That's That Done For Another Four Years Then

I think it’s safe to say that none of us have ever seen anything like it in this country. From Kenneth Branagh turning up in a top hat to the end of the Modern Pentathlon, London 2012 has shown itself to really be the Greatest Show on Earth. There have been performances that have been absolutely jaw dropping from the athletes, but especially by the nation as a whole which simply took the whole thing to their hearts. This is despite the whinging in a lot of the media from the bid was successful. And let’s be honest, we all did the same, especially after Leona Lewis warbled with Jimmy Page atop that bus in Beijing. There was suddenly a feeling of “uh-oh”. When the G4S fiasco became public with only a few weeks before the opening ceremony, this feeling only became stronger.

But somehow, we did it. You could argue that this has overshadowed things of greater import that have been happening in the world since July 27, and to a certain extent you’d be right. But I think those who are saying that the whole thing is basically the Government distracting us whilst the banking crisis is still continuing is forgetting one thing - the British public aren’t as stupid as we all thought. Look at how some of the print media has demonised those of different colours, different religions, different nationalities. 

And yet, what the last couple of weeks has shown, the vast majority of the British public don’t think like that. It really has been a “Come on in, we’d love to see you” sort of attitude which has done the nation proud. Other people far more eloquent than me have written reams about Mo Farah’s success and what it means to multiculturalism, so I won’t go into it here, but it makes me think that what has come out of this all is proof that 21st century Britain is inclusive, and the whole reason those who don’t agree with that, like your BNP, your EDL, and some newspapers shout loudest, is because they know that those who share that opinion are the minority, they are a dying breed, and they know it.

The BBC coverage has been magnificent, admittedly there has been the odd duff commentator (If Hugh Porter mentioned “The red carpet of The Mall” during cycling road races once, he did it a million times), and the less said about the Lineker performance the better. But these quibbles are vastly outweighed by the sheer scope of the coverage, the enthusiasm of people like Dan Topolski and Garry Herbert at the rowing, and then of course, the Balding, who from the Bert le Clos incident, to pitching up at the boxing, to her heartfelt ten minute adlib at the show jumping whilst waiting for a medal ceremony was the pick of the bunch. I am extremely pleased to see that she will be fronting a lot of the Paralympics coverage for Channel 4.

Then we need to look at the athletes, and where does one start? The names of Wiggins, Pendleton, Hoy, Ennis and Farah will be first and foremost in people’s minds, but the lesser known names of Gemma Gibbons in the Judo, Jade Jones in the Taekwondo, both Brownlees in the Triathlon and Nicola Adams in the Boxing also stand out for me. For established stars like Andy Murray, you ask if winning gold is the start of something bigger to follow. The look of sheer joy and exhiliration on the faces of those who won the medals (Hello Sophie Hosking), normally followed by an emotional presentation ceremony would seem to lay to rest the opinion those who said that it doesn’t matter to people. 

And of course, these scenes were not just confined to the British athletes. The aforementioned Bert le Clos, father of South African swimmer Chad, was positively exploding with pride as his son managed to overhaul Michael Phelps, who himself had to console himself with just being the most decorated Olympian ever. Usain Bolt of course was phenomenal, as was the Jamaican sprint relay team as a whole. David Rudisha blew away the competition. The sight of the female athletes from those countries who hadn’t sent any previously was a huge step forward. The Americans came and seemed to be having a whale of a time from the permanently grinning Missy Franklin, to Allyson Felix, to the sight of Brigitta Barrett basically leaping around like mad at the High Jump. 

Of course various villains of the peace have emerged over the last couple of weeks. Aiden Burley MP’s ill-advised tweet on the Opening Ceremony has hopefully ended any political aspirations he may have had, whereas the sight of Jessica Ennis romping home in the Heptathlon and celebrating with her white mother and black father blew holes in the hateful article written online by the Daily Mail’s Rick Dewsbury which claimed that there was no such thing as a happy mixed race couple in Britain. When an article is so full of bile that even the Daily Mail take it down, you can see that it might be a bit much.

Morrissey emerged from his Californian mansion to decry the whole shebang publicly, and missed the point entirely. Talented songsmithery is certainly his trade, but sometimes it’s best to say nowt. Piers Morgan made, what on the surface seemed like a noble gesture by saying he’d donate £1000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital every time a British medal winner sang God Save The Queen, but of course the flip side of this was that he was implying that if they didn’t sing it, not only were they showing a lack of respect to the country but they were NOT HELPING THE SICK KIDDIES. Those who didn’t sing and attracted his ire included Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Mo Farah, three men who have achieved more in their lives than the excremental Morgan could ever hope to.

But still, these are small divergences from what has simply been a magnificent period of time, even from when the Torch turned up in Cornwall nearly three months ago. And we get to do it all again in a couple of weeks when the Paralympics take place. I’m going myself on 1 September, sitting in the top tier of the Olympic Stadium watching the Athletics, and simply cannot wait to experience the atmosphere of what promises to be a certainly inspiring day.

So where do we go now? Is Britain a better place because of the 2012 Olympics? I sincerely hope so. The reports from the Olympic Park say that the whole organisation has been superb, and that the volunteers, the police, the armed forces, and whatever remnants of G4S actually showed up have been nothing short of welcoming. I have no doubt that tomorrow back at work in normality, some of you will encounter someone who thinks they can throw their weight around and speak to you like you’re something that they’ve stepped in because they’ve watch too many episodes of The Apprentice or read too many Daily Mail editorials, but I’d ask you to remember this, they clearly are soulless individuals, and to be honest, not worth worrying about.

There’s still a long, long way to go, and the proof will be in whatever legacy the games give us, but hopefully, we will now show that we won’t stand for politicians of all sides feathering their own nests with the help of the financial sector, we won’t stand for underhanded media reporting, we won’t have vacuous nobodies being our role models just because they can mime to a song picked by Simon Cowell or live in Essex, we won’t stand for discrimination on basis of sex, race, disability or sexual orientation. 

You may say this an overly romanticised view, and perhaps you’re right, but what I have personally taken from this is that we can make a difference, that Britain in 2012, whilst by no means a perfect place to live, is still better than a lot of other places, even if it is not helped by those who govern it, and I would urge every single one of you to carry on making that difference, and use your creative talents to their absolute fullest. 

Job done.