Congratulations to WA Cyclist Cameron Meyer on picking up his second ANZ Sports Star of the year award at the end of last week. This was a remarkable achievement in an Olympic year and one in which he did not attend the Olympic games. He did however win his sixth world track cycling championship and has now switched completely to road racing with the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team.
What was sad was that The West Australian Newspaper who also sponsors the awards chose to run as the main picture alongside the story of his taking out the award, a picture of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, and inserted in the corner was one of Meyer with his award. Surely Meyer should have been the ‘hero picture’ with Armstrong possibly the insert. Talk about undermining a young man’s achievement, and failing to find a positive in a sport that has been hampered with controversy. A prime example of modern day newspapers at their worst.
No doubt the editorial team will justify this decision purely because Meyer said in his acceptance speech, “It is something special in such a hard time for cycling for a cyclist to be recognised in an award like this. We have got a great generation coming through now and I think it’s about washing that old era out.”
Rest assured Cameron with newspapers such as the West Australian happier to focus on the ‘old era’ you will be hard pressed for a while to change things. We applaud you for your award and hope that you will continue to bring respectability back to cycling.
