Monday 13 August 2012

Outstanding Olympics



True to form, the appallingly cynical British press forecast a washout of a Games on every level - the weather would be wet, the transport system would fail, the security would be, well, insecure and the British athletes wouldn't win anything worth writing home about.

Well how wrong can you be? Yes there have been a few problems - most notably the ticketing situation. So many people failed to obtain tickets but what the hell?  We had the best seats in the house at home in front of the TV, able to flick between multiple channels of thrilling sporting action at the touch of a button and all of it shown on local time for a change.  The atmosphere has been palpably wonderful with even our usually humourless police force breaking out in unaccustomed smiles as they filled in as security guards.

And there have been so any performances that have warmed our cool, British hearts... 

Jessica Ennis, the mixed race kid from the wrong side of the Sheffield tracks who turned out to be the best all-round athlete in the world; 

Mo Farrah who arrived in this country as a refugee and was often in trouble before he discovered and nurtured his talent was asked (rather crassly) by a reporter whether he wouldn't have been more proud to run for Africa? "Nah mate," came the reply "this is my country".  Andy Murray pounding the machine that is Roger Federer off Centre Court in sweet revenge for his defeat in the Wimbledon final; Bradley Wiggins pissing the French off hugely (shame!) by winning not just the Tour de France but also Olympic Gold; 

Tom Daley honouring the memory of his father and touchingly thrilled with his Bronze medal, not to mention the cycling, the rowing, the Gymnasts, the sailing and, and, and...

And I've been astonished by how much I've loved the Games  - the TV has been on all day and we've all grown to enjoy sports that we would never previously have dreamt of watching - Handball anyone? Not to mention the eccentric but very British opening ceremony and, as I write, the equally barmy closing ceremony.  And who can forget the Queen..the Queen for God's sake, "parachuting" into the Games with James Bond by her side - hilarious and one of the best-kept secrets of the century.

But for me, one of the best things about this Games has been the transformation in the normally sardonic and inclined-to-be-negative Brits.  All of a sudden, we have re-discovered the famous Blitz spirit and once again are being feted for our innate friendliness and helpful demeanour, which is just as it should be.  And the sound of the crowd joining in with the singing of the national anthem every time we won a gold medal made me come over all emotional more than once.  

And so, to close the show we had a medley (or should that be a mêlée) of British music.  From the surly Liam Gallagher, to the nervous looking Ed Sheeran to Freddie Mercury brilliantly cut in on video to start off his old band.  I would love to know who Annie Lennox's agent is because HOW in God's name did she get that gig?  We could all be forgiven for thinking she'd been put out to grass years ago.  The Spice Girls re-formed for probably what will be the last time and zig a zig ah'd their way around atop black cabs...by the way, has Geri gone through a late puberty?  Or is there some other explanation for the sudden massive increase in her boob size?  And the Shah, watching Roger Daltrey's strenuous performance remarked "I'm worried he might give himself a hernia in a minute." 
But for me, the most cheering thing of the whole Olympics is that it seems to have restored a sense of national pride and patriotism that has been hugely lacking of late.  Now let's see if we can keep it up, although it might involve never reading a British newspaper again...

21 comments:

  1. Oh yes yes yes........I don't 'do' sport and yet this Olympics has captivated me......the TV has been on morning noon and night and I am truly glad that Great Britain has shown a the whole world a good time.....and I admit I shed a tear when the flame was extinguished!

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    1. Absolutely, Libby! Normally, the only sport I can tolerate is a bit of tennis over the summer but I have loved every second of the Olympics and the house has resounded to cries of 'come on Mo!' amongst others!

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  2. A perfect round-up of all that I have felt about the Olympic Games.
    We watched them in Sweden for the first week, often all three of us sitting on one bed, catching up with the day's events on BBC World. We have been even more obsessed in the second week. Rory has been totally immersed in the statistics of all the events and, though usually a lazy b, even had all his mates round for an impromptu game of handball this week! That's something I didn't think I'd see!

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    1. Thank you Trish! I just really hope we can keep the spirit going and not slide back into our usual negative mindset....

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  3. I've loved every minute of it (well maybe not the bit with the Spice Girls!) and had a tear in my eye at more than 1 medal ceremony. A brilliant 2 and a bit weeks.

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    1. I surprised myself by how much I liked the spice Girls - even the bit where Posh wobbled a bit on top of her taxi....or maybe especially the bit where Posh wobbled a bit...!

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  4. "Jessica Ennis, the mixed race kid from the wrong side of the Sheffield tracks who turned out to be the best all-round athlete in the world"

    That's very dishonest and a bit disrespectful to the hundreds of all round athletes out there better than her don't you think?

