Why we needed Schu to pull through

Written By Unknown on Senin, 16 Juni 2014 | 20.47

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IT'S the duty of a sports journalist to hope for the best while also, quietly, preparing for the worst.

Happily, these best laid plans are sometimes destined to remain in their folder gathering dust.

Thousands upon thousands of words, deliberated over, mulled on, then carefully chosen, yet never to be seen by the public unless the very worst happens.

SCHUMACHER OUT OF COMA, GREBOBLE HOSPITAL

SCHUMACHER NEWS TRENDS WORLDWIDE ON TWITTER

And so, last New Year's Eve, I found myself writing an obituary for Michael Schumacher.

It was my first obituary — sadly, likely not my last — and the most challenging piece I've ever had to write.

I didn't grow up in a pro-Schumacher household. He was the black cap, the villain, the man who tried to win by any means and at any cost. However, as I grew into adulthood, those feelings would fade.

Schumacher in 2012 after a test drive prior to an exhibition race in Bangkok, Thailand. Source: AP

I began to appreciate that I was privileged to witness a rarity in all of sport. A legend in his own time.

Yet those days where he used the hard edge of his genius as a weapon still lingered, overshadowing his tremendous feats.

The healing that would have allowed Schumacher to become a truly revered elder statesman of our sport, beloved by all and not just his fans, was still a work in progress at the time of his accident.

As I struggled to write, the memories came flooding back, aided by snippets of old races.

The man in Mercedes silver who, at age 43, took pole at Monaco over rivals half his age. The man who rewrote Formula 1's record books in red ink. The rising star in the yellow car who was clearly the Next Big Thing.

The University Hospital of the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland where Schumacher has been moved. Source: AFP

And the boyish German in Jordan's emerald green overalls with the cheeky grin and a glint in the eye that let you know that he knew just how good he was.

It is these memories we all turned to in the waning days of last December as the true enormity of Schumacher's condition emerged.

They drove the mass outpouring of grief, tinged with hope, at the realisation that none of us were ready to lose a man many of us grew up with.

It was this global display that made us realise just how truly beloved Michael Schumacher is.

Schumacher racing at Spa during the 1994 Belgium Grand Prix. Source: Supplied

The tragedy was the thought that Michael would perhaps never know this, a depth of feeling more personal than the adulation afforded him at the peak of his powers by the Tifosi.

With news of his emergence from his coma comes renewed hope.

A hope that he will learn that his time spent in limbo has healed all wounds.

A hope that, one day, we will all be able to tell him in person what his career and life has meant to us.

And a hope that my words, so meticulously chosen, will remain unread for many years to come.


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