Olympics Review

Well the last month has been dominated by the Olympics and I like millions of others have been caught up in all the excitement. Now that we have had a few days to catch our breath and look forward to London 2012 lets reflect on the highs and lows.

Before the Olympics began we had the controversy, talk of boycotts and demonstrations, even previous posts in this blog highlighted this. The West complained about Darfur, Tibet, human rights and pollution, the East retorted with Iraq and look who's talking. In the end everyone came, there was the odd controversy, demonstrations were minimal and the world enjoyed a party and a celebration of some amazing performances starting with the opening ceremony. The budgets for 2012 is likely to be half of what China has spent and we are unlikely to see anything as vast and spectacular as this again. Some 14,000 performers were involved including an amateur pipe band from Dundee, "The Mains Of Fintry Pipe Band" spotted by Chinese officials playing in France last year, they've never previously played in any major competitions and found themselves playing to an estimated TV audience of 4 billion people.



Some of the fireworks ( the 29 giant firework footprints) were computer generated and the little girl singing was lip synced, picked for being prettier, as were the different ethnic minorities represented by children all from the one area, something the BBC in the current climate would not be able to get away with.

What made these games so great for us was the medal haul of Team GB, 19 golds compared to just one in Atlanta. The cycling team alone won more gold medals than the whole of the British team in ten of the last twelve Olympics. The target this year set by UK sport, ( the distributor of Lottery funds to athletes) was 35 medals and eighth place in the medals table. 90 million has been invested since Athens and a total of 3 billion since it was launched 14 years ago. Lottery funding also helped finance the Manchester Velodrome where Britain's cycling team perfected their skills.

Swimming and the cycling led the way, with Nicole Cooke winning gold followed by Becky Adlington's double gold, who also picked up a pair of gold Jimmy Choo shoes as promised to her by her local Mayor of Mansfield, Tony Egginton. Chris Hoy won three golds at the same games in three different events; Ben Ainslie added a third gold in as many Olympics; Rebecca Romero won a gold in cycling adding to the silver she won in the last Olympics for rowing; Christine Ohuruogu overturned her Olympic ban to win gold on the track and Bradley Wiggins has equalled Sir Steve Redgrave's record British Olympic medal haul. Other highlights was Tom Daley reaching an Olympic final at 14 years old and Louis Smith winning Britain's first medal in men's gymnastics for a century.

Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals was amazing to watch as was the Jamaican sprinters with Usain Bolt cruising to his golds and world records despite the Jamaican team being drug tested 32 times in a seven day period with some being tested up to three times in four days.

The disappointment for Britain was the lack of success on the track and field. 26 million has been invested in athletics reaping only five medals including one gold out of 47 events. Archery, shooting and Judo also yielded no return after a further 15 million of investment. Was also disappointed we did not do better with the professionals in the tennis.

As the government prepares to put another 400 million into Olympic sport for 2012, the target was fourth place will we now demand the bar is lifted even higher? A fifth of any investment was due to be raised by the private sector but in today's economic climate this could be a struggle, given the rise of public enthusiasm after the Beijing Olympics it would be a brave government that denied the resources needed for sporting success in its own backyard. We will need to make sure that the investment made in the various sites does indeed leave a legacy without creating white elephants, that the games are accessible to everyone and with no empty seats. I look forward to seeing what new events might be added as we aim to compete in all 26 sports. Will we indeed see a GB football team? A debate which I'm sure will get an airing in this blog at a later date. The problem will be getting all the FA's of the home nation's to agree without any repercussions from FIFA.

The top ten of the medal table finished like this, I'm sure that the Americans will have published it in order of total medals won which would put them top, this chart lists by number of golds won. Either way Team GB finished 4th. Now what could I do in 2012? .........

Nation : Gold: Silver: Bronze: Total:

1. China 51 21 28 100
2. USA 36 38 36 110
3. Russia 23 21 28 72
4. G.B. 19 13 15 47
5. Germany 16 10 15 41
6. Australia 14 15 17 46
7. S.Korea 13 10 8 31
8. Japan 9 6 10 25
9. Italy 8 10 10 28
10.France 7 16 17 40.

A Week Of Sporting Controversy - Ronaldo, Chambers and The Open Golf

Sepp Blatter made a comment earlier this week that Christiano Ronaldo is locked in slavery because Manchester United won't sell him to Real Madrid and what is worse is that Ronaldo agreed with him. This is the same Sepp Blatter that in November 2006 was made an honorary member of Real Madrid, a conflict of interest if ever I saw one, and this is the same Ronaldo that has refused to apologise for his comment despite renegotiating his contract only last year signing up for a further four years and a weekly wage of about 120,ooo pounds. He also lives in a 4m pound house, has ordered a Bugatti car at a further 835,000 and is about to close a sponsorship deal with Nike worth 23 million. Ever since the Bosman ruling players have had the upper hand meaning they can move on a free transfer at the end of their contracts and this has led to a spiralling of player wages. After Ronaldo's antics at the last World Cup, his performances for Manchester United last season went a long way to winning over the neutral supporter but it now seems even his own supporters are now questioning their loyalty. Blatter & Ronaldo would do well to remember Michel Platini's comment that "slaves never earned a wage" and that these players earn in a month what some of us will be lucky to earn between now & retiring!

This week also saw Dwayne Chambers lose his appeal against an Olympic ban. Chambers was found guilty of taking steroids in 2003 and despite now being clean & still Britain's fastest he won't be going to Beijing. This has to be the right decision, if he'd gone & won a medal how many of us would've taken him seriously or been proud of his achievement, and how would the rest of that relay team felt who were stripped of their European medals last time around?

This weekend is the 137th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and the big debate is whether the championship has been devalued without Tiger Woods competing. According to a recent poll in The Guardian newspaper 62.7% felt that it would be. However there is bound to be more drama and excitement with plenty of twists and turns without him and from a betting point of view the field is wide open with even the favourite at the start of the tournament being out at 12-1. The defending champion is Padraig Harrington who won with Tiger Woods in the field so I'm sure who ever wins this year will not feel it's any less an achievement without Tiger being there and I'm sure the $1.5m will help! Only a drop in viewing figures for the TV networks or a drop in visitors at Royal Birkdale will aid the cynics point but I for one will be watching with interest.