Is the Olympic hype healthy for our country?

Bear B.Hind wrote (see)

So uknick you would rather we return our rightful status of 'plucky little losers' and leave the winning to others.

 

Possibly - I can't really assess the consequences of what has happened yet and whether it is a positive or negative force!

I do remember 1976 and the single bronze medal by Brendon Foster - that wasn't much fun.. and I really admire and celebrate what Dave Brailsford had done with the cycling team and likewise in the rowing - superb athletes...

uknick wrote (see)

I don’t know whether you saw the drama Bertie and Dickie on the BBC recently – it was a true story about two oarsman winning a gold medal in the double skulls in the 1948 Olympics starring Matt Smith and Sam Hoare and portraying Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell.

I found it interesting as it portrayed the last bastion of amateur sport and the tussle between Bertie and his father Charles (who also won an Olympic gold medal) and his view on “fair play” amateur sport which to an extent they were challenging….

I only saw the end.  Did they include the bit where they lost their first round deliberately so that they could avoid the Danish crew in the semi-final?  Nowadays folks get banned for doing that at the Olympics.

As for this unhealthy trend you speak of, sure lots of people go a bit OTT for Team GB, but you must have missed the fact that venues were pretty much full, even for those events where GB stood little or no chance.  People were enjoying sport for its own sake too.

I don't really get this thread.......  What is the point in competing at sport on an elite platform unless it is to win??   Why would you spend 4 years training and following diet plans etc etc if not to win?  Surely winning is about being the best athlete and not about being judged on your personality?

For me, the olympics and paralympics has given me a whole new world of motivation and makes me proud of our athletes.  I have nothing but respect for their dedication and it has certainly put my achy muscles after a poxy little run (by comparison) into perspective.

Beth Roberts wrote (see)

I don't really get this thread.......  What is the point in competing at sport on an elite platform unless it is to win??   Why would you spend 4 years training and following diet plans etc etc if not to win?  Surely winning is about being the best athlete and not about being judged on your personality?

For me, the olympics and paralympics has given me a whole new world of motivation and makes me proud of our athletes.  I have nothing but respect for their dedication and it has certainly put my achy muscles after a poxy little run (by comparison) into perspective.

Sorry Beth but it’s not about the athletes and their quest to win… Of course they want to win and their efforts should be rewarded in terms of accolade and celebration. It’s about how “the nation” including the media respond to this.

If you remember Atlanta and LA before that there was a huge amount of criticism of the US and their nationalistic approach to wining and coverage. They organised it around their TV stations and didn’t even show races where there was no US interest. There has been similar criticism of the BBC and their coverage and focus on Team GB athletes. I’m sure that there of loads of contrary examples of fair play and celebration of other athletes and nations but in my opinion we have become more like the US and that makes me uncomfortable.

WiB wrote (see)

Nationalism? The whole idea of it is to be competetive and for fans to get their  nation/team/pairs/individual. They aren't just jogging around the track to show off a few different coloured vests.

I mean c'mon... I even supported a Welsh girl in the TKD and a Scot in the cycling!

Wilkie - Winning does mean something. i.e the 800m. They all set about the task of being able to complete 2 laps of the track faster than everyone else... the person who did it fastest proved he had prepared for and carried out his race better. That will mean a hell of a lot! Are you telling me if you won a gold at the olympics and took a WR making you the fastest person ever to officially complete that distance you wouldn't feel anything? honestly?

 

I, personally, would probably feel very chuffed, if I won something. I wouldn't expect it to mean much to anyone else though.

If a friend won, I'd be very happy for them.

I don't care about a bunch of strangers whom I will never know.  Whether the person who wins in English, German, or any other nationality is neither here nor there.  An English person winning doesn't mean all English people are suddenly somehow better.

So they are the fastest, can jump highest/furthest, makes them good at their sport, but that has no impact at all on anything else (except, as KK points out, their earning potential). 

I object to paying for it.

Waste of money.

We could have let France have it, and had all this for free.

Wilkie wrote (see)

WiB wrote (see)

Nationalism? The whole idea of it is to be competetive and for fans to get their  nation/team/pairs/individual. They aren't just jogging around the track to show off a few different coloured vests.

I mean c'mon... I even supported a Welsh girl in the TKD and a Scot in the cycling!

