In so far as these things can be measured, London 2012 was undoubtedly a huge success.\u00a0 We could be picky and point to ticketing problems during the first week and we should not forget the tragic death of a cyclist caused by a collision with a bus serving the Olympic Park on the very day Bradley Wiggins won his hugely impressive time trial gold medal.\u00a0 But, all in all, we enjoyed a great festival of sporting endeavour.<\/p>\n
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There were many magnificent performances, not least from Scottish participants, to celebrate.\u00a0 It does a disservice to these dedicated and inspirational athletes that so many looked past these in an attempt to push a puerile political agenda.<\/p>\n
Even before the opening ceremony, we had two classic examples courtesy of Jim Murphy and Jackson Carlaw.\u00a0 Once again, Mr Murphy demonstrated precisely where his loyalties lie by publicly castigating Hampden for displaying the South Korean flag next to the images of North Korean footballers.\u00a0 Never mind that Hampden was only doing what they were instructed to by the London organising committee.\u00a0 As far as Jim is concerned we should just do what London says and if it turns out that London was wrong, well that\u2019s our fault for doing what we were told.\u00a0 Being London\u2019s man in Scotland is clearly a tough gig to give up.<\/p>\n
The following morning, Jackson Carlaw tried to politicise the Games on BBC Radio Scotland by criticising Alex Salmond for giving special encouragement to Scottish Olympians before wishing participants of all countries good luck.\u00a0 Apparently, the First Minister should have also made special mention of the rest of \u2018Team GB\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever you think of the term \u2018Scolympian\u2019, this attitude sums up perfectly why the Scottish Tories continue to plumb the depths of political support in Scotland.\u00a0 Note to Mr Carlaw; it is the Scottish First Minister\u2019s job to promote the Scottish interest – once you understand that point, you might be able to start dreaming about being given the privilege to speak for Scotland.<\/p>\n
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In any event, Scottish Olympians have had their most successful Games ever.\u00a0 Congratulations are due to all medal winners but also to all those who competed without tangible reward.\u00a0 Collectively, Britain has also had its most successful Games in modern times.\u00a0 But that is not enough for the London media and its politicians, so the agenda has moved on to positioning London 2012 as \u2018the best ever\u2019 Games.<\/p>\n
Interviews with IOC officials in which loaded questions are answered with favourable responses are cited as \u2018evidence\u2019 in support of this nonsense.\u00a0 Apparently Lord Coe and Boris Johnston agree.\u00a0 That\u2019s that then.\u00a0 All those with a vested interest in the Games being portrayed as \u2018the best ever\u2019 say the Games are \u2018the best ever\u2019 or at least have not said the Games weren\u2019t \u2018the best ever\u2019.<\/p>\n
Such an assessment cannot be objectively measured, so why bother trying?\u00a0 Well, you may have noticed the UK\u2019s diminishing influence in the world lately.\u00a0 The worry for our London leaders is that they have noticed that you, me and many others have indeed noticed.\u00a0 What better way to bolster a flagging global reputation than staging \u2018the best ever\u2019 Olympics?\u00a0 Ultimately, those involved in this act of delusion \u2013 the Games organisers, the media and London politicians \u2013 will only succeed in reinforcing each other\u2019s misplaced sense of achievement and importance.<\/p>\n
It would be churlish to deny that London has put on a cracking good show.\u00a0 Almost as churlish as pretending that it has been the best show ever or that even if it was, it is in any way important.<\/p>\n
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One of the unofficial events at any Games is the \u2018Worst use of clich\u00e9\/hyperbole\/platitude by a non-competitor\u2019.\u00a0 With so much coverage it is a hotly contested event.\u00a0 The need to fill hours of TV and Radio scheduling requires the use of a multiplicity of contributors and pundits.\u00a0 I have to say that in all the BBC coverage I have enjoyed over the last fortnight I have found most of the presenters and major commentators very skilled and well informed.\u00a0 Their professionalism has been enhanced by some excellent and insightful pundits like Michael Johnston, Steve Redgrave and Ian Thorpe.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, though, the apparent need to involve celebrities results in less than meaningful contributions.\u00a0 I cannot be the only person who winced with embarrassment every time David Beckham or Amir Khan tried to answer the simplest of questions with a barrage of unrelated mix and match platitudes masquerading as considered contribution.<\/p>\n
