Sometimes it's better not know the enemy

Sometimes in sport it pays not to know the true quality of your opposition. Ignorance can, in some circumstances, in fact be bliss. It can psyche you out completely to know exactly what you're up against. We can be put off when we become aware, and convinced, of our limitations.

The long-distance athletes from East Africa are great examples of how not to allow barriers to stand in your way. This is quite often because they simply have not laboured for too long on what should not be possible. They continue to run races according to the way they feel, often judging the contest in rhythms as opposed to competing against the stopwatch.

At the 1990 Stuttgart athletics World Championships, a 19-year-old Kenyan 5 000m runner called Ishmael Kirui ran the first four laps of the final in under four minutes - his time for the mile was faster than Roger Bannister's when he became the first man to break the four-minute mile. The difference was that Kirui still had to complete another eight and a half laps, whereas Bannister's race was over.

Kirui had been under team instructions to set a murderous early pace to burn off most of the opposition. He did just that, but he also burnt his teammates off. Though desperately tired during the last laps, Kirui kept going - and won the race.

It must have helped him a great deal to not believe - or even comprehend - that you are supposed to be exhausted after a sub-four-minute mile. Kirui refused to allow the rules of the stopwatch to stand in his way to victory.

England's Ian Thompson won the Commonwealth Games marathon in New Zealand in 1974, setting a Games record in the process. What is remarkable about his run is that it was only the second marathon he had ever run. His first marathon qualified him for a place on his country's Commonwealth team.

When asked about his remarkable feat and how he had beaten most of the world's best runners of that time, he replied that he was so new to the sport that he never knew who they were. He knew they had to be good otherwise they wouldnot have been competing, but none of them overawed him at all.

Watching some of the celebrity paddlers in the Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon over the last few days lends credence to the idea that ignorance is indeed bliss.

Some of them have shot through rapids that would challenge even the most experienced of paddlers. While it helps that the celebrities were guided through the race by some of the country's best paddlers, survival in a doubles canoe still requires some team effort.

The 1996 Miss South Africa Peggy-Sue Khumalo paddled safely through some of the most difficult, technical sections - Hippo, Mission, Tops, Needle, Umzinyah and Side Shute. Many of the best paddlers opt out of these, fearing for their safety, and portage around. It isn't fun falling out of a canoe in a big rapid.

Apart from trying to avoid injuring yourself and finding a way to shore, chances are good that the canoe will break up, or get caught on a rock. No, it seems much wiser to get out of the boat and go around. Peggy-Sue's paddling partner was the great Oscar Chalupsky, whose best technique was not to tell her too much.

She did her bit, digging in, oblivious to the fact that the rapid she was shooting was the suicidal Commercial Weir, or Island Two - until after it was behind them.

Towards the end, the celebrities learned to scan the shores for the signs printed with names like "Little John" (although that obstacle is anything but little), to be aware of when a dangerous spot was coming up.

Crowds gathered on the banks - just like the motor racing fans at a dangerous corner - waiting to see some action and, hopefully, as many spills as possible, were another clue. The guys in wetsuits waiting to retrieve tossed paddlers were another ominous portent.

Still it was of some comfort that the knowledge of approaching dangers made the experienced competitiors struggle, while the celebrities used their ignorance to relax and survive. The less you know, the less you need to fear, I believe.