By Tom Tresser - 24 June 2009
 

On Monday morning, June 15, three people stepped off the train at the Lausanne train station. Three people had travelled seven zones from the west to come to the home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to deliver a simple message. “Chicago does not want or deserve the 2016 Olympic Games.”

 

I was one of those three travelers. We were three volunteers from No Games Chicago. a coalition of diverse activists from across the city who have worked a wide range of social justice issues over the years. Members of our group have worked on affordable housing, human rights, neighborhood economic development, open lands, protecting parks, environmental justice and good Government reform.

 

 

We came to Switzerland by going into debt - having had the air fare donated. We believed this was something we had to do and we’ll worry about repaying the debt later.

 

The three-member No Games Chicago Delegation consisted of :

 

• Martin Macias Jr., a youth organiser for the Chicago Environmental Justice Coalition, and Comite 10 de Marzo, an Immigrant Rights organisation. He is also a media reform activist.

 

• Tom Tresser, an educator and activist and former actor and producer. He is a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, which fights the privatisation of public space.

 

• Rhoda Whitehorse, a mother and grandmother who has lived in Chicago for 40 years and is a former public school teacher.

 

We have been the only organisation in the entire city to critically examine the Olympic bid and the impact hosting the Games would have on Chicago. There has been no independent research, no large scale public debate or examination of the negatives of hosting the Games from prior host cities. We launched our efforts on January 31 with a public forum at the University of Illinois attended by 250 people.

 

We believe the city should be spending its resources and brainpower on more important priorities, such as building more schools – not closing them; expanding health care – not closing public health clinics; creating more parks – not destroying the ones we have; and working on economic development programs that benefit the many – not pushing giant construction projects that benefit the Mayor’s minions.

 

We came to Switzerland to present a “Book of Evidence” to the members of the IOC. This 162-page bound book consisted of photocopies of newspaper articles, columns and reports documenting our four major objections to Chicago hosting the 2016 Games:

 

(1) Lack of finances – We’re broke

America is broke. Illinois is $13 billion (£7.9 billion) in debt. Our city is about $300 million (£183 million) in the red. Just a few days before we came to Switzerland, Mayor Richard Daley announced he was laying off 1,000 employees of the Chicago Public Schools AND 1,500 city workers. The city has closed public schools, health clinics and cut back service in our parks.

 

(2) Lack of competence – We’re corrupt
Every major construction project the city tackles goes way over budget and experiences long construction delays. This is because the Mayor has placed his cronies in the top positions of every agency and department. The city is run as a private ATM (cash machine) for the Mayor’s family and a few other politically connected  families and their friends. A close ally of the Mayor was recently indicted, this elected official, Alderman Isaac Carothers, wore a wiretap for Federal authorities for a year! It is  highly likely that any construction project the city undertakes for the Olympics will experience overruns and delays.

 

(3) Lack of infrastructure – We’re crumbling
Our city is dire need of repairs. Our mass transit system can barely handle the load of moving our citizens around as it is. There is no way we’ll be able to handle the hundreds of thousands of Olympic visitors. Our roads are so full of potholes and the city so far behind in attending to them that citizens have actually taken to mixing tar and filling the potholes themselves!

 

(4) Lack of public support – We’re mad as hell!
Despite what the IOC has been told – the people of Chicago DO NOT WANT THE GAMES TO COME HERE.  When they were asked in a poll commissioned by the Chicago Tribune if they support using tax funds for the Games, 75 per cent said NO. When we were in Switzerland Mayor Daley, who was also in Lausanne as part of the Chicago 2016 delegation, announced he would sign the Whole City Contract if awarded the Games. This means that the city would sign a blank check to secure, construct and operate the Olympics. This is not news for the other three candidate cities, as their national Governments have pledged to cover all costs as needed. The US Government is forbidden by law to make such an assurance. The Mayor knew he would have to make this assurance to the IOC but he did while in Switzerland. If he had hoped to avoid controversy, he did not succeed. The city has been broiling with front page headlines, editorials, angry letters from citizens and an uprising from Aldermen who feel they have been betrayed by Mayor Daley.

 

On Tuesday, when our City Council next meets, Alderman Manny Flores will introduce legislation that will cap Chicago’s exposure to the Olympic games at $500 million (£305 million). He says he is a supporter of the Olympic idea and is willing for the city to spend up to $500 million (£305 million) on them – but not a penny more.

 

So No Games Chicago has succeeded in raising the only voice of opposition to the idea of staging the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. We’ve mobilised people from across the city to speak up. And now our elected officials are finally seeing the light and are starting to say “NO!” to the 2016 Olympics.

 

Tom Tresser is the communications co-ordinator of No Games Chicago. He can be contacted at [email protected].

 
Comments


Mayor Daley  and the 2016 committe have used fear, lies and
intimidation to cram their Olympic dream down the throats of
Chicagoans.

There are a group of Chicagoans who stood up to Mayor Daley, and
his 2016 Organization'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o570-57dVaU
By Code Warrior

26 June 2009 at 03:46am

Thanks, Tom, for addressing the emperor's wardrobe malfunction.
For a while, you and the No Games crew were lonely voices in the
wilderness.  As a result of your advocacy, people have been
educated and emboldened to do their own research and find their
own voices.  This is democracy at its best.

The City Council is now going to hire an independent expert to
review the pros and cons of the Chicago bid, and put stop gap
measures in place to limit the City's exposure. One would have
expected them to have done this two years ago before they wrote
the blank check, but I suppose this is a start.
By Valerie F. Leonard

26 June 2009 at 03:54am

Excellent article on the real issues for Chicago and the
Olympics.
By Chicago Health

27 June 2009 at 18:07pm

I definately dont think Chicago should bid for the Olympic
Games.

I'm a Paralympian and in 1984, I was selected to compete in the
Paralympics in Champaign, Illinois. 

I remember the disappointment as an athlete when we were told
that Illinois had insufficient funds to run the games at the last
minute. The result was the wheelchair athletes competed in
England and the other athletes Los Angeles. The Games in Illinois
were cancelled.

Last thing we want is another fiasco in a city that has financial
problems already. 

Forget it Chicago and put your own house in order before you
start inviting the athletes of the world.  They deserve the best
and I for one dont think given the states previous support that
you should be given the chance to host the games.
By Paralympian 10 - Josie

27 June 2009 at 21:30pm

Few Chicagoans want these games, and no Chicagoans want to pay
for it! As a city, we are BROKE! No Olympics in Chicago.
By Ken

30 June 2009 at 00:45am

scew wut some geezers say, let the olypmics be in chi town
By ur mom

10 July 2009 at 22:38pm
 

By Colin Houlson - 23 June 2009
 

Katie Price. Jordan. Mother. Model. Wife. Reality TV contestant. "Singer". And now, Olympian?

