Legacy

What a crazy time we are living in. The Country has emerged bleary-eyed and hung-over from an event so cataclysmic we’ll be talking about it for years to come. I am, of course, talking about the 30^th Olympiad in London. After years of endless build up and hype, it has been and gone. Wow, what a ride!

I’ve never really involved myself with the Olympics much. Of course I’ve watched bits of every games for as long as I can remember (Seoul was the first one I remember watching). But it was something that other (very fit) people did. These Athletes seemed disconnected from reality and had nothing really to do me me/us and daily life. Thinking about it, I was just starting on my own sporting journey at the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Indeed. My first race was the Liverpool 10K in October of that year. Of course, in the last four years, I’ve been on my own sporting journey and the names of the athletes have entered my consciousness and frames of reference.

It’s fair to say that in the build up to these games, I’d taken a somewhat passing interest. It was hard not to, but I still didn’t really feel part of it. When Steve bid for, and was successful in getting, tickets it was a nice surprise. But no more so than the Glee tickets he got me for Christmas a couple of years back. The first inkling I got that something was different came last Christmas. We were in Dorset at a family wedding, and when it came up in conversation that we had tickets, a woman across the table almost launched herself at me “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE GOT TICKETS. I’VE WAITING MY ENTIRE LIFE FOR THIS AND HAVEN’T GOT ANY”. Ooops, I thought to myself, they’re nice to have but until that point I hadn’t realised how lucky we were. If anything I was more pissed off that we hadn’t got any Rowing tickets which we had also applied for.

We missed the majority of the Opening Ceremony due to being at Thunder Run. We caught the very end on the big screen, just as the UNITED NATIONS CHAMPION OF THE EARTH was being announced. This caused much hilarity, we watched the Flame being light which was very cool and went to bed. We had ‘more important’ things to worry about like running 50K.

And then it happened, over the following days (after Thunder Run) the Games drew you in like a Welcoming Friend. The first sign I was getting interested was that I was fist-pumping in the air when I found that GB had got their first Gold medal, in Work during a Teleconference. My boss just tutted. The Olympic glow was spreading along with the medal count.

We headed down to London for our event. Saturday night Athletics. I was looking forward to seeing Mo in the 10000m along with Jess Ennis but nothing could have prepared me for that day - Quite simply the most magical day of my entire life. The win for the Coxless Four in the morning had set the tone and I was pretty happy heading into London. The Olympic Park was Stunning, the Crowds were buzzing, happy and the World was watching. Our tickets were pretty amazing – this was the view…

It's Mo!

The actual athletics of Super Saturday spoke for itself. Brilliant to watch and the TV didn’t come close to conveying the raw emotion in the Stadium. The crowd were cheering everyone one, they were here to cheer Sport in general (of course saving extra cheers for the TeamGB athletes). All nations were applauded and encouraged. It was singing along with 80000 others to the National Anthem at Jess Ennis’s Medal Ceremony at the end of the session that I realised how special the day was.

This was never going to happen again and we were here experiencing it. Not for the first time that night I could feel the tears welling up inside….

The performances were outstanding, Greg in the Long Jump (as well as being a fitty) surprised and delighted everyone).  The jovial nature of the Beer Queue, the gathering with the Crowds at the BBC set afterwards, the coming together of everyone - Just special. One of best legacies of that night…I had no voice for about 5 days afterwards.

Over the following days, I became an Olympic Obsessive. Sports I’d barely heard of became avid viewing. Not only that, but I really wanted to try most of them as well. The BBC made it so easy to watch and the commentary was mostly excellent. But soon the Closing Ceremony was on its way and it was time to pack away the Jubilympic bunting.

It felt like I was in mourning last week, it was honestly like bereavement. We’d had amazing sport all around us for over two weeks and it was difficult to make the transition back to ordinary life. When it becomes the norm to head home after work to hear about the latest couple of GB gold meals, you know something has changed!

And then, last Saturday, me and Steve sat down and watched the repeat of the Opening Ceremony on the telly. It was interesting note the slight sneer of cynicism in Huw Edwards’ voice at the start. Of course, no-one knew how the games were going to go down. Looking at it from ‘the other side’ was weird. And then…OH. MY. GOD. I have not cried so much since I left rowing.

The Pandemonium sequence culminating in the forged Rings. The most perfect sequence ever. It was like Danny Boyle had laid our national story for the world to see and acknowledge, but (pretentious as this is) it’s also like he laid out our hearts bare.

THEN BOND! THE QUEEN! THE NHS! I realise this is all old news but I hadn’t seen it before last weekend. How did he do it?!  I think because the references are so embedded in our national psyche, they all hit home.

I hope the Olympics has changed us all for the better, I know it’s changed me. I’ve got the Olympic ideal pounding inside me. Wanting to go higher, faster, harder and give it my all.

Hell, see you in Rio!