So the Olympics have come and gone and most of the hysteria has died down but the discussion still continues - about the Closing Ceremony mostly, as well as comparisons with other countries and occasionally something about legacy or the upcoming Paralympics.
Well I watched the closing ceremony and my thoughts on that are simple. As a party goes, it was so-so, but why was it a party? I thought it should have been related to sport and inspiring a generation. Apparently it was more about making us feel good about some British music stars. None of which have anything to do with sport, nor even hinted at sport during their antics in the stadium (I don't class riding minis, sportscars or an octopus a sport).
I went to Beijing so i have a view there too - direct comparisons of course are impossible, and there were some big differences: Beijing's Olympic Park was big in size but small in activity. Besides the swimming and the athletics, it only had a couple of gymnastics stadiums (as i recall, as most other stadiums were elsewhere in the city) and there was not much happening, nor many people around outside the stadiums--apart from when they were queueing for hours to see the massive corporate booths which were three times the effort of those in the UK (the UK is not much of a market in comparison to China). London had at 8 stadiums in the park, a mini-concert venue, a large area to watch on big TV screens and a tremendous amount of food and drink to buy (Beijing was basically McDonald's, Coke, instant noodles or sausages). Hence the Olympic Park atmosphere in London wins hands down. And it really was fun. Policemen would be seen wearing funny hats and taking photos with spectators!
And Sport - well the Chinese don't really care much about sport, or do much sport. Some of the men watch US basketball, a few younger men play it. There's the odd person who plays table tennis or badminton too but that's mostly it. Oh, i think some students do something when they are not studying, but not much. Honestly. There is no domestic sport that is well attended live and only a handful of famous sports stars (a couple in basketball, a couple in tennis and the odd one that did well in an Olympics). Whilst trying to represent 1.3bn people is tough, i think i'm being fair. And during the Olympics of course the Chinese were very happy that they got lots of medals; and maybe because they won so many it is harder for each one to be famous; but it is more that the winners were trained to be winners, and expected to be winners. There was not that much of a story to their lives. No personal interest. And since there was no real sporting interest, the public cared a lot about the Olympics but not much about the athletes or the sports.
Now the British may well forget most of the so-called household names created recently, and over time, i expect the viewing figures for some of the strange sports will drop down, but i expect --and our media will play a more important role in this than the Chinese media did-- something will last. I also think that the spirit of the Olympics existed in London. Sure there was not exactly a party on every street every day, but there were parties organized by people, there were activities organized by local governments, local sports clubs, local parks etc and Beijing had nothing. No parties were allowed (officially), the government did not organize anything at all cultural or sporting that was attended by an actual member of the public (instead of a VIP) and a miniscule minority of the population had any connection to the Olympics. Of course they have a large population - but that could be all the more opportunity for there to be more happening, with more people to participate. But China is not really big on the public organizing or participating in anything (mostly political reasons, but also cultural and historical) and the Olympics was the same.
There was certainly a great deal of pride in China--and there was in the UK too, though tainted with surprise (and maybe some disappointment) that things went well--but London was just as efficient as Beijing, and London seemed to generate real interest in the spirit of the Olympics. Though many people did care about many of the sports, unlike in China, there were many that few cared about, but people actually wanted to see them. They made the effort. As much as people in China may have wanted to say "they were there" i don't think many people tried to get there. Lots of people ended up there, since there were plenty of empty seats, but i don't really know any Chinese person who went. And my networks in China may be small and of a certain cross-section of people, but my networks in the UK are probably likewise, and everyone I know in the UK went or had tried to go.
So something was different. Something was better. And I won't go on any more. Ultimately the true test--and the benchmark--that London has set itself is about it's sporting legacy. And we need one. The UK is far and away the second fattest major nation in the World. And it's youth are hardly famed for inspiration, hard work or anything else really. China never really tried to create a legacy, at least not a sporting one. It was about showing off to its own people and to the rest of the World. Proving it's a great power. And it did that. Success. We don't know how well London will prove to have been a success beyond a couple of months in 2012. I expect it will disappoint. We Brits always do since we rarely look at the bright side of life. But if we truly look beyond the headlines, if our celebrity-obsessed media can actually do what it does well and keep some of these incredible people in the spotlight, we may find that people are inspired by role models, inspired by the history created in 2012, and maybe there will be a little support from the government and people will do more sport. Or maybe we should be a bit more American and ignore the government. Just get on our bike, put on our shoes, jump in a pool, stand beside a net on a beach or whatever it takes and just do some sport sometimes. And maybe, if it's fun, if our friends are doing it, if we feel we should be doing it, if for once we don't blame someone else, then we might just end up doing it regularly!
And that is the difference. People in the UK are encouraged to do something if they want to. The money may not always be there, but the support is. China is the opposite. So if we want there to be a positive legacy, then we need to make it happen. We, not them. There's no-one to blame but ourselves. And I think the media should recognize that and play it's role, beyond just profiling the bad (and hopefully the good too) of the sporting role models, and ask ourselves to do something.
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