The news that Katie Price is looking for a wealthy benefactor who'll put up £1 million for a new horse to help her realise her dream of competing in the 2012 Olympics will be met with a certain degree of cynicism. After all, you'd imagine that someone who ranks at 1,771 in the Sunday Times Rich List would already have a, ahem, bulging treasure chest, but it seems her bitter divorce battle with husband Peter Andre has frozen her assets.

 

 

Detractors also say that the idea of the Brighton-born glamour model bidding for gold in dressage at London's Greenwich Park in three years time is a ridiculous one. They argue that she's a talentless celebrity who's merely famous for being famous, so her taking part would be an insult to the pure and noble concepts behind the creation of the modern Games. Yet a look at the history of the Olympics reveals that they've always been a five-ring circus she'd be perfectly at home in.

 

If Katie had been around at the time of the first modern Games in 1896, she definitely wouldn't have taken part. It was an all-male affair and there were no events for women, although a Greek called Stamata Revithi carried out a proto-feminist demonstration when she ran the marathon course to prove it could be done by an ickle girl.

 

Given Katie's well-publicised love of all things bling, she probably wouldn't have been too upset at not being able to compete since the winners' medals were struck from silver - gold medals weren't used until a later date. As for the male competitors in Athens, no formal qualification was required and the Games were only open, more or less, to those athletes who could afford to make the journey. One British athlete, for example, was really an Australian who lived in London. Maybe Peter Andre will follow suit and try his hand at Greco-Roman wrestling in 2012.

 

The first medals for women were awarded at the Paris Games in 1900, but that was far from being the end of Olympic sexual inequality. It was more than a quarter of a century before female athletics events were introduced at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. Canada's Ethel Catherwood was one of the star performers, yet the media coverage focused on her stunning looks almost to the point of obsession, rather than her sporting achievements.

 

However, the Amsterdam Olympics were ahead of their time in another way. When the Dutch Government refused to subsidise the Games, the organisers were forced to dream up some enterprising marketing ideas and photographic rights were sold to a commercial operation. In order to protect the monopoly, spectators were searched for concealed cameras. This was oddly prescient, since we now live in a world where TV companies regularly battle with each other to get exclusive coverage of events. Image rights also played a huge part in the recent transfer of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

 

With her symbiotic relationship to the paparazzi, this is a culture Katie's very familiar with. And as the life of Jade Goody showed, everything from a christening to a funeral can be bought at the right price.

 

Far from being at odds with the spirit of the Games, the rich and famous are actually woven into the fabric of Olympic history. In 1928, the Crown Prince of Norway, who later became King Olav V, picked up a yachting gold medal. Britain's Lord Burghley won the 400 metre hurdles in the same year, while Prince Albert II of Monaco took part in five Winter Olympics as a bobsledder. Equestrianism runs in the blood of our own royal family [in some cases, judging by appearance, almost literally] and Princess Anne was a member of the British eventing team at the 1976 Montreal Games.

 

Of course, Katie (pictured here with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe) is no stranger to the jungle after her stint on "I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here", so she can take further inspiration from Johnny Weissmueller. Before he became the most famous big-screen Tarzan, he captured three golds in the swimming pool, plus a bronze in the water polo, at the Paris Olympics of 1924. He increased his medal tally four years later. The 1932 victor in the 400 metres swimming was Buster Crabbe, who later played Flash Gordon in the classic sci-fi serial.

 

The world-famous baby expert Dr Benjamin Spock won a gold medal at the 1924 Games as part of the USA's eight-oared rowing crew.

 

And one of the most famous images in Olympic history is that of the Italian runner Dorando Pietri staggering around the last lap of the marathon at London's White City stadium in 1908. He was disqualified because onlookers helped him across the line. What's not so well-known is that one of the hapless athlete's helpers during his final few metres was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

 

As for tarnishing the reputation of the Olympics, Katie would have to go some to match the 1904 Games. Originally intended to be held in Chicago, then US president Theodore Roosevelt pressured the organisers to switch to St Louis so that the Games would coincide with that city's World Trade Fair. Combining the events meant that Olympic disciplines were staged alongside such esoteric fare as tractor displays and long-distance tobacco spitting. More like a hoedown than the world's premier sporting event, it could only be matched for crassness if the next Games are organised by the team behind Top Gear.

 

So will 2012 see Katie Price standing on a podium, proudly wearing a gold medal at an unavoidably jaunty angle as God Save The Queen rings out in the background? Perhaps. But whatever happens, please don't let her sing.

 

Colin Houlson is a freelance journalist who writes regulary for the Brighton Argus, who first published this article. To read more of his work visit http://www.theargus.co.uk/blogs/blogs/colin_houlson/.

Comments


Some 'athletes' are almost certain to divide a nation. I would
suggest KP will fall into this onerous category. For all the
advantages that might come her way (£1m for a horse!), she will
probably encounter as many disadvantages (snobbery in the horsey
world for one). She may well have a reasonable level of talent,
but I think it significant that much of the day to day work of
schooling said horse will as likely be done by someone else.
By Chris Maddocks

24 June 2009 at 19:04pm

Very funny!
By Harry Pearce

25 June 2009 at 12:29pm
 

By Larry Eder - 19 June 2009
 

It was reported on this website today that an internal audit conducted by the State Council  that the Olympics made a modest profit of 1.16 billion yuan (£88.8 million) off an expenditure of 19.3 billion yuan  (£1.7 billion) and income of 20.5 billion yuan (£1.8 million).

It would seem that, from the audit that the Beijing Olympics were a quite modest undertaking, compared to all Olympics since 1984. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

 

The goal of the Beijing Olympics, as seen by BOCOG (Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) and the Chinese Government, was to cast the best light on China globally, give the Chinese population stars to be proud of, and no positive drug tests by Chinese athletes.

 

Much like the Great Wall, the Beijing Olympics were to not only keep the bad guys out, but to keep the good guys - and the Chinese in - and enthralled with the spectacular performances. That is why the lip-synching episode in the Opening ceremony was not understood in Chinese language newspapers. Why? Because the Games were a huge entertainment opportunity as well as a homage to the Chinese nation.

 
The overall reasoning for this audit was to show that the Beijing Olympics, contrary to the media reports, was not the most expansive Olympics in history. Media reports had suggested infrastructure expenditures of $40 billion (£24.2 billion). As part of the Audit, BOCOG admitted to about $3 billion (£1.8 billion) in infrastructure costs, noting that local monies were used for infrastructure.

Where is the truth? Probably, somewhere in between....

 
Anyone who spent any time in Beijing and its environs would note the modernisation, the constant building, especially outside of the Olympic area. Hotels, modern shopping centers could all be seen, in plain site, as one walked around Beijing. Airline crews who had flown to China, especially Beijing, for the past 25 years, told me that all of the old, fun places were being razed for new structures.

 

I stayed about an hour from the Olympic stadium, and on my daily walks in the neighborhoods (I was never stopped), I found new shopping centers on top of old, very European and elegant shops, as well as the very local and time worn.

