Sunday 24th August was the official end of the Beijing Olympics and the official day that London became 2012 Olympic city for the third time in its history.
Once upon a time the Olympics was the opportunity for talent young people to compete against each other in a variety of competitions to prove who was best at that moment in time. The was a good idea for the events to be held in different countries to promote cultural understanding and to enable different people to experience the competitions not as participants but as supporters, Special stadiums and other facilities had to be created to enable competitors to perform at their best and for as many supporters as possible to participate which in turn involved ensuring there was appropriate transport and accommodation available for the relatives and friends of the participants and for those with a general interest the different sports. At one level this is still the situation.
Then politicians and country leaders appreciated that winning events had significant benefits for the nation in terms of its status in the world and their own and enabled them to achieve a cohesion through public support for successful members of the team. It was the 1936 Games held in Germany which provided Hitler and the Nazi regime to use the games as a major propaganda event, the 1948 Games as the 1951 Exhibition provided the opportunity for Britain to show that it had survived the war and was looking forward to the future. The Atlanta Games in the USA enabled to the country to demonstrate the progress being made in combating its inherent racism and tribalism, the Sydney games provided the opportunity for Australia to dispose of its XXXX image and to mark the first stages of recognising and apologising for its horrific record towards its indigenous people. The Spanish games was an important step to show the progress since its fascist decades and Athens was a brave attempt to remind of the original objectives and values.
And then came China with echoes of 1936 Berlin.
Where were the Chinese people? Glued to TV we were lead to believe marvelling what their nation was achieving and preparing them for the sacrifices ahead as tens of millions are forced to change their lives from peasant farmers into working in the new state dictated industrial economy. They built some iconic performances areas with the bird best stadium, the swimming pool and the Ling Ling media tower, iconic memorials to the vast fortune of some 25 billion dollars devoted to creating the month of events. The won over 50 Gold medals and 100 in total. In one event there were blatant examples of a bias in favour of the hosts and yesterday a similar suggestion made about the diving although it was not won by someone from the host nation. Our youngest competition aged 14 Tom Daley acquitted himself well coming 7th in the ten metre board final. Tom Daley is not the youngest ever competitor or would have been the youngest medal winner had he succeeded in the synchronised swimming event and has a comparatively long history of participation in national and international events to some of the British competitors. His event required courage as well as skill and to finish 7th out of thirty qualifying competitors is a significant achievement. I was also impressed by his interview this morning along side to Gold Medal winners. It is to be hoped that everyone will allow him to practice and compete and to grow up without being spoilt by eh fan adulation and media interest.
Later in the Party in Mall celebration to mark the 2012 start day, the USA eight Gold Medal winner in Beijing Mark Phelps stopped over in London, his first visit to say hullo and to confirm his intention to return for 2012. His recent interview confirmed that he is a much better ambassador for the USA that my first impressions. He is still a freak human being along with Usain Bolt from Jamaica. These are two very different personalities. Phelps appears to have the made up his mind to run an international corporation or become a presidential candidate whereas Bolt could feature in the Hollywood story of his life and become one of the playboys of Caribbean world.
The closing ceremony had lots more fireworks and spectacular wow features but the tradition of the athletes breaking ranks and creating their own sense of a party was firmly resisted by the Chinese authorities, presumably with the blessing or even encouragement of the Olympic authorities. It will be interesting to see the London approach. The first indication of this was the eight minute come to London feature at the games. This comprised a Beijing to London red bus which opened up to show a London skyline made from green hedging. Former East Londoner David Beckham kicked his football and in an earlier interview mentioned that it was his father who encouraged him to practice rather than go out and to drink orange juice, Leona Lewis also a Londoner, looked gorgeous and an arrangement of a Led Zeppelin number about a whole lot of love. Having dancers with umbrellas was a good warning for visitors but I am not sure if the former band member Jimmy Page meant anything to the world wide audience and one could have used one of a dozen former or current rockers to end the message, It will be interesting to see how the media respond to the style of the segment although everyone should be pleased by the two verse well sung version of the National Anthem. The two hour closing ceremony was sandwiched between excellent BBC reviews of the Games event and their significance for London 2012, including an interview with Sebastian Lord Coe. Everything said by those directly involved suggested that Britain would be concentrating on the legacy of the games for the population in general and on promoting multiracial good sportsmanship. The first test was the party in the Mall.
