Berlino the Bear was the real star of World Champs

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 808200.ece

Berlino the Bear was the real star of these championships

Giles Smith, Sport on Television

In a memorable World Athletics Championships in Berlin, stocked with spectacular dramas, there was one performer whose achievements on the track and in the field, put him head and shoulders above the rest: Berlino the Bear. The 100 metres, the 200 metres, the 400 metres hurdles, the pole vault, the discus — you name it, the big-smiling mascot was there or thereabouts, his accreditation laminate flapping and his tongue likewise, in a manner that had observers harking back to the great days of The Banana Splits.

The 50-metre sprint that the plush German symbol pulled out of the bag after Usain Bolt’s record-breaking 200 metres victory shaved an incredible four seconds, minimum, off the bear’s personal best over that distance. Small wonder the Jamaican track phenomenon sought out Berlino in the wake of that moment to share a mimed archery moment, thereby producing what was surely the iconic image of these games: two acknowledged greats in their field, twinned in mutual respect. We cannot ask anything more of sport than that.

And then, of course, with sickening inevitability, the whispering campaign begins, the rumours surface and grow louder and suddenly we reach the controversial stage we are at now, with people openly maintaining that Berlino the Bear is not, in fact, a bear.

“He doesn’t look like a bear,” people are saying. “He doesn’t sound like a bear. He doesn’t run like one, either.” And thus the unsubstantiated assertions thrive, the unhelpful stereotypes get wielded and, instead of rejoicing in the magic of Berlino, we are plunged into dark doubt and insinuation.

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For us, the issue is a simple one. He was raised as a bear. He believes himself to be a bear. He entered the tournament in good faith as a bear. He deserves to be treated as a bear. And we will continue to argue this way until it is categorically proven that he is not a bear.

Proof, though, is, of course, the nub. The suggestion that the bear underwent a gender test at the beginning of these championships has been flatly denied by people in Berlino’s camp. Nevertheless, it does seem clear that his bear-hood is imminently to be the subject of an authorised medical investigation.

One’s first reaction is to ask: “Why is all this out in the open?” Transparency at this point hardly seems to serve Berlino’s best interests. The public questioning of his bear-ness could have a ruinously humiliating effect on a performer who is — let’s not forget — still young.

I’m not alone in believing that (whatever the rights and wrongs of insisting on the testing in the first place) there is no reason why the IAAF could not have dealt with this unfortunate business far more privately than it has done — that the organisation designed to protect the interests of Berlino, and bears like him, has flagrantly failed in its duty of confidentiality.

Too late now, though. But let’s try to cling on to our innocence and enjoy the memories. And how many there were. If you had told Berlino at the beginning of the championships that he would end up upside down on the back of Robert Harting, the discus champion from Germany, he would have bitten your hand off — or possibly laughed in your face at the unlikelihood of such a dream outcome for an untested performer in his first major championships.

As it turned out, that photogenic quality time with Harting was merely one page in what turned out to be an entire album of happy, grapplesome outcomes for the soft, brown crowd-pleaser, whose celebration with Anna Rogowska, the winner of the pole vault competition, has already been accounted the moment that redefined for future generations of athletes the expression “bear hug”.

Yes, there was that small matter of the setback with Melaine Walker after the 400 metres hurdles. Berlino’s hugely innovative passage around the track with the Jamaican champion on piggy back was going well until a stationary motorised service vehicle got in the way. A collision ensued in which the bear ended up head-butting the side of a battery-operated cart and shedding his gold-winning load on the rebound. Who was very nice about it, let’s quickly add, and entirely unhurt and able to continue her celebration without Berlino almost immediately.

Nevertheless, it was a chastening moment for the bear, who appeared, under the pressure of the occasion, to have suffered a problem with narrowed vision that has beset mascots since time immemorial — all the way back to the padded creatures of the original ancient Greek Olympics, no doubt.

Still, even that moment of vulnerability had its plus side. Until that point, Berlino had seemed above and beyond such traditional frailties. But suddenly, before the watching world, he touchingly demonstrated that he was only ... human, you could say; although to do so, obviously, is to risk dragging us back into that whole unhappy controversy all over again.

Let’s not go there. Rather, let’s say: “Berlino, we salute you.” Whatever you are.

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