Interesting story in the Metro today...

Sitting on the train this morning I read a story about Ryan Lochte:

After breaking his own world record in the 200m individual medley, Lochte presented his gold medal to a young Turkish spectator, nine-year-old Arda Cakmak.

The 11-time Olympic medallist explained: ‘When I was a kid I looked up to an Olympian superstar. I won’t mention his name but when I asked for his autograph he said “no”.

‘I told my parents if I ever get into that position, I’ll do it.

‘One of the main reasons for racing is because of my fans, so I always want to give something back.

‘If I took that medal it would end up in a sock drawer. If I give it to a fan they are going to treasure it.’

Every now and then you hear of someone in the public eye that does something extraordinary. I guess we have to put up with so many of our celebrities behaving badly (or the media portraying them as so, to sell more Newspapers), so it's always nice when someone you don't really rate does something like this. 

I have a couple of little stories, both happen to be true. 

The first was many years ago there was a difficult character I knew, he was a very talented athlete and although he could be utterly charming, he could also be very difficult, and selfish. He was always very cagey about his private life, and what he did each night. Then one evening his business partner explained he went and worked on childline, supporting kids who were troubled. He didn't shout about it. It was just something he did. It was also something he'd done for a number of years. 

The second was another simple observation I had one Christmas. A very well dressed man led a street girl (well she looked like a homeless person) into a small Italian restaurant. My friends were instantly fairly scathing, thinking it was a sexual thing. He sat opposite this girl chatting to her, fed her, gave her some money and wished her a Happy Christmas before putting on his coat and leaving. 

Perhaps over the Christmas period we could all do a little something for someone, without them ever knowing. Then we can walk away with a little smile. 

Ryan Lochte inspired a little 9 year old turkish lad, through a pretty selfless act.

How inspiring is that?