 

Western media tended to ignore peculiarly Chinese culture or eccentricities. Do not for a moment consider that I am trying to be an apologist for BOCOG nor the Chinese Government. The control of the city lied with the Chinese Government, as did the control of the Games. Statesmanship is one thing, politics is one thing, accepting that a totalitarian Government moves at a snail like pace is a fact. But that the BOCOG did not see the value in pressuring an allowance of free, peaceful demonstrations, when 70 plus requests were filed with the local authorities and none were approved, is just unacceptable.

 

The Beijing Games opened China and its people to the world, no doubt about it. The modest expenses noted and modest profit noted shows to a long time observer of China something quite different. The Chinese will actually use the newly acquired infrastructure, and newly built stadiums and apartments.

 

That $40 billion (£24.2 billion) was added to infrastructure, from wonderful highways, to apartments and plazas, but was not seen, by many Chinese as having anything to do with the Beijing Olympics. It was part of making China look wonderful and prosperous to the eyes of the rest of the world. Like Americans, Brits, Germans, French and other nationalities, the Chinese, whether they support the Government or not, are a proud people and love their country.

 

The 2008 Olympics gave the world a pretty good glimpse of China. Like past Olympics, it will be fascinating to watch the changes in the country. My belief is that, no matter what the Beijing Government does, change will come to this country much faster than anyone imagined, or that the Government desired.

 

Larry Eder is the President at Running Network LLC and Group Publisher at Shooting Star Media, Inc. This article was first published at runblog.com.
 

By Adrian Hill - 16 June 2009
 

The accolade of a place in the Olympic Games is so cherished and sought-after that the decision to be made by the International Olympic Committee on which two sports will be admitted in 2016 is not one to be taken lightly.

 

The voters are human beings, not machines, so there is bound to be some subjective thought at work as baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash are considered following presentations made to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne yesterday – whatever the protestations to the contrary.

 

Sport is an emotive subject, after all that’s why we all love it so much. Show me someone who professes to enjoy all competitive activity equally and I would cast doubt on their true feelings. No matter how impressive the participation figures, demographics, commercial appeal, "universality" or adherence to Olympian ideals, everyone will have their favourites among the eclectic list of seven.

 

It’s to be hoped that those human leanings will be tempered by cold analysis of the facts, as I will attempt to do here. My personal interest is in rugby, golf and squash for professional, spectator and playing reasons – there you go, there are my "vested interests".

 

Baseball – It’s obvious that the American television market is the trump card in, appropriately, the pitch of "America’s Game". It should not be under-estimated how much weight this carries and Chicago is among the favourites to host in 2016. However, it cannot be considered a truly global sport, it fell off the list of Olympic sports when its big stars didn’t turn up and there is the drugs issue. It has to be said, though, that this is just as much a factor in some of the established Olympic sports.
Verdict - NO

 

Golf - Worldwide television appeal, a commercial goldmine and would add a touch of glamour to the programme. Supporters also argue that if Roger Federer and Michael Jordan can play in the Olympic Games, then why not Tiger Woods? But would the leading players fancy it? They already cut back their playing programmes to fit in with the schedule of the Majors and an Olympics in July or August would interfere with this. Isn’t it just a sport for the middle class upwards, due to the equipment, time and money needed to play? Another factor to consider is the facilities required. A city such as Rio de Janeiro would have to build a Championship quality course – would there be a legacy from that?
Verdict – YES (money talks...)

 

Karate – A sport for everyone and enjoyed by millions in every part of the globe. No need for a costly new arena. But aren’t there enough combat and martial art sports in the Olympics? Perhaps judo, taekwondo and karate should be combined as "Martial Arts", just as trampolining fits in with gymnastics, and water polo, diving and synchro join forces with swimming as "Aquatics". This may be its best chance of inclusion.
Verdict – NO (not as a stand-alone sport)

 

Roller Sports – Another true global activity and would hand the IOC a valuable youth audience. No sport would sum up more accurately the traditional close of Games call for the "Youth of the world to gather in four year’s time". The novelty value of events totally unrelated to anything else in the Games would be appealing to the casual Olympic spectator and TV viewer, plus there would be no venue costs. On the down side is that some of the disciplines are technical events involving judges, a lack of worldwide media profile and it could be considered a contrived inclusion with no one single focus. With Skateboarding, inline, roller hockey, artistic, racing – where does the non-afficionado go?
Verdict – NO

 

Rugby Sevens – With the perceived policy of adding one team and one individual sport, rugby may only really be competing with baseball and softball. This would leave its major rivals – golf and squash – to battle it out for the other place. The event would be a massive cash cow in terms of ticket sales, with rugby’s proven travelling support adding vitality to the Games in its first week and making use of the athletics stadium, which often lies idle until the track and field traditionally begins in the middle of the Games fortnight. Competitive teams from every continent, becoming more and more popular with Women and a fast-moving, but easy to understand, sport. It would also give countries such as Fiji and Samoa what may be their only realistic shot at a medal. The negatives lie in a lack of interest in key television markets such as the United States, China and India, the perception that the main event (15-a-side) is not being served up plus the top nations being from a small cabal of Western Europe, Oceania and Southern Africa.
Verdict - YES (due to the physical nature of the sport, 15-a-side would not be practical in a two-week timeframe, so Sevens it is)

 

Softball – Although now totally separate from baseball, it basically derives its strong points from a similar place – the US. Has a stronger case than its "cousin", as is seen as more appealing to Women and the young, and does not have the albatross of drugs on its shoulders. A proven winner with spectators at previous Games and would be the undoubted pinnacle of its players’ careers. However, its power base is in the Americas, so has limited global appeal.
Verdict – NO

 

Squash – Perhaps the best all-round bid with few weaknesses compared to its competitors. A global participation sport with leading practitioners from a variety of nations, limited venue costs as the world governing body would provide "drop-in" courts, has the potential to reach a very wide demographic, fast and active sport and is part of nearly all the other major multi-sport festivals. On the other hand, is perceived as being not the greatest television spectacle (although the march of HD technology may improve that come 2016) and, like Karate, suffers from the feeling that there sufficient closely related sports in the Games.
Verdict – NO (near-miss, but more worthy than some of the established sports)

 

So, there you have it – golf and rugby sevens, with squash very close. Maybe it goes to prove that subjective thought will be crucial.

 

Here’s a closing thought for you, though perhaps too radical for the IOC....With no more room in the Summer Games, why does its winter cousin have to be just about snow and ice? Sports such as badminton, fencing, handball, squash and table tennis are all synonymous with being played during the winter months and would make the Winter Olympics a more global event.

 

Adrian Hill has recently gone freelance, having covered sport for both the BBC and Sky Sports for almost 20 years. He also contributes to various newspapers and magazines, and is currently writing a book on rugby union history – Rugby On This Day.


