If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
On a grey Saturday morning I brave the freezing weather to go on a trip to the Olympic Park in east London. No, it hasn't reopened yet. This is a post...
I'd argue that Ennis' gold was the biggest of the games. The most emotional, though Mo Farah's double was a close second. However Ennis was first. Her gold seemed to be the one which took hold of the nation and lifted it to new heights.
2012 has been the year of many things - but if one thing stands out to me more than anything else (even more than sport, and that's saying something) it's that 2012 has been the year of inspiring women.
The power of female athletes to draw audiences in London 2012 highlights the appetite for women's sport. However, the current lack of coverage is creating a glass ceiling effect. The lack of exposure on the playing field is reflected in the boardroom with few women in senior positions at sports clubs and governing bodies.
For 25 years the Sunday Times newspaper has championed women in sport, celebrating their achievements with an annual awards ceremony. However... it's hardly in the public eye.
It feels disrespectful to criticise an institution, but when you consider Alan Shearer's mumblings are publically funded, it's worthwhile questioning the established order. Why is Match of the Day allowed to consistently underperform?
Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France. Andy Murray's maiden Grand Slam. Pretty much every 'high profile' gold at the Olympics and Paralympics, including those of the aforementioned 'Wiggo' and 'Muzza'. What do all of these have in common?
As a showbiz journalist one of the things that bored me senseless about the Games was the countless number of stuffy old curmudgeons praying it would finally wipe clean the smear on British culture - the dreaded obsession with celebrity.
Meanwhile on the campaign trail for squash's inclusion in the Olympics, Ben Dirs, a BBC blogger, wrote a chirpy little article on synchronised swimming and how he feels sorry for squash players. He had an interesting point. These swimmers undoubtedly work so hard, but how accessible a sport is it? Is synchronised swimming a sport even?
While Jess sent Sheffield into a riot of fluttering Union Jacks and gold accessories on Friday, hundreds of miles away, three young women paid for their beliefs and courage with a trio of harsh two-year jail sentences handed down by a Russian court. No matter how you look at it, or whichever event has piqued your interest this August, one thing is not in doubt: the summer of 2012 is providing plenty of likely candidates to inspire the next generation.
I think it's safe to say that the London 2012 Olympics Games went far better than anyone could have imagined.
The Olympics have finished, turned off the flame, shut the door on the stadium and left the building.
Something strange is happening in the world of sport. The all consuming monoculture of football appears to be losing it tyranical hold over the backpages
London 2012 may have ended, but what it's created will endure for generations.
This is What it means to be British - To take part in a race, Hoping to win - But expecting a last-place finish. Yes, this is British -
As I type this, I should probably be wearing a pair of those cheesy Olympic-five-ring sunglasses, with a fake Union Jack tattoo on my ankle and a cuddly Wenlock tucked under my arm. I'm not, for the record, having just about got my love affair with London 2012 in check, but it's been something of a head vs heart battle... week two of the greatest Olympic games ever (they are, I don't care if it's not cool to say it) has been as brilliant as the first.
