Lizzie Harrison

A little history. I have two parents, one brother and as a 6 year old was extremely attached to a hamster called Sammy, of whom my brother was very fond of squeezing, such are his cruel ways. I went to school, worked hard and after putting the severe disappointment of my eyesight not being good enough to be a fighter-pilot, went to Oxford University to embark on a career as a lawyer… and if you’re thinking, “how on earth do you decide on lawyer when Top Gun was the plan” I assure you am as confused as you. Being a lawyer is challenging, tiring, at times interesting, mostly boring, and always stressful but it is good money and if 99% of lawyers told the truth then this would be the reason they became one. I split my time between London and Sao Paulo and am always adding things to the list quicker than I cross them off, and if you are wondering where I am finding the time to indulge in such a frankly frivolous activity such as “blog writing” then it’s simple… I’m on vacation, and get bored easily. I was actually asked to write on a specific subject; bear with me, I will get to that in time I promise.

Sport and sporting endeavor has always been a big part of my life. I am a daddy’s girl, and can name you more Grand National winners than I can Michael Jackson songs. I spend a considerable amount of my spare time, what I have of it, taking part in everything from beach volleyball to 5 a side football, badminton and curling, but competitively I am a rower and tri-athlete. I support Sunderland and can watch cricket and snooker for hours given the opportunity. However, I digress, and will get to the point, though as you have already probably gathered I do not believe that 10 words will do when you can write 30!

Sport, I also believe, is a great barometer for life and how to succeed at it. Talent alone is rarely enough… it must be coupled with something more; dedication, determination, belligerence and a belief that throughout all the inevitable setbacks of life, success will come along eventually, no matter how long or arduous the journey. It is no surprise therefore that many young children look up to sports stars as examples, role models, even heroes. I was no different… but mine has taken years to fall into perspective; and if you’re curious about how many, something like 15.

I admire many sportsmen and women… some are famous, some not… some from afar, some up close… at times painfully so. An ex boyfriend is a professional rugby player in South Africa and I have seen first hand the damage that studded boots can do to even the strongest of backs… I have stood rooted to the spot in Beijing as two of my closest friends from university, Andy Hodge and Pete Reed, rowed down the Australian “oarsome foursome” with 500 lung bursting, back breaking, gut wrenching metres to go to win what I hope is only their first gold medal and I have watched in dumbstruck awe as the men of the Tour de France climb the Mt Ventoux at speeds that should not be possible without the help of an engine.

My first sporting love however is Formula 1, and for this I have to thank my brother. You could say that I have always been competitive, my parents would certainly agree, and when I saw him cheering for a guy called “Nige” on the TV I resolved to start supporting whoever happened to finish in front of him…the race was the 1988 GP at Silverstone and the man who won was Ayrton Senna… see, I told you I’d get to the point eventually. Strangely, I can think of many sports people who have dazzled me more (Lance Armstrong, Steve Redgrave and Ronnie O’Sullivan to name but three), and even within Formula 1 I have more affection for drivers other than Senna; Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell (yes, I got over the sibling rivalry), James Hunt, and Gerhard Berger spring to mind (and whilst we’re here… It is my personal wish that Berger would take over from Bernie and run Formula 1… the fan base would, I am convinced, treble overnight it would be so much fun!) but something about Senna puts him in an entirely different category. Not so much a driver but a force of nature… a man about whom nearly as many negative things could be written as positive, a man who was been, “cloaked in a tragic majesty” (to quote Chris Hilton) by the manner of his death so that people tend see him through rose-tinted glasses and forget/forgive his failings, chief among them his win-at-all-costs attitude that paved the way for cheating to become an acceptable tactic in the sport, and the only man in Formula 1 history to truly transcend the racetrack and become a conscious part of the world at large.

I think maybe the reason he sticks in my mind is that when here in Brazil you are never far from a reminder of him. A main motorway in Sao Paulo is named in his honour, murals are painted on walls and a charity continues in its quest to alleviate the poverty that still engulfs this beautiful part of the world. The only comparison I can make, being English, as to the reverence and respect he still commands all these years later is that of Diana, Princess of Wales. Like Senna, Diana had failings enough, they certainly both had a talent for throwing a tantrum or two, but through the same combination of charisma, eloquence, grace and warmth that seemed, and I am sure was, entirely genuine, they inspired admiration and affection worldwide… the outpourings of grief at their violent and untimely deaths attest to that.

Senna’s continued influence, particularly on Brazil’s youth, most of whom are now too young to have first hand memories of him, is difficult to explain, to quantify…intangible feeling rather than hard fact. It seems to me, and please bear in mind that this is only an opinion, that most children do not actually want to be him, or indeed Rubens, Felipe, or Piquet, never really did, as a go-kart is too far out of reach when you cannot afford new shoes. The children of Brazil will always want to be Pele, Ronaldo and Kaka, to hold the World Cup rather than a steering wheel, but this doesn’t mean that Senna was or is irrelevant, far from it. His power lies in the way that he took on the world, a flag of green and gold fluttering in his hands, and made them listen…firstly to him and in turn Brazil and I think that somewhere deep down this still resonates strongly in the psyche of everyone in the country. It is the flame that burns deep within yourself, so bright that it cannot be extinguished; a conviction that if you work hard enough and want it badly enough you can really can go further, be better and achieve greatness in your chosen field, whatever it may be. And it is this, I believe, that is Senna’s greatest achievement, his true legacy to his beloved Brazil, and one that, wherever he is, I hope he is just as proud of, if not more so, than all he achieved in pursuit of his other great love, winning.

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