Monday, August 9, 2010

A bit of history (without going to the Roman times)

I have the genes of an athlete, but I did not know long. I have the genes of a geek - that I could not ignore. Son of a professor and teacher, grand-son of teachers, great-grand-son of teachers - pretty obvious I was born for the book rather than for sneakers.
But on the other hand, my father was a fairly high level athlete. Shot putter and discus (occasionally, hammer) thrower, sprinter despite his size (1.90 m), he tried also the 110-meter hurdles when his club needed it (once he became a local champion in this discipline). Volleyball (member of the provincial team at the time), karate and water polo are among the other sports he practiced.
When dad went to the athletics stadium, he often took me with him. And while he hurled the weight and the disc, I had fun in the sand for the long jump. Unfortunately, dad was unable to get me interested in the sport. Admittedly, I had some results in karate and I played ping-pong, but I do not show too much persistence.
Of course, with such a pedigree, one would hardly say that I had even a little bit of athletic talent. I was probably the last to think I had.