The reaction to Victoria Pendleton’s entry into the world of horse racing has been predictably mixed.
I think a lot of the flak that was coming her way after she was unseated from her horse last week was a bit of in-sport snobbery.
I can understand it.
We all like to think that our own sport is the hardest to master and when somebody who has made their name in another sport drops in, it causes a bit of scepticism.
Personally, I really don’t see what the problem is.
She hasn’t set out to be the next Tony McCoy. I think she has probably struggled to fill the void left by retiring from her main sport and has wanted another challenge.
And the fact that she is a top athlete and already has the dedication you need is a big tick in the box.
I don’t buy the “she could hurt herself” argument either.
Everybody has to make their own choices in life. Victoria will know all the risks and as long as she’s not totally out of her depth which her win this week proves she isn’t -nobody should be able to tell her she can’t do it.
At least this is proper competitive sport not the programme The Jump where people are breaking their necks in the name of reality TV!
Just as I think the criticism of Victoria pursuing a horse racing goal is wrong, so too is the criticism of Scottish cyclist Katie Archibald.
She has missed out on the World Cycling Championship this week after being involved in a motorcycle accident.
It’s so easy to say “you shouldn’t have done that” after the event but you could just as easily be involved in a car crash or get injured in another, totally unpredictable way.
I dislocated my knee stretching to get the remote control for my TV. Should I have phoned someone else to come and pick it up?
If you get so fixated with avoiding potential pitfalls in an Olympic year you would never get out of bed in the morning.
Like Rory McIlroy with his football injury, sometimes you just have to accept that accidents can happen.
* The Muirheads have now got three Scottish titles in the family..that must be some sort of record!
Dad (not to forget our coach Dave Hay) has added the Seniors Championship to the national wins myself and my brother Glen got a couple of weeks ago.
The knees and the shoulders are a bit sorer after their games these days but they can still play a bit, and they’ve certainly not lost their competitive streak.
We’ve got a couple of tournaments abroad while Dave will be away for the World Seniors but I think we can let him go because the last time he did that we won one of them without him!
* We were filmed at training in Stirling the other day for a Sport Relief sketch.
I got off easier than the rest of the team because I was sat down drinking tea shouting at the other girls while they were cleaning the floor.
I’m not so sure it’s the best image for our sport but it’s all for a good cause!