Comments

Golf in the olympics ! strolling round a field hitting a ball
every 10 minutes - pulse rate virtually the same at the finish -
keep the olympics for real sport
By JOHN ROGERS

18 June 2009 at 09:24am

What an intelligent, thought provoking blog. I've watched rugby
sevens at the Commonwealths - brilliant; 'Yes' to inclusion in
the Olympics. I love watching golf, but can't get my head around
it at the Olympics. I thought Adrian made a good case for
karate/martial arts. His closing thoughts ref winter Olympic
sports ought to have more serious consideration in future
debates.
By Chris Maddocks

18 June 2009 at 14:45pm

Shouldn't the Olympic Games be the pinnacle of every sport?
therefore as much as i love golf and rugby (7's or otherwise) the
Rugby World Cup and 4 majors /ryder cup will always be the
highest competitions the participants want to win.
By name

19 June 2009 at 10:22am
 

By Chris Maddocks - 15 June 2009
 

You should write a book – how many people have that suggested to them at sometime in their life? My guess at least, is that most retired international sportspeople will have had that rather teasing, tempting comment thrust upon them by some well meaning friend, relative or mischievous joker who wants to know what really happened, what it really felt like.
 

Misguided or not, I picked up the literary baton and recklessly ran with it (more accurately walked with it) following a 20 year Olympic competitive career that got off to a stuttering start in 1980 and ended in spectacular fashion in Sydney 2000.

 The words of my first book are almost done. It’s been hard, it’s been slow, but I’m getting there…and before some wag jumps in and suggests much like your Olympic career then, I can, in some prickly defence, proudly recall winning a few national and international races. This and much more as they say, is told in a semi-autobiographical novel with a working title of "Money Walks".

Time will tell as to whether or not my manuscript gets published and is either well received or takes the scenic route to the bargain bin at your local bookstore. Either way, it has been an interesting experience revisiting all those memories that for the most part I can cherish while others have taken me back to dark places I would have preferred remained more distant. Hey, that’s life.
 

Contacting people who feature in my story has been a surprisingly uplifting experience. Characters in my book are based on real persons who generally have had their names changed to fictional ones; not all, but most. So far, and without exception, all those kind folk including other athletes, coaches, and media related people (including the author of this website) have given me their blessing and encouragement to go ahead. Early indications are that I’m unlikely to make much money out of this proposed book as most want in return a free signed copy.
 

So, what’s it all about? Answer: a British race walker. Okay, so I’ve possibly lost at least half the readers of this blog at this point. Sorry Duncan, maybe they’ll hear about it later.
 

Set in the year 2000, it tells the story of the attempts of the main character (me!) to qualify for Sydney and the events leading up to and beyond the Games. While holding down two low paid part-time jobs and barely scraping a living, much of his training is done around the rugged landscape of Dartmoor in Devon. In spite of it being the sixth consecutive Games that he’s qualified for and the fifth selection, he’s not having an easy time of it. Unfunded, unheralded, arguably too old, his life is a bit of a mess.

 

The sport comedy/romance underdog story has been told before in various guises with various clichéd endings. I don’t believe this one falls into that tired category.
 

Historical elements are told in prose, interviews, dialogue and flashback, and represents a true and accurate reflection of actual events. For example, I ran my first marathon when I was 10 years old. Okay, I was a cub scout doing a sponsored walk and at a time long before health and safety issues were more prominent and such madness frowned upon. But, natural competitive instincts ensured that I had to win it.

 

As a teenager I ran and walked competitively, combining my love of playing football and rugby, still doing crazy sponsored events like our town’s annual 50 mile walk which I did six times winning the last two; not necessarily the best grounding for the Moscow Olympics, but I still did more orthodox competitions.

  

Winning an International 50 kilometres race in Poland in April 1980 in a new British record and qualifying time by over three minutes had given me a great chance of competing on the greatest of all stages. Back then, I didn’t truly understand why the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan could have repercussions that would so adversely affect a naïve athlete from Devon, but it was no less heartbreaking.
 

Breaking more British 50km records in 1983 and 1984 saw me get my Olympic chance in Los Angeles. The Games were wonderful and lived up to all my hopes, dreams and expectations. Finishing 16th in 100 degrees heat, the race itself was hell however.

After graduating from Exeter University in 1986 and competing weeks later in Edinburgh at the Commonwealth Games finishing fourth in the 30km walk, I had planned to retire and try and get a good job. I’m still trying.
 

My sporting swan-song finally came in Sydney with an unexpected finale. Much of my experiences at my final Games I have tried to articulate in my recent writings. Without wishing to give my manuscript the kiss of death, I will say that they were an amazing spectacle and, with due deference to Beijing, still arguably the best Olympic Games ever.

 

For me personally, I had problems from the start. But, from the time I arrived at the Gold Coast training camp and belatedly meeting up with the rest of the British athletics team until the end of the Games, few things were predictable though ultimately so overwhelmingly memorable…which is quite handy when when you want to write about it years later.

 

Chris Maddocks is the only male athlete to have represented Britain in five Olympic Games. He retired from international competition after finishing last in the 50km race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney because he was suffering from a hamstring injury. He finished more than an hour behind the winner but was given a standing ovation by a crowd of 100,000. HIs gutsy performance was rewarded with Ron Pickering Memorial Award at the annual dinner of the British Athletics Writers' Association. He still holds a number of British records, including the 10km and 50km

 
Comments

Looking forward to reading it Mad max!You've certainly lived in
interesting times!
By Old rival

15 June 2009 at 20:06pm

Looking forward to the read. Don't take any longer as my eyesight
is starting to suffer!
Mad Mick!
By Michael Lane

15 June 2009 at 23:07pm

AS ONE WHO STARTED OFF WITH YOU IN DAWLISH AND SOUTH DEVON AND
WAS ONE OF THE 100,000 TO CHEER YOU HOME IN SYDNEY I CANT WAIT TO
READ IT.

By RAY FLYNN

16 June 2009 at 09:03am

Get a move on mate by the time you finish there will not be any
trees left to print it on!! only joking, JR Hartley eat your
heart out!!
By peter younger better looking brother

16 June 2009 at 17:39pm

Look forward to reading your prose but not looking forward to any
references... if they turn it into a film, have you contacted Tom
Cruise to play you as the lead?!!
By Rocky

16 June 2009 at 19:04pm

Rambo   ...you are a true inspiration to athletes, a legend in
the walking fraternity and an example to all , look forward  to
hearing of your life  expliots ... hope the youth of today can
read this and take your wisdom on board ... good luck in your
venture.
By George NIBRE

16 June 2009 at 20:24pm

Well done chris looking foward to reading it always remember your
words of encouragment as a young senior ,sensible Robert(as
apposed to mad mick haha)
By robert heffernan

17 June 2009 at 08:37am

This will make a pleasant change from all those "hardship"
biographies from the pampered Premiership soccer players. Bring
it on.
By Bello

17 June 2009 at 20:03pm

This will make a pleasant change from all those "hardship"
biographies from the pampered Premiership soccer players. Bring
it on.
By Bello

17 June 2009 at 20:03pm

I would walk 500 miles. . . . to read this book.
By Topsy Turner

17 June 2009 at 20:26pm

Should be a great read Chis - you provided one of the all time
great Olympic moments in Sydney 2000. Good Luck
By Greg Bowman

