Olympic Britain: The 2012 Games

Olympic Britain: The 2012 Games

Rather like other contests, most British citizens look forward to international competition with cynical optimism. The 2012 Olympics would have seemed to have proved no different. However, in the run up to the announcement of the host nation for the 2012 Games, terror was rolling its gaze toward Britain. There is a lot to think about when you become the victim of terror attacks and some might wonder whether the Olympics adds to the logistical nightmare of national and international security measures to counteract threats. This article sets out to explore those concerns, as I found myself questioning the role that international sports has in the wake of international terror threats.

The Nature of Mixed Ideologies

When thinking of Benjamin Franklin's attributed quote: "All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move" I can't help but think that Great Britain encapsulates all three wonderfully. My first thought was of the forthcoming Olympics and I started wondering what bizarre chain of reasoning brought me here.

As a nation we seem to struggle with the mixed ideologies of taking part to win versus taking part to be a good sport. That goes for pretty much everything including sport, politics, community and environmental issues. You name it and we'll not know whether to support it wholeheartedly, or deride it. Ultimately, most of us end up hopelessly apathetic as a form of national self defense.

The Immovable
In past submissions to the Olympic Committee, all our bids have been touted as worthy of winning. After numerous failed attempts even the sport supporting public can become a little jaded with blind faith in the host selection process. So Joe Public learned to have the immovable opinion that we really should host the Olympics. However, that was coupled with the equally immovable cynicism that this year the logistics of hosting the Games would be taken on by another country.

The Movable
Every time we failed in securing a bid we said all the same things and included a pinch of wounded pride. We would have our Sport's Ministers and Personalities make statements of support to the winning bidders and get ready for re-applying as a matter of tradition.

Those that Move
It is totally natural for any British citizen to embody the persona of a patriotic cynic. We are now used to expecting something horrible to go wrong and having a democratic right to say 'I told you so!' That's why winning the 2012 Olympic bid was really such a huge shock.

We were up against Paris, France. Everyone that I knew, including the bookmakers and journalists, assumed that they were the favorites and would be announced the new hosts. However, having hosted a well organized, efficient and memorable Commonwealth Games 2000 in Manchester, Britain had shown good recent form in hosting various athletic events which worked well for us. Once we won we had to quickly swap hats from being the immovable into becoming those that move.

Now I think we did quite well until terrorists put a frightening spanner in the works and committed the atrocious acts of 07/07.

On the 6th of July 2005 we were announced the winners of the 2012 Olympic games and less than twenty-four hours later we stopped our celebrations to witness horror and violence aimed against innocents. The terrorists took and changed lives in the bombing. No nation could look to our success when faced with all our pain. Would we now become the movable?

No.

Britain has never been a hostage to terrorism. We are the democratic, patriotic, cynical optimists that our nature demands. Right or wrong, liberal or bigoted, tolerant and intolerant, black, white, northern, southern, male, female, young, old, etc. It has never mattered what our divisions are when we are unified in our passion, or in our grief. Celebrating the bravery of those effected by terrorism, or when Kelly Holmes has brought home the Gold. Showing our admiration for the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children who face a world with loved ones taken so cruelly. Admiring Steve Redgrave as he seems to row beyond his arms abilities. Watching the first prosthetic step of a woman whose legs were lost in a bomb and cheering her down a wedding aisle a year on. Watching Paula Radcliffe fight against 'The Wall' during a marathon.

Unity in passion and unity in grief is still unity. That unity will be of the passionate kind when we host the 2012 Olympics.

Britain will assume all three of Benjamin Franklin's class divisions. We will probably do so as individuals, groups, athletes, politicians, fans, supporters and the whole gamut of our brightly diverse society. We will probably do ALL this at the SAME time. It is who we are as a nation. We are everyone.

The Olympics mean so much more than sport for sports sake. They influence tourism, trade, economics, national and international pride. They do so on a truly world wide scale and incorporate all those aspects that are admirable in humanity, celebrating all those things that unite us, rather than divide us.

I overheard people saying that maybe we would not have been awarded the games if the Committee had delayed the announcement by twenty-four hours, but I don't agree. Terrorism has sadly effected so many people now in so many corners of the world community that no one nation could boast that their security measures would be better or worse than anyone else.

Freedom to compete without an agenda

I was reminded by my own ten-year-old child that political edicts have tried to force the hand of the Olympics before. Apartheid sprang to mind, but Emily was actually referring to Jesse Owens, one of the most famous sporting heroes in the past century. Jesse was the African-American sprinter and long jumper, who won four gold medals during Hitler's 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin. It was the first televised Games and was supposed to be a propaganda tool to prove Hitler's theories on Aryan racial supremacy - not only did Jesse's performance put paid to that idea, but during the long jump competition, Owens’ German rival, Luz Long, publicly befriended him in front of the Nazis.

Good luck to all those countries who train to take part in the 2012 games. Ultimately, the concern of the athletes taking part will be how to do the best job that they can on the day. That's all any of us can do; ask ourselves which category of character we will expound:

those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

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