Whe is stuck on television at the Darts World Cup these days, he gets to see a very unusual sport. A sport in which mostly plump men, often of a more sedate age, throw small arrows at a target; without a lot of physical activity, but with impressive precision and endurance. In normal years also cheered by a particularly beer-thirsty and ecstatic carnival audience in the London cult site “Ally Pally”.
Even those who do not like this activity as a serious sport have to recognize that it is of great entertainment value. The many small moments of tension in the decisive phases of legs, sets and matches, the mood, the funky characters. Whereby among the many extroverted actors on the stage there are always those everyday types who simply put themselves in an exposed position through a special talent in a pub sport combined with hard work.
Gabriel Clemens is one of those commonplace types. These average men (and occasionally women too) who then do not at all average things. On Sunday evening he threw the world champion Peter Wright out of the tournament at the World Cup in London. As the first German he is now in the World Cup round of 16. This is an exciting situation for a country where the TV ratings of darts broadcasts have always been many times greater than those of national players.
Clemens and his colleagues are particularly popular. Also because they give the impression that they belong to the type of “everyone”. That they look like everyone else. After all, you hardly get too close to Clemens when you discover that he is a few kilograms above his ideal weight.
They also have supposed everyone jobs. The Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode, for example, one of the secret favorites in London, is called the “eggplant king” because he also works on an eggplant farm. Clemens, from the Jedermann-Stadt Saarwellingen, was an industrial mechanic before he became a professional darts player. Even the most successful and popular darts professional in history, the Englishman Phil Taylor, worked as a metalworker before his career.
They are all exceptional masters in a sport that seems so banal at its core that anyone can imitate it in exactly the same way. That differentiates them, for example, from the ski jumpers who are currently taking off for their Four Hills Tournament. Or by bobsledders. Or from Formula 1 drivers. Even by professional cyclists who chase up the climbs on which normal athletes would have to push their vehicle long ago. In comparison, Clemens and colleagues appear like everyday heroes. That deserves respect.
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