“Even a man who has everything discovers that he doesn’t have everything”. In what would now be described as an entertaining romcom, in 1979 Dudley Moore played the part of a successful songwriter who had everything but ended up “crossing the hottest sands, climbing the highest mountains and sailing the deepest seas” in order to find and gain what he desperately wanted - the woman whom he considered, on a scale of one to ten, to be the “perfect ten”. The actress in question was Bo Derek and the film was simply called “10”, as a result of which her name has become synonymous with the male ideal of the “perfect ten”.
For the most part, Bo Derek is simply remembered for her part in that one film, though she did feature in others, albeit ‘winning’ the Worst Actress Award in the Golden Raspberry Awards several times in the 1980s and 1990s, while in more recent times, outside of acting, she has been an active campaigner for such causes as Veterans’ Rehabilitation and Wildlife trafficking issues.
There is another lady, however, with whom the term “perfect ten” is often linked but for different reasons. Her claim to fame came three years before the film “10” and she has continued to be active in the same field where she sprang to public acclaim and adoration. This was the fourteen-year old Romanian girl called Nadia Comaneci who became a five-time Olympic gold medallist, all in individual events (not to mention three silver and one bronze Olympic medals), but more significantly the first gymnast ever to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics, incredibly achieving this feat seven times in total.
And now, fifty years after that historic occasion, she has been awarded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, joining a limited and elite list of athletes to have received the award since the Foundation began in 2000, including Tom Brady in 2022 (who won seven Super Bowls in twenty-two seasons and was named Super Bowl MVP five times) and Kelly Slater in 2025 for his four-decade career, eleven world titles, and fifty-six tour victories. First there was Pelé and since then legends of different sports have been recognised, such as soccer players Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff, athletes Sergey Bubka and Sebastian Coe, South African golfer Gary Player and the American tennis player Billie Jean King.
Of course, it is not simply because these were incredibly talented sportsmen and women for which these stars received the award. Rather the award “honours individuals who have made a significant, lasting contribution to the world of sports, recognizing their exceptional performance, dedication, and long-term impact on their discipline.” Furthermore, “It reflects long-term dedication and ongoing impact. It reflects one’s ongoing effort towards excellence, one’s inspiration quotient, and the enduring contribution one has made to his/her profession”. It has been noted that winners “often emphasise humility, resilience and gratitude” and saw setbacks as motivation.
At the recent Award presentation, Nadia Comaneci stated eloquently that “sport is education”. She shared how sport “teaches us how to get up when we fall, how to manage life when sad, how to be responsible for teammates, how to show up when not feeling good.” Indeed, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation was set up to support programmes “that support diverse communities, using sport to improve outcomes and opportunities for at-risk young people”. Sport educates us brilliantly.
The question then has to be asked: why are all schools not doing sport for all our children? Sport gives direction; it gives inspiration. Why are we depriving children of such power and inspiration? Sport actually brings lifetime reward even if we do not receive awards for our efforts. We are all meant to be in sport, doing sport for our whole lifetime, not just some of us occasionally at school. It is “long-term”, as mentioned above, it is “ongoing”, inspirational, impactful, beneficial and rewarding.
We do not want children who have everything academically or materially to discover that actually they do not have everything. They may not reach that elusive ‘ten’ that others have but they can have a lifetime of joy and opportunity, when they have sport to play. Once we realise that, we will get ten out of ten, and thus achieve our own lifetime achievement award and reward. Perfect!
- A lifetime reward
