Media and celebrities go hand in hand. One can’t survive without the other. Not these days at least. Howsoever hard they may come out on paparazzi and the clan, but the known and the famous often die a silent emotional death every time a camera skips them for something more substantial. Sports celebrities are no different. From John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors to Greg Norman and Tiger Woods, they all thrived on it. Usain Bolt still does. And when something goes wrong, the media stands to get slapped with labels like ‘intrusive’, ‘invasive; and ‘interfering’. Mohammad Amir knows that too well though he had enough sanity not to grumble too much. The love-hate equation has enough potential to keep researchers engrossed in studying this phenomenon.

Two rather contrasting global media spotlights were seen in the last few days. First it was the death of Muhammad Ali that earned him as much media coverage in death as he did with every move in life; a life that leaves words so utterly insufficient to cover the enormity of it. A loudmouth, who called himself “The Greatest”, was a treat for global media that loved the footage he provided outside the boxing ring for it always made wonderful copy whichever way you looked at it.

On his part, Ali believed, and said in as many words, that there was nothing wrong with being a loudmouth as long as one could back up the words with matching action. And, boy, did he match his words. Nobody ever did better.

Muhammad Ali got as much media spotlight in death as he got at any stage of his life. In contrast, Oscar Pistorius lost the plot halfway through

Ali was the reason the sport of boxing went global. In his words, the sport till then was nothing but white men watching two black men slug it out in the ring. Just imagine the kind of media attention he would have grabbed by such descriptions back in the 1960s. His stand on war and his dethronement when he was at the peak of his physical power couldn’t do him much harm. It was Ali who gave boxing the character, the aura, the glow that any game needs in order to survive and sustain itself in the international arena.

And then came his debilitating disease. Another round of global attention followed by the captivating grace with which he handled himself with worsening Parkinson’s. Who can forget the moment when Ali lit up the Olympic flame in Atlanta with literally the whole world watching his unstable hands? It was not just courage at work. It was the showman in Ali who made him take that risk and then pull it off with aplomb. He won everyone’s heart yet once again.

The media glare knew no boundaries. That moment remains and will always remain part of Olympic history. It was one rare, if not the sole, moment, when a performance outside the competitive arena left millions captivated on an Olympic canvass. Ali was the hero.

His death did it for him once again. It was as if he had died at his sporting peak when the fact was that the ‘Sportsman of the 20th Century’ left the scene at 74, after more than three decades with Parkinson’s disease. It is amazing that in his 55-year love affair with the media, he was never the villain; always the hero.

In contrast, Oscar Pistorius, the South African blade runner, has been in media spotlight since Valentine’s Day 2013 when he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a fashion model and a rising reality television star, at his home. The hearing to decide his final prison term went under way early this week and his interview to a British media house recorded before the hearing also went on air.

Oscar has been an amazing story for international media to cover on either side of the fence. A double amputee who had his legs amputated when he was only 11 months old because of a congenital defect, Oscar was raised by his mother as just another normal child, asking him to wear his prostheses just as she asked his siblings to put on their shoes every morning for school. He played rugby at school but then decided to be an athlete.

He soon became a global icon because of his extraordinary work ethics that took him from one gold medal to another around the globe, Paralympics included. In the 2012 London Olympics, Oscar became the first person ever not to have even a single leg to stand on and yet to qualify to compete against able-bodied athletes on world’s biggest stage. He finished 16th among 51 runners in the 400-metre race. Put another way to set the context right, he actually finished ahead of 35 athletes who had perfect human bodies against his double amputation. That was massive.

His last hurrah came at the Paralympics that followed a month later where he won two gold medals and a silver, with record timings in all the three events.

He was the media darling with no rivals in sight. He was extremely polite to spectators and media alike and more and more sponsors had lined up to have him endorse their products. Just when everything was going higher and higher, Oscar touched the lowest of the low in his personal life. Overnight, he became the lead story for global media of an entirely different nature.

Narrated in gripping detail by journalist John Carlin, The Trials of Oscar Pistorius: Chase Your Shadow, is a remarkable read for any sports fan. It ends with the verdict in the initial trial that charged Oscar with culpable homicide — “the unlawful negligent killing of a human being” — which is a lesser charge than murder.

The verdict was appealed against by the prosecution in the South African Supreme Court which upheld the appeal and asked the trial court to sentence him for murder. That hearing was conducted early in the week and media frenzy around the man has been something that he doesn’t like anymore.

“Negative media” was a subject that cropped up more than once during the trial, but the judge rightly took no notice of it. No one should. Muhammad Ali never did. He used it to his advantage for various causes at various stages of his life; both personal and social. He was not ‘The Greatest’ for nothing.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 19th, 2016