Stany the Stingray: This is getting mean now...

I am loving the Olympics.

There, I've said it. And I've shocked even myself.

I am not loving the tone of this article about "Stany the Stingray", wildcard entrant for the mens 50m freestyle.

My memory of coverage of Eric the Eel was that it was condescending in a somewhat affectionate manner. Not a lot that's affectionate about this:

According to the official start list, his ranking time for his heat is an astonishingly slow 1min 15 secs. In that time world record holder Eamon Sullivan could have finished his lap, climbed out of the pool, dried himself off and called Stephanie Rice to catch up on old times. American superstar Michael Phelps could have covered almost 150m of a 200m freestyle race and even the next lowest ranked swimmer in competition, Kareem Valentine of Antigua-Barbuda, could have completed a second lap.

But Kempompo Ngangola, who saw his listed heat time for the first time yesterday, insisted he was far faster than he'd been given credit for.
...

An electrical engineer by trade, Kempompo Ngangola said he hoped to finish the 50m in "22 or 23 seconds", which would place him in the top 200 in the world. He said a probable explanation for his 1min 15 sec entry time was that officials had mistakenly used his 100m time, although he said even that was a faster 1:03.

Confusingly, if that was true he would be world class over 50m but primary school carnival quality over 100m.


Gee whiz.

Keating and Rudd: Comments to come...

So I'm simultaneously reading Memoirs of a Bleeding Heart and Inside Kevin07 - I promise more detailed thoughts in the future.

It's great reading them together though. Watson's book has an almost cinematic, epic scope about it compared to Jackman's much more focused work. Also, he's not afraid of drawing attention to the character flaws, mistakes and humanness of his subject - while Jackman's work is a little too congratulatory at times, giving me a sense of the campaign machine but not the man. Anyway, more to come.

In other news - Gustav, you're my hero! Congrats! Toothpaste for Dinner, below, for you.