Incidentally the final championship was won by Northern Ireland on goal difference Wales were second
Incidentally, the final championship was won by Northern Ireland on goal difference Wales were second. It was, we suspected at the time, the sort of embarrassment the back of which England were glad to see. Far better to be shown up by foreigners.Despite many requests in the 14 years since, not once have England deigned to play Wales in a friendly match, even though Wales have had their moments of good form during that time and could have given them a valuable workout in front of a capacity crowd at the National Stadium in Cardiff.Not only would a few such meetings have greatly eased Wales' financial problems, they would have made it possible for West countrymen to get a rare glimpse of the English team. The final Home Championship game England played against Wales was in May 1984, when the English proved what a lack of challenge these games had become by losing 1-0 at Wrexham to a goal scored on his international debut by Mark Hughes. The annual matches against England and Scotland in the Home Championship were the financial lifeline for Wales and Northern Ireland for more than 100 years until, in 1984, England and Scotland decided to scupper the championship on the grounds that because of the demands of modern international football they'd be better served by a different and more stimulating diet of opposition. It was a brilliant idea, as can be seen by England's blazingly spectacular record in the years since, but I digress. Britain hosts the world modern pentathlon championships in Millfield in 2001 and you can bet that the old soldier will be there on parade Still smiling, and still standing.. One important aspect of the cash-for-votes controversy surrounding the Football Association has been conveniently overlooked.
If it had not been for a dastardly display of bad neighbourliness on behalf of the FA over the past 14 years the Welsh would not have been in the impoverished position of needing a back-hander for services rendered and Graham Kelly and Keith Wiseman might still be sitting pretty, if that is the right description. Fox has no quibble with the changes and hopes the sport in which Britain has always had a great tradition can entice more youngsters and women such as Kate Allenby, whom he believes might be on the medal rostrum in Sydney.He fears that sports like modern pentathlon might go to the wall unless there is unity among those who pursue these so-called minor activities. His anger is now reserved for what he considers the petty bureaucracy that is suffocating sports like his. "Obviously we are very grateful for the subsidies we receive but the paperwork is just bloody crazy and I know some people who are actually frightened of the Sports Council, fearing that their budgets might be cut if they speak out of turn."Fox now has another goal and a day spent in the company of this still unashamedly macho and indefatigably charming man convinces you he will achieve it. And there is talk that cycling may replace equestrianism to make it more available to emerging nations. It is believed that the Princess Royal, a fellow competitor in Montreal, also inserted a flea in the presidential ear. A swift retraction followed.To help make the sport more televisual, what was once a five-day test of strength, skill and endurance has been compressed into one.
Fox is still able to drive his specially converted Jag and regularly travels to events and meetings around the country. Already appointed OBE, he recently received the Olympic Order, one of sport's top international honours.In a sporting world so disfigured by excess, Fox knows the modern pentathlon is something of an anachronism. Even in his heyday it was perceived as being practised in Penge by Frank and Peggy Spencer and, ironically, there is a real possibility that it could be replaced eventually on the Olympic stage by the likes of ballroom dancing.Last year, the IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, suggested to a German newspaper the sport's days were numbered Fox fired off a furious salvo to Lausanne. Rather, he paces himself at a brisk trot, leaning forward to assist his balance.A soldier from boyhood, Fox was made up to captain a year after his Olympic triumph. He quit the Army in 1983 and with his lump-sum pension got stuck into property buying, renovating and selling at a profit. Recently he became chairman of the Modern Pentathlon Association, operating from his home in Oxfordshire, a luxuriously renovated barn, complete with swimming pool.After his many conquests he settled into happily married life and has three effervescent, athletic daughters, Neredie, 18, an accomplished fencer who is studying Chinese at Edinburgh University, 17-year-old Georgina and Roberta, 12, a potential modern pentathlete His wife, Aly, is a high- flying accountant.
But again, unlike Ali, he has not been reduced to a ponderous shuffle. Such has been his recent progress that next month he goes into a London clinic where a neurosurgeon will decide whether a two-stage brain operation can bring further improvement "There's a risk, I know that," he said. "But my brain is damaged anyway, so I reckon it is one worth taking."I know it won't cure me and probably won't prolong my life, but if it stops the shakes and loosens up the muscles, it's all I want - just to disguise the symptoms."There are various forms of Parkinson's and, unlike Ali, Fox's speech has not become slurred, although he does suffer tremors and increasing rigidity with a withering of the lower part of his body. He takes 18 tablets of Roprinole daily, plus other drugs to relax his muscles and prevent nausea.
In fact one of the specialists virtually told me as much."I couldn't wash myself or raise my arms above my head My missus even had to roll me out of bed. You begin to wonder what happens when you get incontinent and start to think about other possibilities. Is it time to call it a day? You know, Euthanasia, even suicide. You get fed up and wonder why you've been fingered when you've never smoked or done drugs and drank only in moderation. Then you slap yourself for being a morbid old fool and realise what a lucky sod you are to have had such a cracking life and start believing that there's a lot more to come."In Fox's case the fact that he spurned self-pity for a vigorous, reborn self-belief was spurred by the positive effect of a relatively new medication, together with the incentive to fight for the preservation of a pursuit that brought him so much fulfilment. I was going down so bloody fast and I thought I might have two or three years left at the most.