Olympic glance back

With all the fall out from Ashley Cole, John Terry, Lance Armstrong and the negative press that has gone on around them all, we seem to have quickly forgotten that the Olympic spirit was so strong and our patriotism roared on our medal hopefuls. Here's a little flash back to an earlier article as to why I enjoyed the Olympics so much.

London 2012, the biggest sporting global brand arrived in a city divided. Did we really want the games; could the country really afford it? There were more than a few doubters and many were sceptical. So London did you deliver? Yes you certainly did. Fears were banished of a continuing recession, ticketing fiasco, security problems and travel chaos. The miserable British weather gave way to glorious sunshine, for the most part. The generous spirit, enthusiastic volunteers, incredible venues and unwavering support from packed venues created the platform for dreams to become reality. The nationalistic spirit following on from the Jubilee celebrations showed the world that London was the correct choice, as a truly memorable Olympics began.

‘Inspire a generation’ began with a stunning opening ceremony. Sir Steve Redgrave handed the Olympic torch to seven up and coming athletes to light the ‘cauldron’. A petal for each and every one of the 204 competing countries.

The tone will always be set by the home nation’s success and had I been asked to sum up the more recent games, it would not have taken so long, Beijing aside. Britain won more gold medals in London 2012 than in 1992 (5 medals) 1996 (1), 2000 (11) and 2004 (9) combined. Now there are so many successes, so many great stories it really is impossible to sum it all up without leaving out a large chunk of these wonderful athletes. 29 Gold, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze, 65 medals in total, third overall only behind the might of the USA and China, and with so many near misses gave the home nation its most successful games in over 100 years.

It took until the 5th day of competition before GB won its first gold. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the rowing set the mood and from then on in the medals just kept coming. Britain’s favourite pair of sideburns, fresh from winning the Tour de France became Britain’s most decorated Olympian (albeit briefly) as Bradley Wiggins won the men’s cycling time trial for his fourth gold and seventh medal in total.

One of the idiosyncrasies of the Olympics is I, like many others, become transfixed to sports that I would not have otherwise even considered watching normally, so when Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott took gold in a Brit 1-2 in the canoeing and Peter Wilson in the double trap shooting, the momentum was certainly building as was my own excitement. Even the show jumping was dramatic, with a jump off giving GB their first gold in over 50 years.

Poster girl Jessica Ennis came into the games under immense pressure after the disappointment of 2008, the pin up of 2012, and failure here could have spelt disaster for the morale of the home athletes. Two stunning days, personal bests left right and centre gave her a comfortable win, roared home down the final straight of the 800m the gold was won. Riding the crest of this wave, injury plagued Long jumper Greg Rutherford and soon to be national hero Mo Farrah in the 10,000m followed on in a truly stunning 45 minute gold medal blast. Catherine Granger, after three successive silvers in the Olympics finally won the gold in the women’s double sculls rowing, and even Sir Steve Redgrave shed tears. Heroism aplenty such as Kate Walsh, hockey captain, leading Team GB to their first medal in over 20 years, bronze, despite fracturing her jaw in the pool stages. True Olympic spirit.

Velodrome domination, World Records tumbled with regularity. Even the coming to the end of the old guard failed to slow momentum, Sir Chris Hoy now with six gold medals, (overtaking Redgrave and Wiggins at the top of the medal tree). The final emotional charged ride of Victoria Pendleton’s career, the queen of the track, her legacy established through up and coming Laura Trott (who won two gold). 7/10 gold medals for the track cycling team matched the Beijing total despite a new rule of only one rider per nation per event. Director of the cycling team Dave Brailsford who has masterminded the two wheeled British juggernaut has stated that whilst the team do everything to make ‘marginal gains’ in order to give their riders an edge, without the graft, without the blood sweat and tears of four years of training day in day out, in all weathers to reach a standard not just to make the team, but to challenge the very best in the world takes a special person. Talent is not enough anymore but the rewards for those who had all this were showcased for us all to applaud.

British excellence was around every corner. Remarkable Ben Ainslie, who with four gold and one silver became the most successful sailor in the history of the Games, and in tennis Andy Murray who banished his Wimbledon final defeat by Roger Federer by beating the same player on the same court with consummate ease to take the gold. Brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, gold and bronze in the men’s Triathlon, took on the world and gave them a lesson in how to race. The big names stepped up and delivered and we all cheered ourselves hoarse. One moment that will stay with me for some time is the picture of disbelief, of sheer elation as Mo Farah won his second gold, in the 5000m and his celebrations with sprint king Usain Bolt atop the medal rostrum on the second ‘Super Saturday’.

