Talk:Cliff Simon

Latest comment: 6 days ago by Christo1234 in topic Convoluted

Cleaned up article

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I've done my best to fix this article, giving it a more encyclopedic style and adding sections. Removed the story and section boxes. I also removed an old fair use image dispute from this page, because that image is no longer in the article. Gazok (talk) 02:25, 14 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

South African?

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If he is from South Africa, why isn't he black?--24.171.0.229 (talk) 12:31, 5 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Because not all people from South Africa are black! --Trust Is All You Need (talk) 09:39, 6 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
They're called Afrikaners. Look it up! Seriously, though, that's like saying "if Barack Obama is from the United States, why isn't he white?" Come on people! SpudHawg948 (talk) 21:29, 12 July 2009 (UTC)Reply
That's a can of worms you don't want to open. Anyway, from his accent, I'd actually thought he (Simon) was from New Zealand. --King Öomie 17:18, 6 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

Convoluted

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This article is completely convoluted. In the introductory paragraph of the "early life" section, it says "By age 15, Simon had reached a national level in South Africa in both swimming and gymnastics". if he was born in sept 62, then he would have been competing in SA at 15 in 77/78.

the next paragraph says his family emigrated to UK in 75, which is when he would have been 12/13, depending on the month, and he is said to have completed his education there. That would mean he was there until 17/18, the normal graduation age, around 1980. how could he be competing in SA national level meets at the same age he was in UK competing on the british international squad? also, how exactly did he qualify for the 1984 olympic games in 1980?

it then says he competed for the SMU mustangs, and qualified for the olympics, but never made it to the games (didn't qualify), then went into the SA air force, and got out in 82 after 2 years. that means he went into the air force in 1980, his secondary school graduation year. if he went to SMU before the air force, he was the not more than one academic year, maybe less. after he got out of the air force, it says he worked at a resort and got a tumbling job at the resort theater, which lead to an international tumbling job, so he wasn't competing in international swimming anywhere near the 1984 qualifying period.

the only thing that fits this timeline is the 1980 olympics, not 1984, but GB did participate in the 1980 moscow games and even won swimming medals, so it makes no sense that he qualified but didn't participate. perhaps in 1980 he had met the olympic standard in an event but did not qualify for team GB?

This story is completely out of sequence and the scrambled timeline is not possible. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Christo1234 (talkcontribs) 20:10, 26 July 2024 (UTC)Reply