18 June 2009 at 00:33am

all those years of using that slate board and piece of chalk
haven't been wasted chris....truely inspirational and a winner,
well done bro.
By The Grey Wonder number uno bro

18 June 2009 at 07:01am

I was present to witness the 'heroic' effort by Chris in Sydney,
on an extremely hot day. Several athletes infact dropped out of
the race, so a great effort for Chris to finish and for everyone
to appreciate what the Olympics are all about.
By Dave Fox

18 June 2009 at 08:21am

Well done Chris.  Looking forward to reading your book.  I work
with The Grey Wonder!  I've turned grey overnight!
By Sailor Sam

18 June 2009 at 09:48am

Excellent news Cliff.  I have been waiting many years for a
solution to those twin ills of insomnia and incontinence.  I hope
the book is thick and absorbing.  I am sure, knowing you, it will
be.
By Phil the Manager

18 June 2009 at 19:40pm

As one of the privileged few to have seen extracts from Chris's
manuscript, I can faithfully report that it is funny, insightful
and evocative.  Can't wait to see it in print - this is a story
that should be told.
By Fi (fiancee and fancies herself as a literary critic)

20 June 2009 at 08:37am

Wonderful?  Having known you now for so many years I am very
pleased that as you approach old age you have now added this
string to your bow, or should that be stick.  Looking down the
blogs it is really good to see so many well wishers.  I am
particularly delighted that Phil continues to guide you with
relevant, insightful and practical advice.  Well done mate I'm
really looking forward to it.  Will it be available as a
multipack?
By Mike

21 June 2009 at 17:31pm

3am, delivering milk 2000. I turn on Radio 5 for my nightly fix
of the Sydney Olympics. My heart somersaults as I hear a very
excited athletics commentator describe the 'final 400m of this
unbelievable 50km performance from Chris Maddocks'. I stop the
van, and for about a minute, with the roar of the people in the
stadium combining with the poor AM reception and my romantic
notion that 'even an injured, old underdog has a chance' I
convince myself that he's got a medal!
Alas - I had the wrong end of the stick and he was at the wrong
end of the race, but thanks Chris for a sporting memory that I
will never forget.
Good luck!
By name

25 June 2009 at 12:32pm

Well done on yet another example of your typically consistent
determination to see a task done to the best of your ability,
this time in this new field of life. Looking forward to reading
Money Walks and to finding out the real secret behind those
pectorals!
By Niobe

25 June 2009 at 13:25pm

I know how long you have been working on this Chris so I hope
that it is as successful as it should be. Does the star of the
novel marry a lovely lady in Septetmber? Nice to see the Isle of
Man behind your head!
By Murray Lambden

25 June 2009 at 18:46pm
 

Australia will tomorrow officially launch its bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup at a high-profile ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra attended by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and players such as West Ham United's Lucas Neill and Fulham's Mark Schwarzer.

June 7 - London 2012 officials are set to back away from what would easily have been their most controversial Olympic sponsorship deal reports David Owen, who also discovers that Wimbledon is getting in the Games spirit

By Will Lloyd - 7 June 2009
 

Jose Mourinho is reported to earn around $9 million (£5.4 million) a year as the coach of Serie A football club Inter Milan. Why? Because he’s worth it - or at least his employers think so.

 

 

Mourinho has a CV to back up his claims. He steered Inter to the Italian championship this year, won the Premier league twice with Chelsea and the Champions League with Porto.

 

 

His record shows he’s a coach with the tactical understanding to unlock games, the ability to recognise and develop latent talent and to inspire his players to produce optimum performance time after time.

 

Mourinho may be at the top of football’s pay league but he is not alone. The coaches of leading soccer clubs in Europe and of NFL, NBA and MLB franchises earn massive amounts, compared to almost everybody except their own players.

 

But the Big Bucks have been largely confined to top level sport….until now.

 

There is a significant and growing body of evidence from around the world that top performance directors and coaches are now enjoying enhanced salary expectations as demand for their talents grows among government, National Federations and Olympic Committees which are ever more anxious to justify massive investment in sport by delivering Gold medal performances at important championships.

 

There is, of course, a very fine line between success and failure in sport and those performance directors and coaches who are able to help athletes make the often fractional improvement from also-ran to champion are at a premium.

 

The world watched and admired as the British Cycling team hoovered up medals in Beijing and the excellence of the coaching and performance regimen was at the heart of that success. In swimming and rowing too the back room staff have played a major role in getting the most from the athletes under their control.

 

The market for coaching talent is global and growing and feedback from our offices around the world and conversations with leading figures in sports administration suggest that the competition for coaching talent is set to step up another gear.

 

Much of the pressure is coming from those countries which have invested huge amounts in sports programmes designed to engage their own populations and to present a successful image to the world. Sporting success talks volumes. Eventually that investment has to be backed-up by success which will be recognised internationally and provide role-models who will inspire others to take-up sport. In this way sporting dynasties are founded.

 

Despite the global economic downturn, significant investment is still being made in sport in parts of the world including the Middle East and Asia. They have invested in the best facilities available and are committed to employing the necessary technical talent to help produce competitors who will shine on the world stage.

 

Outside top level pro-sports you will find a corollary in the United States college sports system. The success of a college sports programme is critical to a school’s reputation and standing and its ability to raise revenue from its alumni. Consequently sports directors and leading coaches are paid salaries in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now the same dynamics are beginning to apply to other sports.

 

So where will this trend lead?

 

While it would be rash to predict it will happen in the near future, there is certainly a case for saying that the $1 million-a -year (£608,000) performance director will eventually be with us. They are the men and women with the Golden Touch and all indications are that the Golden rewards will follow.

 

Will Lloyd is the co-founder of Sports Recruitment International, whose clients include the Football League, British Basketball and Commonwealth Games England.

 

By Duncan Mackay - 6 June 2009
 

So Tessa Jowell has avoided another bullet and retained her position as Olympics Minister after Gordon Brown's latest reshuffle announced yesterday. But even she must realise that the chances of her still being in the post by the time the Olympic flame is lit in 2012 are as about as remote as Lewis Hamilton retaining his Formula 1 world title.
 

 

Labour's opinion poll ratings are so poor that it will need the biggest shock since David beat Goliath for them to retain power when Britain goes to the polls next June.

 

That means whoever Conservative leader David Cameron appoints to replace her will have the honour of sitting in the posh seats alongside International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe at the Opening Ceremony in the new Olympic Stadium on July 27 2012.
 

But whatever happens, Jowell's immense contribution to London's successful bid should never be forgotten or underestimated. Success has a thousand fathers but failure is an orphan it is said but Jowell can justifiably claim to have been the mother of the bid. It is often forgotten now that London's campaign to host the 2012 Olympics would have been still-born if it had not been for Jowell's persistence.

