For our third and final post focusing on the people rumored to be lighting the flame at the 2012 London Olympics, we move on to Daley Thompson. Full disclosure, I don’t like Daley Thompson and I really hope that he isn’t chosen to light the 2012 Olympic Flame tonight in London. I didn’t know much about Daley Thompson before we began researching the people who might potentially be asked to light the Olympic Flame – but quite a bit of what I have learned hasn’t helped his case. More on that later, but for now, let’s learn about Daley Thompson’s ex-wife and girlfriend.
Not much is known about Daley Thompson’s girlfriend Lisa Clayton. Lisa is from Brigend and was Daley’s mistress while he was still married to his wife Tish. Daley and Lisa have two children together – the first of which prompted Daley to breakup with Lisa and stop talking to her for an extended period of time. Lisa lives with Daley in his mansion in Chiswick, West London. No word on how long until he randomly changes his mind about her again.
Daley Thompson married wife Tish Quinlan in 1987. During their marriage, Tish and Daley had three children together, Rachel, Austin and Elliott. The first of these children, Rachel, was born 12 weeks premature and weighed less than 2 pounds. She eventually pulled through, Daley referred to this experience as “brialliant”. During the Olympics, Daley was quoted as say that the decathlon was like having 10 girlfriends in the sense that, “you have to love them all, and you can’t afford losing one”. It’s a funny thing to say, since Daley had left Tricia at home. Noted competitor Jurgen Hingsen had brought along his wife and said that she “gives me strength”, making Daley look pretty bad.
Back to why I don’t like Daley Thompson. Here is a quick summary:
- In 2001, he left his wife Tish Quinlan for Lisa Clayton, a woman that he had been seeing on the side for over two years
- When Lisa Clayton became pregnant with his child, Daley stopped talking to her and refused to make any committment
- Though Daley eventually got back together with Lisa Clayton, when asked about how he went back to her, he said “That was a very decent thing I did.”. Seriously, who says something like that?
- He once said that “[a woman] only has to sit on a bed I’ve slept in to get pregnant”. Wow, what are you – sixteen?
- There are many reports of Thompson refusing to sign autographs and swearing at fans
- At the winner’s press conference in the 1984 Olympics, Daley showed up with a t-shirt that said “Is the world’s 2nd greatest athlete gay?” in direct reference to rumors of fellow Olympian Carl Lewis’ sexuality. Not that there is ever an acceptable time to wear something like this, but keep in mind that this was an official Olympic press conference for winners. Really classy.
- After being shown a misspelled tattoo with the word “Olympic” misspelled as “Oylmpic”, Daley said “The tattooist must have been Irish”. While obviously a racist remark, what does that even mean?
- To top it all off, Daley Thompson has been incredibly outspoken in shilling for himself to be the one to light the Olympic flame at the 2012 London Olympics. Fine, I get that. Who wouldn’t want to do that? But in the process of pushing for himself, Daley also managed to insult an incredible number of other accomplish Olympians – most namely Steve Redgrave. Oh, sorry, that’s SIR Steve Redgrave to you Daley. Daley was quoted as saying “My personal view is that [Redgrave] doesn’t make the top five of great British Olympians. I’d put Seb above him, and Kelly Holmes, certainly Ben Ainslie, and, all modesty aside, myself and Matt Pinsent.” Sure, modesty is apparently his strong suit so we’ll trust him. Right.
