Sport If our hyped eight minutes of the Olympic closing ceremony were meant to offer a taste of what our life is like in modern Britain these days, it pretty much succeeded. It does piss down, we do spend a hell of a lot of time waiting at bus stops and when we do try and get on board the way is blocked by school kids and the sound of Leona Lewis blasting out from the speaker on a mobile phone or Led Zeppelin from an ipod and there'll inevitably be someone kicking a football around on the top deck. That is of course the cynical view of something which couldn't please everyone and has obviously been carefully thought out, and the opening of the top deck of the bus was very eye-catching as was the violin player. I just wasn't dazzled. When Armando Ianucci mentioned on Radio 4's Charm Offensive last week that David Beckham would be kicking a football from the top of a London bus it sounded like one of his flights of fancy.
Far more entertaining was the appearance of Boris, striding towards the ceremonial podium a salute here, thumbs up here, a small man trying to wave a very large flag. I felt a pang of regret that Ken Livingston wasn't in his place after all the work he did in bringing the Games to London, but as demonstrated in the post-show interview on BBC News, Ken just didn't have the ongoing element of verbal jeopardy as his successor. Boris was quick to point out that at the London opening ceremony there wouldn't be thousands of people being moved around like small dots of colour which is about the best description yet of the overwhelmingly pretty, spectacularly nice ceremonies we've seen. Though I hope the London closing is better than the one at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, where we subjected the former colonies to S Club 7 and a set from some local DJ.
Otherwise, I'm inconsolable as always at the close of these Olympics, blubbing more than once through each of the montage sequences showing British successes and failures. To repeat the rest of the media (what do you mean I'm not in the media?) this has been an amazing games for local sport and though the athletics have been disappointing, there have been enough signs that the youngsters having their first taste of major competition will be fighting to return at London 2012 because they know what's there to win or lose, and what it means to stand on the podium. But that's true in many of the events; Tom Daley's an inspiration -- I wish I'd been that articulate at the age of eighteen -- and so long as his confidence doesn't turn to arrogance he's sure to win a medal in four years.
I've also enjoyed the BBC's coverage. Waking up with Adrian Chiles and Hazel Irving or Claire Balding has been a refreshing change to the middle England groping BBC Breakfast, watching the sporting headlines of overnight achievement through bleary eyes and shooting awake during a rerun of Rebecca Adlington's startling win. The commentary team have been superlative, just as passionate as us to see British success, often shouting and screaming along with us at home. One of my favourite non-sporting moments were the shots of a certain swimmer being chased through the Tienanmen Square by locals under the impression that he's Michael Phelps, shouting "I'm Steve Parry from England" at the top of his voice. At the other end of the day, Radio Five Live's Drive programme has brought the atmosphere through Peter Allen and often Dom Joly in the centre of Beijing often chatting up a storm with the tourists or getting the athletes to open up in ways which might not happen with a camera in their face.
Ultimately then this has been a great games. The Chinese authorities still have a to lot to learn about freedom -- of the press, of their people to protest, of letting those who might not necessarily agree with them politically to live their lives. There's talk that the Olympic experience for spectators hasn't been spectacular (and I loved that Steve Redgrave at the climax when asked so Britishly complained about the food), but for this armchair fan of the non-spotlit sports it's been a blast. As with last time, I will be following a bunch of these athletes going forward but unlike last time there'll be no big announcement, no published list to jinx anyone. For the next four years the Google News Alerts will be my friend and hopefully next time, more good people will be able to follow there dreams. See I'm not as cynical as you thought, and really rather a cliche, so much of a cliche in fact that it's inspired me too.
3 comments:
I share your sadness, Stu. The extent to which I've been affected by these Games caught me totally by surprise. I didn't think I'd be so interested, care so intently, or worry so compulsively. Yet I've been really quite gripped. It's totally unlike me; I'm not usually that bothered by sport, and I haven't followed any international event like this one since, I guess, the 1980s, when I dutifully filled in my Ladybird Book guides to Olympics 84 and 88 and World Cup 86. So why now? Perhaps because of my age (I think - I feel - I must be older than every single one of the British medal winners). Perhaps because of the contrast with the increasingly cold, lazy, inconsistent shenanigans of this country's football and cricket teams. And perhaps because the world is such a wretched place that to see somebody accomplishing their personal dream after a lifetime of dedication and graft just lifts the heart and warms the soul.
I also think the television & radio presentation have had something to do with it. I don't ever remember there being such an accent on the stories of the athletes, even those with less of a chance of getting a medal. We know what it means for them to achieve even a PB. It's a mix of reality tv I suppose and lessons learned from US tv, but unlike those it's been done tastefully and authoritatively. With so many former athletes presenting and in commentary teams there also seems to be a rather more journalistic approach to the coverage now than in the Des Lynam days.
Boris was ace, wasn't he? I'm convinced he'll make sure red tape will be cut right down when it comes to getting stuff done for 2012 on time and budget. For a chap so clumsy outwardly, he fills me with confidence.
The BBC's coverage was largely great - I think Jake Humphrey's patter was superb, and I do find it hard not to admire Clare Balding for being so damned articulate on so many different subjects. If she weren't a) a girl; b) gay; and c) posh, the wider public would adore her. She's better than Sue Barker by a mile.
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