The overseas Sports Personality of the year will also be a tough one to call. Incredible Usain Bolt, the double treble 100m/200m sprints and 4x100 relay, becoming the first man in history to defend the individual titles. The end of Michael Phelps’ swimming career ending with 22 medals, 18 gold – the most successful athlete of all time, by some distance too. He leaves some pretty big shoes to fill having won more medals than any other for the past three games’. Only 38 countries have more gold medals in the history of the modern summer games than Phelps has by himself.

Kenyan David Rudisha (previously dubbed ‘the best athlete you never knew about’) 1500m World Record, the only individual track and field record to go. Coincidently, the previous Olympic record was held by Lord Coe himself, and had mentored Rhudisha in the run up to the games. The race of the games for me, Team GB’s Andrew Osagie came home 8^th and last, but in a time that would have won gold in the previous three Olympics.

Who will forget the tears of Sir Chris Hoy, the knowing smile from Jess Ennis after her final long jump in the heptathlon, the enthusiasm of the father of South African swimmer Chad Le Clos who became an internet sensation after his interviews on the BBC? History made, Nicola Adams winning the first ever women’s boxing gold to help the team to its best ever medal haul. Jade Jones winning Team GB’s first gold in taekwondo.

The underpinning success of the games lies not only with the athletes themselves, but with the ‘games makers’ the thousands of volunteers who went about their business with a smile, a sense of pride, caught up in the national fervour brought about by huge patriotic crowds marshalled superbly well by the armed forces, who stepping in at the last moment not only gave a sense of security but one of relaxed enjoyment.

The legacy of 2012 is to inspire a generation. Anyone who has paid attention to any part of these games, and there can’t be many who haven’t, can’t help but marvel at the level of sporting excellence attained. London will be remembered as a Games for the people, a bringing together of a nation already rallied by HRH’s Jubilee celebrations. The spirit and energy of a nation racked by banking scandals and phone hacking. and is this really the same city that was buried under the weight of riots only a year ago? Did this city really just stage the most stunning event? Yes, and it will live with those who watched for the rest of their lives.

I really can’t say which my favourite moment was as there were so many – Bolt retaining his 100m title in the fastest final in history, (bar injury to one runner), Phelps winning his all-time record breaking medal; Ennis in the heptathlon; Farrah in the five and ten thousand and Wiggins in the time trial. Hoy winning his 6^th gold and his rostrum tears also stands out. Maybe even the comic sketch of Bolt mimicking Farah’s ‘Mo-Bot’ celebration as Farah did a take of Usain’s ‘Lightning Bolt’ atop the medal rostrum as the Olympic stadium bode farewell to the athletics. Winning, is it everything? Competing in the games, being part of the biggest global spectacle once every four years, for some is everything. Just ask the women from the Gulf States – the London Olympics had the first Saudi Arabian and Qatari women to compete. South African Oscar Pistorius, the blade runner, becoming the first Para-Olympian to compete, or perhaps it is American Mateo Mitchell who broke his leg halfway through his section of the 4x400 relay but carried on to finish. Sometimes it really is just about taking part.

David Cameron summed up the mood: ‘We can all feel that we don’t just have a great past behind us, but we have a great future ahead of us.’ IOC President Jacques Rogge declared at the opening ceremony: ‘The Olympic games are coming home tonight. This great sports-loving country is widely recognised as the birthplace of modern sport.’ What we do with this is now in the hands of each and every one of us.

Having spent the last few weeks glued to the TV, Olympic App’s,  Twitter, Facebook and anything else that has mentioned Olympics, even briefly, I’m not sure how I will fill my time, but hey, Rio is now less than four years away!

I hope, that like me you have been hugely inspired by the feats of the athletes in 2012, not just our own. The facilities we have in the UKare excellent, and the clubs, teams across Britain have already had a huge surge in inquiries about joining. We have the ability to become or inspire the next generation of Olympians. London 2012’s tag line of ‘Inspire a Generation’ are just words, but we can get up, get out and become that generation.