Some of this is forgivable of course.\u00a0 These are not necessarily media trained performers or communications professionals and, as one infamous Renfrewshire councillor once put it, \u201cA leopard can\u2019t change its spots in midstream\u201d.\u00a0 Therefore my Gold Medal for the Worst use of clich\u00e9\/ hyperbole\/platitude by a non-competitor goes to none other than Lord Coe himself for his description of David Rudisha\u2019s world record in the 800 metres as \u2018the best 800 metres ever\u2019.\u00a0 What would we do without such insight?<\/p>\n
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Much play is made of the \u2018Medals Table\u2019 by the media.\u00a0 In many ways this is a pity because it is certainly not reflective of the true Olympic spirit.\u00a0 Indeed the concept is an American invention which has been used over the years to demonstrate – mostly to themselves – the supremacy of the US over all others. \u00a0\u00a0While it is useful to measure relative success from one Games to the next by the number of medals won, it is completely meaningless to compare one nation to another which may participate in only a handful of the sports included or which has vastly different populations to choose participants from and resources to support them.<\/p>\n
As the US has demonstrated though, it is a very useful tool to generate an illusion of \u2018one nation\u2019 and the British Olympic Association has eagerly followed its example by its adoption of the equivalent term to \u2018Team USA\u2019 (without any apology to the people of Northern Ireland for the omission of \u2018NI\u2019 of course).<\/p>\n
In my mind, the US and UK stand accused of diminishing the world solidarity the Games is meant to encourage by trying to turn the Olympics into a country versus country affair.\u00a0 This is naturally the case in team sports of course but in individual sports the Olympics is about competing with the best athletes the rest of the planet has to offer.\u00a0 Of course it is an honour to be selected by your country to compete and there are well established national rivalries that provide an intriguing undercurrent in many cases but surely reducing a great athletics or swimming race to a sub-plot of an over-arching national contest is to miss the point?<\/p>\n
This approach has its consequences.\u00a0 It puts nationality above performance.\u00a0 In the US this has meant that TV coverage of the Olympics is almost exclusively about Gymnastics, Swimming, Track & Field, Boxing and Basketball – sports where the US is not competitive do not get a look in.\u00a0 Similar patterns can be seen emerging in the UK with the risk that the popular sports get more popular and the others become even less popular over time.<\/p>\n
We also heard time and again how \u2018Team GB\u2019 athletes were primarily inspired by the success of their \u2018team-mates\u2019 in other disciplines.\u00a0 I find it rather sad that elite athletes are not inspired to do their best by their very presence at the Olympics or by the efforts of their immediate competitors or by excellence whoever it is performed by.\u00a0 Look at it a different way; wouldn\u2019t it be sad for Mo Farah or Chris Hoy or Nicola Adams to think that their efforts hadn\u2019t inspired anyone outside of the UK?<\/p>\n
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The lesson of all this?\u00a0 Sport is diminished whenever it is used for any purpose other than the joy of participating and competing.\u00a0 Politicians need to support sport through funding facilities and encouraging engagement.\u00a0 There is no place for using sport as a political football \u2013 its very nature transcends the boundaries of politics and nations \u2013 and any attempt to do so is left looking like opportunism of Olympic proportions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In so far as these things can be measured, London 2012 was undoubtedly a huge success.\u00a0 We could be picky and point to ticketing problems during the first week and we should not forget the tragic death of a cyclist caused by a collision with a bus serving the Olympic Park on the very day Bradley Wiggins won his hugely impressive time trial gold medal.\u00a0 But, all in all, we enjoyed a great festival of sporting endeavour. Never Mind the Ball, Get on with the (predictable) Game There were many magnificent performances, not least from Scottish participants, to celebrate.\u00a0 It does a disservice toRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}