In 2003 as Britain became embroiled in the hugely unpopular war with Iraq, the  then Culture Secretary nursed it gently through the Cabinet at a time when there was more opposition to it among her colleagues than support. In particular she had to convince the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown that the idea was a good one. It is a testament to her political skills that she managed to persuade Brown when all the signs coming out of Number 11 Downing Street at the time were that he was not for turning.
 

In the early days Jowell cut an unusual figure as she travelled round promoting the fledging campaign. She did not know her way round the strange world of Olympic bidding and it showed. But gradually, especially after Barbara Cassani had stepped down as chair of London 2012 and was replaced by Sebastian Coe, she grew into her role and became more enthusiastic the longer things went on.
 

She needed all that enthusiasm during the dark days of 2004 when popular public opinion was that rivals Paris were so far ahead that they were uncatchable and that London were wasting their time. That was then followed by a Panorama investigation on BBC aired on the eve of the Athens Olympics that claimed the IOC was still riddled with corruption and that votes could still be brought. This had the twin effect of meaning many of the public lost faith in whether London would be competing on a level-playing field and also upsetting the IOC so much that for a brief period there was real concern about whether it was worth continuing the bid.
 

Jowell skilfully managed to assuage the fears of both and from that emerged a better bid that went from strength-to-strength, culminating on July 6 2005 in Singapore when Rogge read out the single word that few expected to hear: "London".

Probably my favourite memory of the two years I spent travelling round the world with Jowell as she lobbied for the Games to be awarded to London came morning after the vote in the lobby of the Raffles City Convention Centre.

 

We had all been up late celebrating and were enjoying a late morning breakfast with Jowell, who was giggling like an embarrassed schoolgirl at the picture on the front page of the Straits Times which showed her and David Beckham hugging after the decision had been announced. "I think I should get a copy of that and have it as my screen-saver," she laughed.

The mood of euphoria did not last very much longer because a few minutes later an official from her office whispered something in her ear and the entire colour drained from her face.

It was, of course, the devastating news about the terrorist attacks that were unfolding back in London. At first she carried on with our coffee but then the same official came up and whispered that the number of fatal casualties was mounting. She quickly left the table to return back to her room to talk to Prime Minister Tony Blair and make arrangements to fly home.
 

It meant that any celebrations were cancelled and the capital never really had the opportunity to bask in the glory of its triumph before the inevitable rows started about building works and costs. The massive contribution of Jowell, more than almost anyone, has been largely overlooked. That is a shame because without her London 2012 would never have happened in the first place.
 

Duncan Mackay is the publisher and editor of insidethegames.com. He was the 2004 British Sports Journalist of the Year and was the athletics correspondent of The Guardian for 11 years, being the only British daily newspaper writer to correctly predict in 2005 that London's Olympic bid would be successful.

 
Comments


Interesting that the eulogy ends at the time London got awarded
the Games. Jowell has been at the forefront of most the gaffes
committed since.
By Olympic cynic

8 June 2009 at 12:44pm

I agree with Duncan's comments. I no fan of Labour but it is
clearly true that with Jowell London's bid would never have got
off the starting blocks.
By London 2012 fan

8 June 2009 at 18:38pm

Travellin' the world, Tessa and Duncan, Duncan and Tessa. Lovely,
dovely...you can't beat the old Tessa and Duncan show
By bert splendid

9 June 2009 at 15:15pm
 

Their sports machine was still in full cry. Pound for pound, the German Democratic Republic dominated world athletics. Yet many in the west questioned the mysteries of their methods conducted behind firmly guarded locked doors.

By Thomas Luff - 3 June 2009
 

The 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore will be held for two weeks in August 2010 and will help potentially showcase some great new athletes for the coming decade.

  

The competitors, who are expected to number around 3,600, will be aged from 14 to 18 and will compete in 26 sports at various facilities dotted around the island.

 

These sites range from popular tourist hotspots such as Orchard Road and Marina Bay, to the local heartlands of Toa Payoh and Tampines.

Interestingly being an island of near constant regeneration none of the facilities in use are being purpose built for the Games. This is in accordance with the requirement of the bidding cities that they shouldn’t have to build any major venues for the games. However, when you consider that Singapore already has stadia that have played host to teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as pop stars including Mariah Carey and Elton John, it’s pretty apparent that new venues aren’t needed anyway.

Along with existing top class sporting facilities Singapore also has one of the world’s best transport systems: the MRT, an above ground/ underground rail service, which is currently undergoing a massive expansion. This means spectators to the Games should have no problems getting around, vital when up to 500,000 people will watch the event. Up 15,000 of these will have travelled specifically to the island to watch the Games.

 

As a former resident of Singapore I feel this is a fantastic honour for the country and will help to position local athletes into the nation’s minds. In an island obsessed with the Premier League, local sports teams really suffer. Sitting on the terraces watching the football team next to my university, the spectators were either the very old, "uncles" as they are affectionately known or the very young.
The middle more lucrative age group wasn’t there and this is a big problem for Singapore’s sporting system.

 

Without the money and support from this demographic they cannot fund high quality talent or facilities. Proof being that in 2007 five football academies closed, citing as one of the main reasons a lack of funding. This saw the number of teenagers training on the island drop from 400 to 150 and this lack of nurturing toward young talent had often been considered a problem.

 

Despite this, it isn’t right for me to paint a picture of total sporting doom and gloom in contemporary Singapore. In response to the decline in high quality youth training, the national sporting associations and the nation’s schools signed a memorandum of understanding to help nurture young talent. This understanding has been massively aided by a pledge from the government this year of S$15million (£6.3million) toward youth sport development initiatives leading up to the Games.
 

This investment and others across the years are gradually beginning to pay off for the nation, both internationally with F1 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) choosing to hold events on the island, and locally. This follows the establishment of a national sporting school in 2004 that has begun producing some outstanding young athletes including Isabelle Li, the under-15 South East Asia champion in both doubles and singles table tennis, Cheryl Lim, silver medallist at the Asian Schools Fencing Championship and Imran Khan, son of Hamid Khan, a former Olympic competitor and top 50 ranked badminton player. All them will be available for the Games and will undoubtedly want to do well. The pressure will certainly be on for them to do so.

Aside from good sporting and economic promotion Singapore also stands to benefit culturally from these Games. Yes, Singaporeans are very competitive but they also are extremely socially orientated.

This means that whether the athletes perform well or not, many on the island feel that success shouldn’t be measured in medals. This mirrors the ideal Jacques Rogge, the President of of the IOC, laid out in his speech on awarding the Games: “These Games are not all about competition. They will also be the platform through which youngsters will learn about the Olympic values and the benefits of sport, and will share their experiences with others around the globe.”

I feel this attitude of sharing and learning seems very fitting for a nation that is gradually forcing its way into the worlds sporting spotlight and if anything the biggest hope for these Games should be to leave a lasting legacy from which to continue building.

