The Paris Olympics
Suddenly the Olympics are here.
With the Rugby World Cup and the Euros we have not been deprived top notch international sporting competition this year.
However, the array of summer sports in Britain have been spoiled by the appalling weather.
Paris and France are appropriate stages.
Baron de Coubertin (pictured) is the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Jules Rimet the World Cup, Henri Delauney the Nations Cup (now the Euros).
All visionary Frenchmen. Paris is one of the world’s great cities.
The 2012 games in London did much to enhance Tony Blair, the 1936 games in Berlin less so for Hitler and the Montreal games all but bankrupted the city.
The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were tainted by corruption. So it’s not all good … I also thought of shamateurism (Sergei Bubka apparently specified the currency in which his appearance money should be paid.)
I was thinking of who was England’s greatest Olympian. Those with more than one gold: Steven Redgrave, Charlotte Dujardin and Chris Hoy spring to mind, but I am going further back in time to pick Mary Rand.
I choose her for three main reasons:
1) In winning gold for the long jump in Tokyo (1964) she set the world record;
2) She had to compete against Eastern Bloc athletes who broke every rule in the book including their own gender.
3) She was the only female athlete to win 3 medals in one Olympics: to her gold she added silver in the heptathlon and bronze in the relay.
She was educated at the progressive boarding school Millfield – whose alumni include Sir Gareth’ Edwards, Peter Roebuck, Chris Robshaw, Mark Cox, Andrew Castle, Tyrone Mings, Duncan Goodhew – moreover she is a free spirit and I have always preferred the edgier athlete like Steve Ovett to the more sanitised ones like Sebastian Coe.
Some great athletes never appeared in any Olympics.
Britain’s most famous record breaker Roger Bannister never did but, if you are ever in Vancouver, you must visit their sporting museum to see the epic battle between Bannister and John Lindy in the 1954 Empire Games.
I did my dissertation at college on middle distance running and came across the great Swede middle distance runner Gunder Hägg who broke more records over a shorter period than Seb Coe but is largely unknown as he never appeared in any Olympiad.
I look forward more to track and field and the blue ribald 1500 metres than the swimming and gymnastics. Bring it on!
It has been brought on rather quickly as although the opening ceremony is on Friday evening events such as football and rugby sevens have already started.
As for the coverage, the BBC’s Radio 5 Live has drawn on football expert Julien Laurens, who I find rather pleased with himself, and cultural expert Agnès Poiret who simply cannot shut up.
I had to laugh when the BBC who, unlike French people, can be rather prim covered a story about the athletes objecting to the cardboard based mattresses. The BBC could not bring itself to say that the complaints were sex-performance based.
Everyone knows that the Athletics village is a Fxxkfest and the swimmers – who always get their events on before track and field – can get on with “it” but dear old Auntie did not want to say so.