or asked me about any sporting ability or lack thereof.

I assume the article was not intended to be negative, but most have agreed to some degree that I came across as a bit of a loser who can’t get accepted as an Olympic Volunteer (I won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story by mentioning I have never applied to be one). It was a bit of a disappointing result for me, the PR officer trying to push a feature on the Olympics for our Olympic Day event… but I still have it posted up next to my desk at work.

Anyway, last week I was more than happy to play the part of “media flirt” with The Advocate - the trusted local paper of NW Tasmania - which sung my praises in a sporting context, courtesy of an obviously generous press release from my awesome golf club, Seabrook. Even if it implies that I’m not going to turn pro anytime soon (or make the Olympics if Golf gets chosen in October for inclusion), and definitely won’t have been read by the same audience as the last article, I will now shamelessly promote the results of that flirtation!

It’s also interesting to compare the writing standards of a national newspaper in Fiji to a small rural paper in Tassie… No comment.