Daley Thompson documentary

[JenniferSaundersIsMyMum]

Has anyone else watched it?

Fascinating stuff, well worth a watch. What a talented man, although that kind of dedication comes at a high price. Very sad he is a bit overlooked now when you see how the likes of Seb Coe are celebrated.

Yes, DH and I watched the programme. Bit of an eye-opener wasn't it? I liked the bit right at the end when he was talking to his arch nemesis, and it was clear that they were really good friends now.

Yes I watched it, what an incredible achievement given his back story. I agree he is overlooked compared to other sports stars of that era and his achievements way out do all of them, particularly so as he wasn’t white and middle class and the only support he had was from his ‘aunt’. He definitely is a complex character and his son seemed to have a few digs at his lack of parenting skills which I thought were a bit harsh. I thought it was an excellent documentary and I particularly liked how him and his rival Jurgen Hingsen who hated each other have now become such great friends, it definitely has the Rocky/Apollo Creed feel about it, well worth a watch.

Where is it on? Sounds interesting

Here’s the link, it’s on BBC iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00216mg

On BBC iPlayer.
It was fantastic - I remember him being such a huge star. But it made me wonder just how much his upbringing/parenting had affected him - even though he didn't want to talk about it. A very complex character, and I feel there is a lot more to discover.
And what has he been doing for the last 30 years?

Also, brilliant 80s nostalgia!

A friend went to a screening of the documentary last night followed by a discussion between Daley and Steve Cram - she said it was a really good evening.

I must watch this. I don't know if he's forgotten or overlooked by people that have followed athletics for decades. The problem has been that he has been a bit of a loose canon on deck - it's a risk putting him on TV as he does say things that are controversial.

For me, one of our greatest athletes and sports personalities - Seb Coe was a world class runner but I can't stand to hear him talk ATM - he is so pompous - I call him Seb Coe-matose. Remember Daleys t-shirt "Is the world's second best athlete gay?" - his dig at Carl Lewis for failing to own his sexuality (which is still unknown: fair enough). For me, the best quote that sums up the spirit of Daley Thompson came after he aggregated a muscle injury in the first event (hamstring?) - the hurdles - at the start of defending his Olympic(?)title - he said "My Olympics only lasted ten seconds... but what a great ten seconds!"

Definitely going to watch this

He actually ran a gym for years just near where I live and I often used to see him having a drink in a local cafe.

Thanks for this post, I love Daly Thompson! He was my hero growing up, I'll definitely give this a watch

Thought it was fantastic and will watch it again. The mind of an athlete is a fascinating thing.

There is another next week about Linford Christie.

What a great watch. I don't know much about his story and wasn't alive in the 80s, but it is absolutely fascinating. He seems a thoroughly decent man and what amazing achievements

Love athletics but it was so exciting in the 80s..

Yes, why does sport often seem so much less exciting now? Same with the Euros; the final was a decent contest, but most of the games I saw were a bore-fest.

I'm interested to watch this. I'm curious to see if it encourages me to forgive him for being rude to me when I was a kid asking for his autograph 😆

I think it has a lot to do with the communal aspects of TV when there were 4 channels and everyone watched the same thing. We all knew the athletes - Sharron Davies, Daley, Flojo, Steve Cram, Brendan Foster, Martina. Ski Sunday was required viewing and I still remember the frisson of hearing names like Garmisch Parten-kirchen Kitzbuhel and Val d'isere. It was collaborative viewing and I think that makes a difference.

Ski Sunday was required viewing

I wouldn't go that far. 😛

This was definitely required viewing, loved this back in the day as a kid, can’t imagine sports stars of today appearing in Superstars

Remember Daleys t-shirt "Is the world's second best athlete gay?" - his dig at Carl Lewis for failing to own his sexuality (

Yeah that rings a bell @larkstar Sheesh how awful. No doubt Daley’s very ashamed of that now or should be. I’m watching the documentary now and will be interested to see if they raise this.

I didn’t realised Carl Lewis was married now actually ( to a woman) so apparently he’s referred to Daleys stunt with the t-shirt as childish. And quite right. Irrespective of his sexuality Daley had no right to be making digs and trying to “expose it” when there were already rumours circulating. It would be wrong to do even now, but back then in the 80s especially he must’ve known that would be harmful for a male athlete to be suspected of being gay and he was adding fuel to the fire as Lewis’s sexuality was already been questioned.

I’ve just got the bit of the documentary when he even said it’s no one business if Lewis was gay. But he didn’t actually openly admit he was wrong to wear that t-shirt? He actually looked pretty smug about it all.

It’s been said that it wasn’t enough for Daley to just win but he also needed to (mentally) destroy his opponent. I understand athletes trash talking each other but he went too far.

Glad I’ve always been Team Carl Lewis!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-13459999/amp/If-people-say-drugs-better-says-outspoken-Athletics-legend-CARL-LEWIS-gives-barrels-youth-today-calls-childish-Daley-Thompson.html

He definitely is a complex character and his son seemed to have a few digs at his lack of parenting skills which I thought were a bit harsh

His son will most likely have good reason for criticising his Dad. It’s easy for those who just know Daley as a great athlete to cheer him on but that’s different from being married to him or having him as a father.

I think his son rightly felt that Daley hadn't been a great father. Daley acknowledged this himself.
Did you notice the bit where someone said that the son had obviously been well brought up and Daley replied 'He has been well brought up, we should thank the woman who did it '
Honestly how could Daley have been any better? His own up bringing was appalling and probably for that reason was absolutely driven to look after himself to the exclusion of everything else. Took him till he was 60 to grow up. Such is the cycle of abuse. I reckon his son looked set to break the pattern though, didn't seem to be blaming his Dad, but could see his mistakes.

I agree with that- he did have a very neglectful and traumatic upbringing so in fairness to him it’s not surprising he wasn’t the best father with his first set of kids. And I think his kids should be free to voice that.

Apparently he was a serial womaniser. It’s reported that he walked out on his wife for his current girlfriend but then at one point had even left her too while she was pregnant. He’s with her now though at least.

If the press and his now ex-wife at the time knew about all the womanising , no doubt the kids did too which would’ve impacted them in fairness to his son.

ETA: he’s just acknowledged on the documentary some of his failings as a husband/ father so kudos to him for doing some self-reflection. overcoming childhood trauma and negative cycles isn’t easy -they say you can’t achieve your way out of trauma.

I hope both him and ALL his kids are doing alright.

It's talked about in the documentary, along with other controversial things that happened.