You often hear people say, ‘It’s not the winning that counts; it’s the taking part.’ I really don’t like to hear that because it implies that winning doesn’t matter, just turn up and enjoy it. It is a dreadful misquote. It is a misquote by omission and it fails to explain ‘taking part’. The complete Olympic Creed explains it fully: ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.’
