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THE HERALD Wednesday February 13 1S91 Page 19 Arts Ideas- Amateur athlete smokescreen My favorite sports columnist is Stephen Brunt from the Globe and Mail who by the way grew up in Georgetown A top colum nist is somebody you want to read no matter what he or she writes about Stephen Brunt is what I like to call a sophisticate He writes like a prince and he seems to unders tand that achievements in sport are like achievements in art only possible with enormous on the side of the athlete or artist A few ago he wrote a col about Ben Johnson that I found a bit hard to take however Stephen Brunt went to Africa and discovered that the great sprinter Is a hero there in spite of his betrayal of the public trust Betrayal Come come Stephen betrayal of whom Surely most of us didnt need the Inquiry to know that the records set by these fantastically singleminded athletes cannot be had without bending the rules What we should ask maybe is if these rules make sense I rather think our sports of ficials have betrayed the athletes they are supposed to serve We all know that the term amateur athlete has been a smokescreen behind which every country has done whatever they wanted In most German athletes went through full time training for the Olympic Games in Berlin and ever since every totalitarian country has selected and trained men and doped its top athletes practically from babyhood on By refusing to acknowledge this fact and by allowing the In ternational Olympic Committee to gloss over the matter we have put our athletes into a Catch dilemma that had to eventually end in disgrace We wanted them to win of course but we also kept Ideas and The Arts by John Sommer up the fiction that the victory would have to be clean whatever the means in this par context Has anybody for instance ever asked the question if the great writer who just collected the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm wrote his books with the help of performance enhanc drugs or not Of course not because the question is vastly beside the point If the emphasis is on winning and you only have to open the sports pages of your newspaper to find out that no paper likes to waste space on losers your duty as a coach or sports minister or whatever is to give the dedicated athlete or artist under your care everything he or she needs for that and everything else is jumbo and bloody hypoensy Dont get wrong I am ap palled by the risks athletes are supposed to take in order to ex eel Brecht said years ago that great sport begins at a point where it has ceased to be healthy In sports as in everything elese we have made a fetish of com petition It is the worst possible system for the athletes who will quickly sink out of sight and out of our minds if he is not record breaking results We are spectators only but the athlete is taking all the risks Running Risks is the apt title of a just published book by Angela another Cana dian athlete who had the guts to bare her soul at the Dubin In quiry I suggest that you read it The lesson of Ben Johnsons sorry ordeal is surely that the fiction of amateur sports has to go Todays athletes are pro fessionals Performance enhanc ing drugs should be outlawed because of the health risk to the athletes if for no other reason If we dont outlaw them worldwide we might with these drugs be in the same fix we are in regard to atomic weapons Lets not accuse our atheltes if they use them to give us what we crave gold medals new world records and unforgettable moments on television For many of us there is still a certain snob appeal attached to foreign wines but the truth has been for many years that the best Canadians wines are on a par with the wines produced in other countries On Feb the members of Arts and Crafts of Georgetown and their invited guests took a bus trip to Winona to visit Andres Winery Ltd Canadas largest wine producer After a fact filled tour of the vast halls with their stainless steel wine tanks the party tasted a large and varied assortment of wines from a dry Chardonnay to the sweetest of sherrys In great spirits the party proceeded to the Gable Manor Restaurant in Grimsby where a fine lunch had been ordered Many thanks are due to Ms Donna Vettesi the organizer of the tour for the success of the outing War amps of Canada special childrens song The War Amps of Canada would like Canadians to join with them in celebrating their Child Amputee CHAMP Programs 15th anniversary by sharing in a song that is close to the childrens hearts The Champ youngsters have a theme song called I Will Grow Stronger and the has released it to radio sta across the country for all to hear The theme song captures the spirit of CHAMP a program for child amputees that has been built upon The War Amps tion of amputees helping am Every child who enrols in CHAMP receives a tape of the I Will Grow Stronger song The songs encouraging lyrics have helped many children in learning to cope with their amputations The determination and courage of yearold Chris Koch the CHAMP Ambassador at Large for CHAMP have brought the songs lyrics to life for many Champs Chris is a quadruple amputee who doesn t let his am stand in the way of ing life just like any other child his age With the help of specially designed artificial limbs ed by CHAMP Chris skis plays baseball and is learning to play the autoharp and the piano The publics support for The War Amps makes the CHAMP Program possible Artisans offering embroidery course The Credit Valley Artisans are a counted thread em broidery course on Thursday evenings starting February Georgetown resident Else Staal Neilsen with over years expenence in embroidery will be the instructor Else learned counted thread embroidery as a child in school in Den mark There the chUdren were instructed in the craft for three hours per week for six years As an adult Else also studied traditional em broidery techniques such as cross stilch and white with the Embroidery Guild in Denmark Else has taught counted thread embroidery for many years and has assembled kits for other teachers Else is a member of the Heritage Handweavers guild of the Credit Valley Artisans This course is designed for the enthusiastic beginner as well as the intermediate embroiderer Basic embroidery and will be taught with an emphasis on counted thread embroider Hemstitching and old traditional hurloom techniques will be studied as lime permits Each student will produce a sampler on linen suitable for framing Design techniques and ideas will also be discussed This course does not teach crewel embroidery For further information contact Frank Anthony Registrar at between 6 pm and Deadline for registration in this course is February VIDEO PLUS Georgetown Market BRING HOME A STAR THIS WEEK- Flat liners Rich es Mr Frost Darkman Die Hard WCopt 134 Gutiph ocn Ontario PfTTa GOOEY GOOD NOW FEATURING Pizza Huts Pan Special THIS WEEK MEDIUM CHEESE 873 1651 PIZZAS St GEORGETOWN CINEMAS 235 GUELPH STREET NOW PLAYING COUSIN Evenings at 915pm Matinees Saturd Sunday pm LAST TWO DAYS BECAUSE YOUR DEPENDS ON IT Evenings at 700 p Only LAST TWO DAYS Evenings at 91 5 pjn Only IEEH2EE l Evenings at 700 I Matinees Saturdays Sunday at p COMING THIS FRIDAY King Ralph ADMISSION General Children Seniors Tues it Password Thurs 375 THIS WEEKS PASSWORD KING RALPH