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.

And he does acknowledge he wasn't always a great father and references the mother as being the one who brought his son up to be nice people.

It suggests he is a more hands-on father to his youngest child/ren though they have a less conventional dad-son relationship really. It's closer to friendship that parenting I think.

Yeah they came to that part of the documentary shortly after I posted.

I haven't watched the programme.

I remember the press conference at the Olympics, after the Carl Lewis t-shirt incident, he was asked about it - his reply was 'In the UK gay means happy', and smiled obviously pleased with himself.

And there was when he was asked what he said to Princess Anne when he met her and he replied something along the lines of 'I asked her could we make babies together'.

I watched the documentary and found it interesting, was glad also to see that his rivalry on the track has not carried on in retirement.

I was always Team Ovett not Team Coe. As for Carl Lewis, he lost respect for me when trying to make out that what he set out to do in the LA games was equivalent to Jesse Owens in 1936.

I loved. He had a thing with Sharon d didn’t he

Really enjoyed this documentary, he is quite a character and what an amazing athlete, and pretty handsome!
Loved the end where his German rival picked him up and they could reminisce together.

Great documentary which I would have missed without this thread. Thank you.

Really great programme, interesting and also sad at times. Him referencing how he could control his training and times when there must have been so much in his early life he had no control over was especially poignant.

Both him and his son seemed really honest which was refreshing.

And there was when he was asked what he said to Princess Anne when he met her and he replied something along the lines of 'I asked her could we make babies together'.

Ugh sounds on brand 🙄I’m sure that went down well

ETA: it was a really Good documentary though. I’m clearly not a fan but I still admire his sporting achievements and ambition.

Also, the 80s and 90s was such a golden era for athletics. I was a 90s kid and loved watching all the Olympics and European championships.

I've just watched it - a really interesting documentary and great footage of the era.

As an aside, Jenner was a fine figure of a man!

I thought it was fantastic. I remember him well but was just a bit too young to be aware of the controversy around him. There was a lot of snobbery and racism wasn't there and I think he played up to being outrageous because of that.

Thanks for the reminder will watch it on iplayer.

Who remembers this gold? Daley and Iron Maiden

Very sad he is a bit overlooked now when you see how the likes of Seb Coe are celebrated.

It's funny I'm Irish and he is probably the only British athlete I could name from that time. He always came across as so nice and a real colorful character. Can't get iPlayer in Ireland but will be visiting family in UK soon so will try and watch it then.

Planning to watch this later, I agree about sport being so much more of a communal event in the 70s and 80s because of only being on terrestrial TV (and no internet) - the Dennis Taylor snooker final and Torvill and Dean's Bolero stand out as well as athletics, swimming, tennis etc.

Just watched this ... really quite sad ... abandoned by his mum and dad and then spent his whole life pushing people away if they became to close to him ... shows all the signs of an avoidant attachment .

So lovely when he said Bob was the closest person he had to a dad . Seems that people like Juergen , his aunt , Bob have been the most consistent people in his life .

Seems like he was constantly pushing any positive attention away by sabotaging his wins by saying inappropriate things to deflect the positive attention into negative ... seems somewhere in his subconscious he is not worthy of positive attention only negative .

I think Daley is an example of how important attachment is in our early years ... rejected constantly and goes on to avoid any attachment for fear of being abandoned... horrible to his athletic family / peers / partners/ children ... sabotaging press opportunities but determined to succeed but needs to be the best as he's never felt good enough !

Looks like he's been working on himself recently.

Thought Seb Coe was an arse ... there was an element of being frustrated that Daley was not impressed by him ... so he tried to put him down .

Great documentary. He achieved a massive amount with zero parental support which I imagine is very rare.

I can see why he's not known as a commentator or pundit in the same was Steve Cram for example is - back then he was a PR nightmare with the things he was coming out with.
Thought he looked pretty good for his age.

The bit with his son was sad. His comment about paying for him and whether his son was actually his.

He doesn't seem to have changed much from the Carl Lewis stunt.

A friend who worked at the BOA back in the day told me he's an arsehole and can be difficult

That's probably why he's been overlooked