As way of early warning I ought to point out that this one could well jump all over the place, I hope not, but the point is as I type this, I’m watching the end of the Paralympics, the end of our truly great summer of sport. So great has the combination of Le Tour, the Olympics and the Paralympics been that I had completely forgotten there was quite a good football tournament and one of the most exciting Wimbledon Championships in years thrown in for good measure. Of course, it’s not all over quite yet, one last day of Paralympic action (which, I imagine, will be over by the time you read this), Andy Murray’s second grand slam final of the summer and a nine day procession around Britain for, the surely soon to be, Sir Brad Wiggins still to go. But walking around the Olympic Park on Thursday I couldn’t help but feel that something that had suddenly become an intrinsic part of our nation was about to be put down never to be forgotten or, unfortunately, seen again.
I’ve been lucky enough to get to the park twice, once during the Olympics and once in the Paralympics, and it is the loss of this place, rather than the loss of the sport or the athletes and their stories, that is the greatest shame. All of the sport will still remain somewhere hidden on our TVs or at venues across the country and I hope that those who got so involved in supporting the athletes on the ultimate stage will still have the willingness to turn out on chilly spring days next year, in much more muted surroundings like Gateshead Stadium or a quieter version of Dorney Lake (should point out that I have no idea whether either of these venues will have any sport on in chilly spring days next year, they were just the first two places I thought of), and support them all as they begin the road to Rio in another four years. I include myself in this too, as far too often I know I’ve passed up an opportunity to watch some reasonable level sport because I’d rather stay in and watch some random football or cricket on TV that in all honesty means nothing to me. In fact I hope that rather than succeeding with their ‘Inspire a Generation’ strapline, LOCOG (notice how no one uses the acronym in an ironic manner anymore) have completed some classic Year 6 standard in-line rhyming poetry to ‘Inspire all the generations of a nation’, inspiring the youngsters to get out there and try as hard as they possibly can to make their way to Rio (or 2020 if they’re too young for Brasil) while us lot who are clearly a little too old/fat to make a proper run at being Olympians will hopefully want to go out of our way to watch them compete and to volunteer, helping out at events across the country in much the same way as the heroic Games Makers have done this summer. I truly hope that for years to come kids are still running around pretending to be their favourite Olympians rather than when I was young and everyone just pretended to be David Beckham all the time, surely that Olympians and particularly Paralympians are now idolised by the younger generations is proof enough of how successful the ‘Greatest games ever’ really have been.
But just being in the Olympic Park surrounded by the intoxicating buzz of excitement to watch athletes (or for some even sports) that people had not even known the name of until a week or so previously, the sheer enthusiasm of the (impossible to ever praise enough) Games Makers, to the chattiness of random people around the park who just want to talk to anyone and everyone about the sport they’ve seen, to the kids with smiles so broad that … well, that are so broad I genuinely can’t think of anything to compare them to, those are the little things that made the Olympics and Paralympics for me. While the sport was obviously amazing at both events it was always going to be the public that would make or break the games and, Ladies and Gentlemen, we brought our A game, matching the A games brought by GB athletes that lead to an even more amazing atmosphere every single day. In truth, the legacy that I hope comes from these games is not the obvious wish for continued success for GB athletes at Rio in 4 years (and of course Sochi in 2 for the winter games), but in fact the manner in which people who are normally a little snooty about sport or others who don’t quite understand why so many of us base our lives around it suddenly became infatuated with the stories, the drama and overall the feeling of ‘togetherness’ that an international festival of sport can provide. And here I feel I ought to mention the broadcasters, BBC did exactly what everyone expected them to do and nailed the coverage (despite the constant disappointment that is Hugh Porter, Phil Liggett sets the bar far too high in cycling commentary) and got everyone talking about the Olympics by refusing to let us watch anything else, however it was Channel 4 and their Public Enemy theme tune that for me have really stepped up coverage standards – no one has ever covered a Paralympic games in as much depth as them – with the only complaint being their apparent inability to jump between sports to show major events and medal wins live. The Adam Hills show was an inspired decision, the experts they got on were all fantastic – Giles Long in particular with his brilliant LEXI system – and even Jon Snow managed to crack a smile, once, I think.
The athletes themselves have obviously helped in making this summer amazing as well and I’m almost sure that every single person in the UK has their own favourite sporting moment from each of the games based on their own personal experiences. For me there are, rather conveniently, 2 that really stand out, 1 from each, my Olympic moment has nothing to do with when I was there or that amazing half hour in the Stadium on the middle Saturday (I was driving through France and missed it) or even the perfect combination of Chad and Bert le Clos; it is in fact just one split second over at Eton Dorney when Kate Copeland, with the biggest smile possible on her face, screamed to her team mate Sophie Hosking “We just won the Olympics!” before they collapsed into each other’s arms perfectly encapsulating – for me at least – the passion that the home athletes showed that seemed to give us in the stands and at home on our sofas the green light to be equally as passionate and patriotic. My Paralympic moment is slightly more personal in that I was actually there on Thursday morning in the Aquatics centre watching Josef Craig smashing the 400 free WR for the first time that day and then seeing on Twitter while on the train home that evening that he’d broken it again by a further 3 seconds rounded off my perfect day of this perfect summer. Well done London! We bloody nailed it! Overall, I’m just glad I can forever say:
I was there. And I don’t want it to end …
Tom
Diary of a Lonely Sports Fan 