Randy Starkman was for us one of the most influential in the sport. Why? Because he was able to recognize the effort amateur athletes were putting in with integrity. Trimes.org is always complaining about the lack of mainstream media coverage allotted to amateur athletes. The situation is slowly changing in English media, thanks in part to efforts coming from people like Randy. His efforts were significant enough to make French media outlets jealous.
He was a model. Randy was able to write an article like this one Fire waning for Canada’s “Human Olympic Torch” and Simon Whitfield makes it clear: “I’m still hungry”. He was the only one able to confront Simon, why? because, Randy knew the reality of the sport like nobody else in the amateur circle.
Starkman took ill after returning from Montreal, where he was covering the Olympic swimming trials. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted to hospital last week.
Randy Starkman: Your thoughts and tributes
DiManno: The ultimate pro in amateur sports
Randy Starkman’s Olympics blog
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Amateur sports generally don’t get a lot of exposure during non-Olympic years and Russell said his program fills an important void. He wrote in a blog post on CBC’s website that next season there will be 150 fewer hours of coverage.
“For Canada’s high-performance sports community, that’s going to be difficult to swallow because, outside of this platform, there are precious few opportunities to showcase the country’s most talented athletes and what they’re capable of,” Russell wrote.
À ce sujet, je vous suggère de lire le post de Clara Hugues. Il est excessivement bien écrit. http://clara-hughes.com/my-best-friend-in-sport-randy-starkman/