The Elixir of Supreme Challenge

Youth aspire to become involved,
dedicated to rigorous training
their focus variously upon
combat roles to serve their nation;
training to mount assaults on
Earth's great mountain peaks;
the enticement of young ambition,
exploration of the far Polar regions,
courting Nature's extremes of geology
land and sea mass, and the most
inclement of weather conditions in
solitary search for arduous mysteries.

Ambition to succeed, to challenge
the foremost skills, determination
and supra-human designs of nature's
fittest humans, the Globe's outstanding
athletes in world-class events emulating
a hallowed, ancient Greek tradition
celebrating the strength, endurance,
ability and prowess of the best and
the well-endowed. The world

watches, transfixed with fascination
at the series of events, each a drama
of timeless suspense, concluding in
recognition of these champion exemplars
of human discipline, training and attainment
of physical excellence in the supreme
mastery of mind over the matter of
bodily fatigue culminating in the
euphoria of final determination:
youth, vigour, commitment, confidence.

Selah Hennessy | London 05 February 2010

Photo: AP

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong skis around a gate during a photo opportunity at the Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, England, 28 Jan 2010