Sir, - The Greek poet Pindar (c. 522-442 BC), might have had Michelle Smith in mind when he wrote the first of his Olympic Victory Odes for Hieron of Syracuse in 476 BC: "Water may be best, but gold gleams far beyond lofty wealth, like fire shining at night. If you wish, my dear heart, to sing of prizes, just as you do not look in the empty sky for any star which glints with greater warmth than the sun, so let us not praise as more noble any other games than the Olympics."
Are there any offers from our poets for an epinician ode to celebrate a multiple victory, beside which the achievements of Pindar's sponsors pale into insignificance? Your, etc.,
Summerhill,
Co Meath.