 

Thomas Luff is a former student of Nangyang Technological University in Singapore

Comments


A lovely piece. Nice to see that you are doing stuff on the Youth
Olympics. I hope that there will be plenty more of these to come.
By Singapore Sports Fan

8 June 2009 at 12:43pm
 

By John Goodbody - 2 June 2009
 

 

The last time that rugby union was part of the Olympics was at the "Chariots of Fire" Games in 1924. It was an unseemly event, as the United States defeated France 17-3 in the final.

 

According to David Wallechinsky in his definitive book The Complete Book of the Olympics, “After two French players were injured, the US team was booed and hissed the remainder of the game. Fighting broke out in the stands and Gideon Nelson, an art teacher from Illinois, was knocked unconscious after being hit in the face with a walking stick.” The US national anthem was also booed and the American team had to be escorted from the field by police.

Rugby’s growth internationally was hampered by its subsequent exclusion from the Games, with its next global competition, the World Cup, only being held for the first time as late as 1987. Recently, the International Rugby Board (IRB) has been eager to expand the number of countries taking the sport seriously. Last July, its official report claimed that it was “stuck in a ghetto” by failing to become truly global.

 

The report, ‘Putting Rugby First’, co-authored by lawyer Quentin Smith, the chairman of English premiership club Sale, pointed out that of the 33 million people who watched the 2007 World Cup final between South Africa and England, 97 per cent came from the eight founding members, namely the four nations in the British Isles, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

The report made getting the sport back in the Olympics a priority. However, instead of promoting the proper 15-a-side game, the IRB has been keen to push rugby sevens, which has been included in events such as the Commonwealth Games, in which most of the traditional strong countries in the sport take part. And from June 15, in Lausanne, it will try to persuade the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board that it should now be included in the 2016 Games.

The IRB may be reluctant to allow the 15-a-side game to be again part of the Olympics because it might fear that would take away from the interest in the quadrennial World Cup, which is its main revenue earner. However, what everyone knows in rugby, is that seven-a-side is not just the second-best form of the sport. It is a very, very long way behind in interest compared to the 15-a-side version.

 

In most countries, which take the sport seriously, sevens is used as a useful training exercise, leading to some diverting tournaments, often staged in Britain at the end of the season. However, it is not the real thing, just as five-a-side football is not the real thing compared to 11-a-side.
 

Even in Britain, where rugby was invented, where sevens has a long history, and where there are more players than in any other country in the world, sevens is of little interest. The IRB proclaimed on its website in April that the IRB World Cup sevens in Dubai was “broadcast to 760 million people in 141 countries.”

 

Really? Well, let us look at the figures for Britain, where the event was not on terrestrial television but on Sky, the satellite channel. Its press office reports that on Saturday, March 8, the day when the finals were being staged and naturally the audiences were at their highest, the average viewing figure was 22,000 with a peak of 43,000. I will repeat that…a peak of 43,000. And this in a tournament when Wales won the title and England reached the quarter-finals. There seems quite a gap, doesn’t there, between that confirmed audience and the global figure of 760 million?
 

Despite a request, six days ago, I have been unable to obtain through the IRB representatives in which countries the remaining 759 million viewers came. Did they exist? Sky, incidentally, will regularly get more than 12 times as many viewers for 15-a-side side rugby than for ’sevens’, frequently topping 500,000.

  

One argument that the IRB is using for including sevens in the Olympics is that the main stadium could then be used for the tournament between the Opening Ceremony and the start of the athletics programme on the Friday of the first week. No events are staged in the main stadium in this period. However, this is a specious point. If the organisers wanted to use the main stadium for those few days, they could easily stage some of the football tournament there.
 

Much of the impetus for including rugby sevens in the Olympics comes from Jacques Rogge, the IOC President whose usual level-headed approach to changes, has been affected on this occasion by the fact that he is a former Belgian rugby international. Other IOC members should not be influenced on this issue by any respect for him.

They have to realise that it is an insult to the Olympic Movement that rugby sevens is being put up for consideration for inclusion in the Games and not the proper 15-a-side game. The IRB should go away and come back with the real thing in four years’ time.

When you want to come to the best party in town, you should wear your best clothes.
 

John Goodbody, a multi award-winning journalist and former rugby correspondent of the London Evening News, has covered the last 11 Summer Olympics. He is the author of the audio book ‘A History of the Olympics'.

Comments


This is an interesting piece but as someone who used to cover
rugby Mr Goodbody should know that it would be impractical for
the IRB to run a tournament involving 15s because the Olympics
takes place over 17 days which would make it impossible for the
players to recover in time.

I believe the sevens format is ideal for the Olympics because it
far more inclusive than the 15s and offers a real opportunities
for countries like Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Kenya to make an impact
on the tournament.
By Nigel Mack, Nairobi

4 June 2009 at 11:53am

The sevens is to rugby what 2020 is to cricket - and look at how
that is taking over the world! It is great entertainment but I'm
not sure it will be taken seriously by the purists.
By Funny shaped balls

5 June 2009 at 19:39pm

Rather than fussing over pure or not so pure rugby... may I
suggest the IOC should focus on a substantially more
"international" game known as squash [rackets]. Squash is played
in over 175 countries and the recent World Squash Day saw
cooperation between squash players in Iran, Egypt, Ireland, New
Zealand, South Africa, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil,
Canada, USA etc. etc. etc. Hard to think a another sport with
such true international ties.
By Jack Farley

5 June 2009 at 20:33pm

Jack is right - squash is already among the most globally
developed of sports. Surely that deserves a place more than a
sport that is hoping to use the Olympics to develop itself,
especially as it is not even taking its main game to the
Olympics. I think rugby sevens is a fabulous game and have
enjoyed myself immensely at the Twickenham Sevens. But I really
don't think it is right for the Olympics.
By Squash fan

8 June 2009 at 13:05pm
 

By Roald Bradstock - 1 June 2009
 

Last Friday was the last day for entries for the 2012 and the Arts Council's 'Artists Taking The Lead' project.

 

 
For those of you that do not know this project has a budget of £5.4 million for 12 new works of commissioned art, each worth up to £500,000.

 

 The commissioned work can be in any art form and in any location in the UK.
 

I had many ideas that I wanted to propose but the rules clearly state that there could only be one entry per artist/ person. It was tough but I picked out my best idea and pitched it. The hardest thing to do was to do it in just 400 words or less.

Have you heard of the expression "a picture worth a 1000 words?". Well try describing a visual image and concept in only 400. It is tough. I used all 400 words.
 

This was my entry: Living Landscapes:

This idea turns a hillside into a giant canvas and projector screen. The massive images created out of flowers and crops change colour, position and location as the seasons change. There would only be one image visible at a time. The full effect would take nine to 12 months to unfold and would be captured on time lapse video.

There are three different versions:
 

1) Create a image progression sequence: a horse jumping, a person running - the sequence is gradually unveiled using flowers that bloom at different times of the year in different colours. The resulting effect - a image that changes colour, position and location on the hillside - it would move over time.
 

2) Create a stationary image - it changes positions and colours but not location.
 

3) Create a single image that changes colours but not position or location.
 