Wilkie - Winning does mean something. i.e the 800m. They all set about the task of being able to complete 2 laps of the track faster than everyone else... the person who did it fastest proved he had prepared for and carried out his race better. That will mean a hell of a lot! Are you telling me if you won a gold at the olympics and took a WR making you the fastest person ever to officially complete that distance you wouldn't feel anything? honestly?

 

I, personally, would probably feel very chuffed, if I won something. I wouldn't expect it to mean much to anyone else though.

If a friend won, I'd be very happy for them.

I don't care about a bunch of strangers whom I will never know.  Whether the person who wins in English, German, or any other nationality is neither here nor there.  An English person winning doesn't mean all English people are suddenly somehow better.

So they are the fastest, can jump highest/furthest, makes them good at their sport, but that has no impact at all on anything else (except, as KK points out, their earning potential). 

so you have never supported a team? be it football, polo, sailing etc, the highs and lows of following something or someone makes the viewing so much more injoyable

No, I've never supported a team.  I've never been very interested in watching other people do sports.  I'd rather be doing it myself!

I was very pleased for a friend who won her age group in a race.

If someone I knew was in a team, then that would make a difference (the kind of difference depending on whether I liked them or not  )

Ha Ha - you said it not me

uknick I think I know where you are coming from but it is difficult to articulate. Bluntly speaking probably nobody alive in UK has been to a UK Olympic Games. The costs, stadia and venues have been extraordinary. Today's communications media is at an optimum. The Government has used all at its disposal to get the UK media to hype up the events to show that the games have been worth every penny of taxpayers' money. While in a recession and not everyone interested in sport there are those who might have sought political gain. Basically our Dis-United Kingdom has never known anything like it except perhaps during wartime.

Perhaps it is all a case of we are not used to being SEEN TO BE UNITED as a nation?

I am sure during overseas Olympic Games our athletes are supported within our homes but there is no public display of support except when the gold medal winners' return home to civic receptions. Was there ever a civic reception soley for silver or bronze, I doubt it.

Martenkay wrote (see)

uknick I think I know where you are coming from but it is difficult to articulate. Bluntly speaking probably nobody alive in UK has been to a UK Olympic Games.  

There are lots of people alive in the UK who have been to a UK Olympic Games.

Intermanaut wrote (see)

Martenkay wrote (see)

uknick I think I know where you are coming from but it is difficult to articulate. Bluntly speaking probably nobody alive in UK has been to a UK Olympic Games.  

There are lots of people alive in the UK who have been to a UK Olympic Games.

1948 Games is not even comparable and a new born baby would be 64 today! I do think many UK adults in 1948 might just have had other priorities. I did write "probably" and I would disagree that you would find "lots" that actually attended the Olympic Games. It really was not the point I made but never mind OK!

Martenkay wrote (see)

Intermanaut wrote (see)

Martenkay wrote (see)

uknick I think I know where you are coming from but it is difficult to articulate. Bluntly speaking probably nobody alive in UK has been to a UK Olympic Games.  

There are lots of people alive in the UK who have been to a UK Olympic Games.

1948 Games is not even comparable and a new born baby would be 64 today! I do think many UK adults in 1948 might just have had other priorities. I did write "probably" and I would disagree that you would find "lots" that actually attended the Olympic Games. It really was not the point I made but never mind OK!

This lady was at the 1948 Games, and she competed there.  Given that even I've seen someone who was there, there'll be many other people still alive who were there.

Edit: just checked, and about 10 medallists are still alive, and some of those were in their 30s when they competed, and one of the track cyclists (who's still alive) was nearly 40 at the time.  It's perfectly reasonable to expect that there are several thousand attendees still alive.

It's getting people interested in sports other than football, and we are cheering on our competitors, win or lose. What's not to like about that?

Intermanaut wrote (see)

 

Edit: just checked, and about 10 medallists are still alive, and some of those were in their 30s when they competed, and one of the track cyclists (who's still alive) was nearly 40 at the time.  It's perfectly reasonable to expect that there are several thousand attendees still alive.

That'll be Tommy Godwin, who won two bronze medals.  He did the media rounds leading up to the Olympics this year and I had the pleasure of meeting him (and his original BSA track bike. What a beauty!) at Herne Hill velodrome.  Looking pretty fit at 91, and he even did a lap of the track while he was there.