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    1. Dear Anonymous - thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. I'm not entirely sure where dishonesty comes into it. Given that Jess Ennis performed so outstandingly well in so many events and ended up as Olympic Gold Medallist, I would have thought she had every right to be considered the best in the world - no disrespect intended to anyone else. The BBC was referring to her in just those terms so it isn't only me who thinks that way...although it is, of course, just opinion but that's what free speech is all about isn't it?

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    2. Oh I do love it when people post anonymously. Jess Ennis is, without doubt, the BEST all round athlete in the world. She has proved it quite conclusively. If all those other athletes are better than her then they would be Olympic Gold Medallists in the heptathlon too. Bet this was written by someone who came second!

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    3. Pretty staggering how deluded some women are... Have you even heard of the decathlon, or such a thing as a male athlete?

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  5. Well yes the BBC said it but they were lying weren't they? She's the best female without question, but many hundreds if not thousands of men could outperform her easily so she miles off being "the best all-round athlete in the world".

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  6. I am utterly ashamed to say I wasn't able to watch a minute of it as I was....on vacation (how lame is that) Now I'm home I'm going to mainstream it day and night...Love your synopsis and how it's returned hope to the Brits (in the same way but more so as the Royal Wedding) By the way you should submit this post to the Huffington Post, they would love it! Now I really want to see Annie Lennox, she was my hero back in the day...

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  7. One of the best things about it for us was that, of course, it was held in local time and so we didn't have to try and stay up till 3am to catch a glimpse of our athletes/swimmers whatever. Thanks for the advice remthe Huff Post. Annie Lennox was great in her day but there are so many talented musicians around today, I just wonder why we keep wheeling her out and she can keep her political ideology to herself as well!

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  8. I love, love LOVED the whole thing. It's the first time ever that I watched a whole Olympics but we were absolutely glued to the telly and the feelgood factor was priceless. The best Games ever without a doubt and so glad we could stick it to the bloody media!

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  9. Hi WG and thank you! I couldn't agree more on every front. Funny how people who want to be negative never seem to have the balls to reveal themselves but cower behind the shield of anonymity isn't it?! We have loved the Games too - much to my great surprise, not being the world's greatest sports fan and LOVED M. Hollande only removing his foot from his mouth long enough to give it both barrels. Prat! X

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    1. So you view the correction of massive errors as a negative? That's an interesting approach to life i suppose. Personally, were I to make such an error I'd apologise and remove the offending text and thanks the person kindly taking the time to educate me.

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    2. Dear Anonymous, I reserve the right to disagree with you. You are not educating me, you are hectoring. I am entitled to my opinion, as are you but I would be grateful if you would please go away now and keep your opinions to yourself.

      Either that or grow a pair and stop calling yourself Anonymous. Thank you.

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  10. It's not an opinion though. She's isn't the best all round athlete in the world by any objective measure whatsoever. Are you seriously suggesting she can beat someone such as Ashton Eaton?

    Seeing as you don't seem to understand the basic of athletics let me educate you further with some facts (not opinions):

    Eaton's performances were massively better than Ennis' despite him competing in a more demanding event (decathlon has 10 disciplines vs the heptahlon's 7). He outperformed Ennis in every comparable discipline. He threw the javelin some 15 meters further than Ennis despite having to thrown a heavier implement. His shot putting performance even beat Ennis' despite the weight of the men's shot being almost double that of womens! Even men's hurdles are significantly higher than women's but his speed was still superior. His long jump performance was so good it was almost equivalent to Ennis's plus her entire body length added on top. All these results took place under the same conditions in the same stadium and he didn't even have the benefit of a home crown giving him an extra boost. You might argue that one of his competitors under performed on the day and there is anotehr male who could beat him, but to suggest Ennis could do so is ludicrous beyond belief. Compared to male athletes she is hopeless.

    I'm sorry that the BBC mislead you and you repeated their lies on your blog. Just delete the erroneous phrase, maybe say thanks and/or give credit to the correct athlete and move on. Either that or come up with the proof that Ennis is the only female track and field athlete who has ever lived to be able to outperform her male counterparts.

    Alternatively maybe just carry on going "la la la I can't hear you" keep burying your head in the sand and tell me to go away if that really makes you feel better, but I'd suggest that's a terrible way to go through life.

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  11. Sorry I forgot to add my name to the above. My name is John, hope this helps (I used anonymous before because I thought I had to register otherwise).

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  12. I too surprised myself by enjoying the Olympics - couldn't avoid it as the rest of the family had the TV/Radio 5 Live on as background to whatever else was going on, but found myself drawn in and cheering with everyone regardless of sport or nationality.

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Oh go on - say something for God's sake...