About the time of the Olympics last year (2016) an alarming thought crossed some people's minds. It was that the previous London 2012 Olympics had been cursed.
The trigger for this alarming thought was the death of Australian rower Sarah Tait from cervical cancer. On its own Sarah's death was an ordinary (but genuine) sadness - but she was latest in the line of very many others. British consciousness had been heightened by the deaths of sailor Andrew Simpson in a 2013 sailing accident and our tennis player Elena Baltacha who died of cancer the next year. A French swimmer, boxer and triathlete had all died, but so had 12 others from around the world. It seemed crazy that by the next Olympics 18 of the previous Olympians were dead and gone.
There turned out to be good news and bad news when it was researched.
The good news was that, in simple terms, over four years about 32 in a 1000 people die. There were over 10,000 participants at the 2012 Olympics so hundreds, statistically, should have died before the next Olympiad. Except that Olympians are young and fit.
Some whizzy research yielded the expected death rate for the average age to be 25-30 over four years. So if the 18 were the full number (though some athletes from obscure regions [e.g. North Korea] might not be known about) it would a below-average death rate.
And this means what, exactly? Well that is the bad news.
I think it shows how unrealistic the living are about death. Of course we know that death and taxes are the only certainties - but we live as though we will never die. One reason why not enough people are excited enough about Easter morning is because they do not acknowledge the scale of the problem, the general curse, from which this day and its Lord potentially sets them free.
It is a mistake of Olympian proportions.
The good news was that, in simple terms, over four years about 32 in a 1000 people die. There were over 10,000 participants at the 2012 Olympics so hundreds, statistically, should have died before the next Olympiad. Except that Olympians are young and fit.
Some whizzy research yielded the expected death rate for the average age to be 25-30 over four years. So if the 18 were the full number (though some athletes from obscure regions [e.g. North Korea] might not be known about) it would a below-average death rate.
And this means what, exactly? Well that is the bad news.
I think it shows how unrealistic the living are about death. Of course we know that death and taxes are the only certainties - but we live as though we will never die. One reason why not enough people are excited enough about Easter morning is because they do not acknowledge the scale of the problem, the general curse, from which this day and its Lord potentially sets them free.
It is a mistake of Olympian proportions.
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