If Knitting Was an Olympic Sport

I wouldn't be in the running for a medal

It has been another busy blur of a week but in-between times I have been enjoying watching the coverage of the Olympic games. I’m not an obsessive sports fan but as there is little else on TV for the duration of the Games I decided to go with the flow and I’m quite enjoying the highlights so far. We started with the opening ceremony which I have to say was a bit boring. (Okay… more than just a bit actually) Apologies to the organisers, because the concept was good with the idea of making it more accessible by having it take place throughout the city along the river etc. but somehow it didn’t quite pull together. Of course the torrential rain didn’t help either. I might not hang around for the closing ceremony but so far the bit in the middle is okay.

I have enjoyed watching the swimming, diving and gymnastics this week, amongst other things and although the winning, the record breaking and the medals are wonderfully exciting, I also love the back stories about the different athletes, who are all amazing not just for their athletic prowess but also for all the obstacles they face throughout their sporting and Olympic journeys. There has been Adam Peaty who narrowly missed a gold medal in the 100m breast stroke final by 3 x one hundreths of a second, and then it turns out he was feeling unwell and subsequently tested positive for Covid. The fabulous brave comeback of American gymnast Simone Biles winning a sixth Olympic gold after having to pull out in Tokyo due to mental health issues. The tears from Andy Murray who ended his tennis career with a defeat in the men’s doubles. It’s these stories that make the Olympics compelling.

One of my favourite athletes is British diver Tom Daley who has come out of retirement to compete in his 5^th Olympic Games, so that his young son can see him dive. He first competed in Beijing in 2008 aged just 14 where he finished eighth, an amazing achievement for one so young. Since then he has earned himself Bronze and Gold medals in subsequent Olympics, but he also hit the headlines at the Tokyo Olympics back in 2020 for his poolside knitting.

Tom Daley knitting in Paris this week.

He taught himself to knit via YouTube videos during the pandemic and claims it helps him take his mind off the competition. His husband Lance, a Hollywood screenwriter, first suggested it, telling Tom that many people knit while they wait around on film sets, spurring Tom to learn. As a result, whilst sitting around waiting in the stands at Tokyo he made himself a cream cardigan emblazoned with the Team GB logo to remind himself of his time at the Tokyo Olympics where he won a gold medal.

Tom Daley’s Tokyo Cardigan

Tom claims it is a great way to help him focus and concentrate, keeping anxiety at bay, which comes as no surprise to those of us who knit.

“If you are focusing on knitting, counting stitches and creating textures, there is no space for other thoughts to creep in and it allows me to rest, like meditation.” Tom Daley

So it was no surprise to see him knitting once more at the Paris Olympics, this time making himself a red, white and blue sweater as a memento of his fifth Olympic Games. He revealed his new sweater on his Instagram account on Wednesday just two days after winning a silver medal with his diving partner Noah Williams for an incredible 10m synchronised dive performance.

And while I am cheering along from my poolside sofa I have been knitting too. Despite having huge admiration for the man himself, I’m not a great fan of the boxy style sweaters Tom Daley creates from chunky yarn and those long strands of yarn at the back of his colourwork knitting bring me out in a cold sweat, so my project, although also a sweater, is an Aran design for Stewart made in a Hebridean 3 ply yarn which is taking forever with it’s many twisted cables.

The ‘Na Craga’ sweater… apparently a good project for a beginner in cables!

Knitting for me is usually more of a winter activity but this sweater, a design by Alice Starmore has been on my needles for quite a while now and I’m keen to get it finished before we head into another winter. Although I’m not finding knitting and watching Olympics quite as therapeutic and restful as Tom Daley claims he finds it.

Half way up the sleeve

I’m so engrossed in the sporting action that frequently I find I have gone several rows before I notice that I have forgotten the odd cable here and there which means I’m repeatedly ripping back sections to rectify my mistakes. Whilst knitting might be therapeutic and relaxing, ripping back to knit cables definitely is not. If knitting was an Olympic sport I would keep finding myself back on the starting blocks. I did think I might get the sweater finished to coincide with the end of the Paris Olympics, with the track and field events to spur me on next week, but despite having finished the front and back, and being halfway up both sleeves, progress is slow, so that is unlikely to happen. Fortunately it is far too warm for wearing wool sweaters at the moment but nevertheless there will be no gold medals in knitting for me. Just as well knitting isn’t an Olympic sport really.