These concepts combine art with British agriculture and horticulture. It also uses nature, science and technology.
 

There are two obvious subjects for these moving scapes:

1) A galloping or jumping horse - this connects with "2012", the historic hillside chalk horses (in Witlshire) and with Eadweard Muybridge's famous revolutionary photographic sequences in the 19th century.
 

2) A paralympic athlete: a wheelchair athlete racing for the finish line or a Goalball player diving to stop a goal.

 
With the paralympic theme another unique element could be added to the landscape - sound - using natures energy: wind.
 

For the wheelchair athlete wind chimes - symbolic items for wheelchair spokes - could be added. Or for a goalball player image, thousands of little bells could be placed in varying sized clusters around the hillside.
 

Using wind chimes and bells in the piece would make these landscape images even more unique - from afar they would be huge colourful images, up close the image changes from a visual piece of art to a audio work.
 

These hillside images are just half the concept. The other part is about the process behind creating this public work. Communities and schools will be involved in creating them working together and taking ownership. Photographs, videos, discussions forums could be created to document the creation process and also so that everyone in the world can become "involved" and watch through the Internet.
 

These living moving landscapes would become national landmarks, a place for tourists to come visit and a place for future generations to come and see a 2012 Olympic / Paralympic legacy.

In July each region in the UK will select three to five finalists for further development of their ideas. The winner for each region will be announced this Autumn.

 

Roald Bradstock, who was born in Hertfordshire, represented Britain in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics in the javelin. He now lives in the United States and has increasingly concentrated on his art. In 2000 he won the United States Olympic Committee Sport Art Competition and then exhibited at the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne. In 2003 he won the prestigious "International Sports Artist of the Year Award". He is a founding member of the Olympic revival movement called "Art of the Olympians". His artwork had been seen on ABC, NBC, CBS and been exhibited form the United Nations to Times Square. In the last few years he has been dubbed the "Olympic Picasso" for his visionary ideas on how to combine sport and art with the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.
To view his work visit www.roaldbradstock.com.

 

Comments

Roald, good luck with your proposal. Your passion for art and the
Olympics shines through. I really hope that the award goes to
someone like you that is able to marry the two together
perfectly.
By Ron, Harpenden

4 June 2009 at 11:55am
 

By Duncan Mackay - 29 May 2009
 

No-one would argue that with five World Cup victories to their name that Brazil is the most successful football team in history. Down the years they redefined the sport with their blend of beautiful football. The English may have invented the game, but it is the Brazilians who have perfected it, is a favourite saying on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

 

Just feeling off the names can make you feel excited. Garrincha,  Jairzinho, Rivaldo, Socrates, Zico, Ronaldo and, of course, Pele, the greatest player that the world has ever seen.

 

Pele and the World Cup go together like strawberries and cream, horse and carriage, Ant and Dec. He first shot to global prominence at the 1958 tournament in Sweden when, as a teenager, he inspired his country to their first-ever World Cup title. He missed the 1962 tournament through injury [although he was later awarded a winners' medal after Brazil retained the title in Chile] and was kicked out of the event in England in 1966 before returning spectacularly in Mexico in 1970 as part of the greatest team to grace the game. He scored one goal and set-up two others as Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in the final.

 

Pele is regularly voted the greatest sportsman in history following a career that saw him score over a 1,000 goals, including 77 in 92 internationals. Regrets? Pele should have none. But the great man does have one that he revealed to me when I spoke to him during my visit last month to Rio, where he was helping promote Rio's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. "I will always wish that I had played in the Olympics and, even better, won a gold medal," he told me. "That will always be a great regret of mine."

 

Pele is not alone in his angst. It is one shared by 200 million other Brazilians, who every four years pray that they will finally win the Olympic football tournament, the only major title that has eluded them. But, after their latest failure in Beijing last year, they are still waiting. What made it worse is that this latest defeat came at the hands in the semi-final of bitterest rivals, Argentina, who went on to retain the title they had won four years earlier in Athens. Brazil had to settle for the bronze medal, with a 3-0 victory over Belgium in the third place play-off, for the second time in four Olympics. It added to the silver medals won in 1984 and 1988 but that was of little consolation to a nation plunged into collective mourning at the final whistle of the the defeat of their team against Argentina.

 

No-one was more disappointed than Ronaldinho, the star of Brazil's team that won the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and who has twice voted as the world's player of the year by FIFA, but who, like Pele, is seemingly destined to retire without an Olympic gold medal. “At the moment there’s nothing that could cheer me up, the disappointment is huge," he said at the end of the game against Argentina. "I don’t know why but at the Olympics, Brazil always fail."

 

I thought of that earlier this year when Craig Brown, the former manager of Scotland, called the Olympic football tournament a "Mickey Mouse" event. "It's a nothing tournament," he claimed. Brown was only echoing comments made by Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, who claimed that football had no place in the Olympics because it is not the pinnacle of a players career.

 

Tell that to Nwankwo Kanu (pictured), who has enjoyed a spectacular career that has seen him win the European Cup with Ajax, the Premier League with Arsenal and the FA Cup at Portsmouth. But he has no doubt what the highlight of his career has been. It was winning the Olympic gold medal with Nigeria at Atlanta in 1996. "It was the most beautiful moment of my life," Kanu said.

 

Brown and Smith's opposition to Britain being able to enter teams [men and women's] at London 2012 and the subsequent unsatisfactory compromise announced yesterday that means only English players will be considered ensures that that opportunity to potentially feel the emotions that Kanu so enjoyed will be denied to dozens of Britain's best young players when the final is played at Wembley in just over three years time.

 

There is an unfortunate belief in this country that if Britain is not involved in a sport then it does not matter. Hence, Olympic sports such as handball and volleyball that are followed passionately abroad and are hugely popular, are dismissed as being as of no relevance. It is the same with Olympic football, it appears.

 

The tournament may be a "Mickey Mouse" event in Scotland (zero World Cup wins) but I can assure Mr Brown and Mr Smith that it means rather a lot in Brazil (five World Cup wins).  That is why the football tournament in 2012 will be one of the highlights and eagerly anticipated events of the London Olympics and why a certain Pele hopes to be there at Wembley cheering on Brazil to victory.

 

Duncan Mackay is the publisher and editor of insidethegames. He was the 2004 British Sports Journalist of the Year.

 

Comments


How refreshing to see an English journalist who realises that
football does not begin and end with  the Premiership. As a a
Brazilian living in Bristol, I know how much an Olympic gold
medal would mean to the country. When we win in London in 2012
Brazilians will celebrate just as enthusiastically as we will do
when we win the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
By Internationalist

30 May 2009 at 15:10pm

"Squawk!", said Pele, all cheery like. "You've got to love the
old Duncan Mackay!"
By arthur lemon

31 May 2009 at 22:12pm

Why are we spending so much time caring about what Scotland
thinks? They are a third-rate football nation that no-one gives
two hoots about...
By Fed up Englishman

4 June 2009 at 11:56am