Kiwi champ shows way forward

OPINION: REBECCA WARDELL is made of the right stuff. If the Christchurch heptathlete never gets near the podium at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi she should still be celebrated as a true New Zealand champion, for nothing more than insisting on her right to attend. At a time when so many Kiwis seem intent on running away from their responsibilities and letting fear rule the roost, the 32-year-old has been busy lighting up a path for the future.

What a relief it was last week to hear this most perceptive of athletes confirming her intention to compete at the Games if there was any chance, despite a recent threat from an alQaeda-linked group to target sporting events in India. For Wardell it wasn't just about a love of the contest, it was as much about a sense of duty and not cowering to the disaffected. If sport had suddenly become meaningful, it was no time to start fleeing.

We need to hear more from her ilk. For too long we've been inundated with the views of folk who seem to believe the world owes them something; that if there are any problems they can simply withdraw to their bunker and wait for someone else to sort things out. Responsibility? They wouldn't recognise it if it fell begging at their feet. The notion that we all fight for freedom, whether or not we're wearing fatigues, appears to be viewed as some sort of foreign concept.

It was bad enough last month when some people started calling for the African Cup of Nations to be abandoned after the lethal attack on the Togo football team. But the recent calls to scrap the Hockey World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the India Premier League, all scheduled for the subcontinent over the next few months, seem hopelessly short-sighted. The only option, surely, is to get the security right and to make it work. Anything else smells of extinction.

If it gets to the stage where it takes only a threat, albeit a serious one, to cause the cancellation or postponement of any world sporting event, then we might as well all give up now and go home. Insurgent groups will be kicking themselves for not trying this years ago. To think, instant notoriety with just one phone call; no explosives necessary. And if it works for these malcontents, it won't be long until everyone's trying it.

Where to then? Well, Africa's out of the question after the Angolan attack, the jury is out regarding South Africa, much of eastern Europe is vulnerable and there are on-going terrorist activities in the west, including in France and Spain. Bombs were exploding in London during the 2005 Ashes cricket series, an Australian court last week sent five would-be terrorists to jail, and few countries in the world can claim as many enemies as the United States.

So pervasive are the terrorist groups today that it's virtually impossible to go overseas without venturing within reach of their influence. To read the list of Islamic cells with similar names is to invite a serious headache, such is its length. Islamic jihad this and Islamic jihad that. It brings to mind that old scene from Monty Python's The Life of Brian: Brian: "Excuse me. Are you the Judean People's Front?" Reg: "F--- off! We're the People's Front of Judea." As serious as the recent threats have been, you have to wonder about the mentality behind them. Warnings? A terrorist group hellbent on gaining notoriety through violence warns potential victims to stay away? Intimidation, far more likely. After all, Black September didn't see the need to issue warnings before the 1972 Olympic attack; the Sri Lankan cricketers weren't warned before they were shot at last year in Pakistan; neither were the Togo footballers.

Thankfully, among those who refuse to be daunted are Kiwis such as Wardell and Southland skeet shooter Paul Wilson, who arrived in Delhi yesterday after expressing no second thoughts over the risk. They are in good company. The Australian Commonwealth Games team seems almost certain to follow after defiant statements on Thursday from both association head Perry Crosswhite, and Australia's acting foreign minister, Simon Crean.

Crean said he'd been in contact with his Indian and Pakistani counterparts, had not changed his government's travel advisories for India, and had received no intelligence to suggest the Australian team should be prevented from attending. Crosswhite was even more unequivocal: "We are going to these Games," he said. "We have to continue this way. Unless something happens that doesn't allow the event to go ahead, we will have a team there."

That is as it should be. If there is one certainty in this global lunatic asylum, it is that abandoning events because of threats or attacks is only going to spawn more threats and attacks. As much as you can understand our cricketers and those from South Africa, England and Sri Lanka returning home prematurely for a variety of reasons, the best example has been set by those who refused to retreat. The 1972 Olympians; the teams from the African Cup of Nations.

It's true that no one deserves to die for the sake of sport, and that all those involved in at-risk events deserve the highest standard of security consideration. But there will never be any guarantees. As Wardell said last week, the risk might seem unacceptable against the background of New Zealand's relatively temperate lifestyle, but it was a reality for every major city in the world.

She's right you know, and the danger will probably get worse before it gets better.

We can run and hide, but it will still come looking for us.

rboock@xtra.co.nz

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