Comments on: TBL 5×10: Wayne’s Big Reward

By: Philly

Philly — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:24:03 +0000

Hey Jeff, at his peak Matt Shirvingto was the fastest white man on the planet, so he obviously knows a thing or two about running. Also he is a very nice person, and it was good of him to give his time to help out:)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:20:17 +0000

Maybe the quote marks were unfair. I'm not familiar with Shirvington so I apologize. I just find it funny whenever I see a white champion sprinter on TV, because they get shut out when it comes to the Olympics, or any world championships for that matter.

No white man has ever officially broken the 10-second barrier in the 100m dash. The first black guy to do it: Jim Hines (USA), October 14, 1968.

The last non-black to win Olympic gold: Alan Wells (Britain), 1980, Moscow.

This is why I let out an audible snigger when I see a white sprinter on TV. But then, the best teachers aren't always the best athletes.

By: Mythor

Mythor — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:19:52 +0000

I don't know about that, Chris is rapidly climbing my personal dislike meter!
I agree though, I do like being able to cheer more of them on than wanting to throw things at the screen all the time. :)

I've never understood the complaints over a lack of racial diversity or diversity in sexual orientation. Why are you upset that people of your minority aren't gigantic lard arses? :D

And yes, it's (very) different in Australia. While we do have a dark skinned minority, as America does, we also have a much smaller population, so the pool of potential talent in that regard we can draw on is consequently smaller.
And yes, there're better sprinters in the world than Matt Shirvington but for many years he was our best, including holding 5 consecutive national titles from 1998 and holding the Australian 100m sprint record from 1998-2003. There's no need for quote marks around the great as he's one of our better sprinters in recent times. :)

Probably more importantly though, he's done a fair bit of TV work over the years and people seem to like him. Especially the ladies. ;)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

It seems like the cast this year is pretty likable as a whole. This may not be good for ratings, but I like it.

Wayne is a pretty good guy. His wife's a doll and his kids are great. Problem is, he's been there only a few weeks and it'll be tough for him to lose more weight from here on out. At the beach, he just looked like a regular guy and certainly not like a Biggest Loser contestant.

I've seen it said on another forum that the show seems a little racist this year in that there aren't any minorites represented in the cast. I don't know about that, but doesn't it seem strange that the producers are bringing in a "great" white sprinter to teach the cast how to run? Like there aren't a hundred black sprinters who could blow this guy out of the water? Maybe it's different in Australia, but show me the best white American 100m sprinter, and I'll show you fifty black sprinters who can beat him.