THIS SPORTING LIFE: NEVER GO BACK

This Sporting Life Brings You The Oldest Sporting Maxim: Never Go Back
by Gary Evans 

Paul Scholes capped his return to football, this month, with a trademark finish against Bolton Wanderers. The ex-England international retired at the end of last season, only to return to Manchester United for one final fling with professional football. Just a week before, Thierry Henry was rolling back the years at the Emirates Stadium, once again scoring in an Arsenal shirt. Although Henry hasn't retired – he's in London on a two-month loan deal from New York Redbulls – and, admittedly, it's still early days in the pair's respective comebacks, but the initial form shown by both the Frenchman and Scholes is antithetical to an old sporting maxim: never go back.

American swimmer Mark Spitz took a stunning seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, a feat that ensured his status as one of the all-time greatest Olympians. His reputation was tarnished, however, when, almost twenty years later, he decided to make a comeback. In 1991 he was offered a million dollars by film-maker Bud Greenspan if he could qualify for the Barcelona games the following year. Spitz was two seconds shy of the qualifying time.

At just twenty-six, and with ten grand slam titles to his name, Bjorn Borg's retirement from tennis felt a little premature. But when he attempted a comeback, almost ten years later, the game was very different place. Borg, still playing a wooden racquet, struggled to find his old form, crashing out at first-round stage of twelve consecutive ATP Tour events. He hung up his racquet for good shortly after. "I can't explain except to say I wanted to play again," he would later say about his disastrous return to tennis. "It was madness."

Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest Formula One drivers ever. But you'd never guess based on his second stint in the sport. Schuy, now 41, has failed to match the ability that saw him take seven championships from 1994 to 2004. These days you're more likely to find him chugging home to mid-field finish rather than popping champagne on the podium.

Not all comebacks are unmitigated failures. Muhammad Ali – celebrating his 70th birthday this month – became heavyweight champion of the world in 1964, defeating Sonny Liston. Ali was stripped of his title after refusing to be drafted into the US Army for the Vietnam War. "I ain't got no quarrel with the Viet Cong," he inimitably said. Ten years later, after several setbacks, Ali reclaimed his title from George Foreman at the Rumble in the Jungle. Not satisfied with one momentous comeback, Ali regained the title for an unprecedented third time, beating Leon Spinks in 1978. "Age is whatever you think it is," Ali once said. "You are as old as you think you are." Long live the comeback.

Gary Evans is a contributing writer to Rolling Stone magazine and Sabotage Times. Follow Gary on Twitter: @GazEvans