Another Fallen Sports Hero?

The death of Reeva Steenkamp (girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius the “Blade Runner”) is tragic. This appears to be another major chapter in fallen sports heroes and begs the question how do the “bad” actions of heroes affect the good that they have done?

At best it would appear that this may have been a tragic accident and he may have shot his girlfriend mistaking her for an intruder in the house. At worst this is a case of murder.

Will these calamitous events be the fall from grace of Oscar Pistorious?

When Lance Armstrong finally admitted he was a cheat- how did it make me feel about the inspiration I gained from watching him cycle relentlessly on the Tour de France? From reading his book? Did this taint all the good things he had done?

How will I view Oscar Pistorious- the poster-boy of the London 2012 Para-Olympic Games? Will his inspiring performances and challenges against adversity be viewed as naught?

Referring to someone else who had fallen from upon high, I told my Rabbi once- “he is only human”. My Rabbi replied to me that being a human is not an “only”- it is an amazing thing with incredible expectations bestowed upon us.

Often people are not able to live up to those expectations we have for them. Perhaps we ought to treat everyone with greater suspicion? Surely that can’t be right.

Good people do bad things. Bad people do good things. It is not really my place to sit as judge and jury on Lance Armstrong or Oscar Pistorious.

At the moment I feel sad for the family of Reeva Steenkamp who has tragically been killed.