Ultimate dreams
In 2022, Paralympics footballer Marcin Oleksy triumphed in the “Goal of the Year” category during the FIFA ballot. “Someone created this beautiful sport, thanks to which we can thrive”, he said.
It was in 1948 that doctor Ludwig Guttmann had the idea of organising, on the grounds of a hospital near London, the first world games for amputees – in particular veterans of WWII. As many of today’s sportsmen and sportswomen will possibly join the Paralympics athletes of tomorrow as surviving victims of war, “His Ultimate Dream” pays tribute to an amputee footballer. Albeit anonymous and timeless like the Unknown Soldier, his dream may yet be fulfilled.
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George Orwell once said that ‘sport is war minus the shooting’. In 2010, I painted a picture inspired by a French newspaper photograph from the First World War showing soldiers from a German ship diving into the Adriatic Sea for exercise. This new version of 2022 is inspired by American soldiers diving into the Mediterranean to relax in the middle of WWII.