The amount of organising and funding for this event only became apparent as I watched the TV event unfold. In addition to the main location outside Buckingham Palace there were some thirty screens erected around the country where there is to be direct participation in Olympic events, The closest to the north east was Middlesbrough which is one of the Football venues. This clearly demonstrated the political behind the scenes influence as Middlesbrough has the poorest crowd and local population involvement of the three teams in the three Premier teams in the North East. There were said to be 40000 to 50000 assembled in the Mall which omens well given the counter attraction of the Notting Hill carnival, sporting events including football.
After watching the event live I also listened to the radio two broadcast which had a different feel, omitting the recorded inserts of well known athletes talking of their experience and expectations. There were also only a few of he on stage interviews when the guests were impressive and the interviewers moronic. Before and in between the live acts there were more back stage interviews with the artists and some additional material, including "Keep on running", Junior Walker, "Keep on running," Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run", "Nowhere to run to Baby- Martha Reeves. 1951
Afterwards there was a special top of the pops featuring number ones at previous Olympics beginning with
Australia 1956 Johnny Ray Walking in the Rain very appropriate for London ;
Rome 1960 Apache with the Shadows;
Japan 1964 Tokyo Melody which admittedly only got to number one in the charts but was the BBC theme tune for the games. This reminds that the Chinese their own pop number called Beijing Beijing. For the Japan games 1964 the number was Roy Orbison and Pretty Woman, (also reminding that the Chinese had scoured their nation to present the beautiful, slim and tall ladies to the world but the British presentation included someone in a wheel chair and I hope this aspect will become a major feature of the opening of the Games in 2012.
Mexico Games 1968 the official British team song, was Mexico, sung by Long John Baldry, amazing given his jazz blues background. Mary Hopkins Those were the Days had been number one and continued for throughout the Games.
Munich 1972 was Rod Stewart and You wear it well. Some 700 athletes form 120 counties and 190 off medal events was the biggest until that time, but is now remembered for the terrorist horrors committed against the Israeli Team.
Montreal 1976 All- Kiki Dee and Elton John, Don't Go Breaking my Heart.;
Moscow 1980 Xandu Olivia Newton John was the number 1;
Los Angeles 1984 Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Two Tribes go to war;
Seoul 1988 He aint Heavy, He's my brother;
Barcelona 1992 Jimmy Nail I want no body else;
Atlanta 1996 Forever Love Garry Barlow;
Sydney 2000 Maria Carey and Westlife It's against all odds:
Athens 2004 Natasha Beddingfield These Words.
But what was for 2008? Given that the Games are spread over a number of weeks not all the number ones in the UK were features and it would be interesting to hear what was top of the Pops in the cities and countries where the games were held.
It emerged that the organisers had invited the artists on the basis that they would agree to perform one of the iconic songs associated with sport and performance. This resulted in Katherine Jenkins doing Nesum Dorma associated with the World Cup, and a composite rock band starting off the event with We will rock you and We are the champions of the world which have become Icon numbers of the I was there Live Aid concert at Wembley 2008.
The dancers reminded of Hair and the Gay group whose name I cannot remember but who dressed up in butch fancy dress with the hit song YMCA. This time the dancers represented youth cultures and their contemporary dress wear. The next singer, unknown to me performed Nobody does it better. James Morrison was the most negative pointing out that if the organiser wanted karaoke they should just have had karaoke and decided on an authentic performance of Imagine adding his unique voice. The Feeling felt challenged by doing a version of David Bowie's Hero for a day, and the interview with the lead singer. McFly appeared genuinely delighted to have been asked and by the audience response singing The Winner Takes All Another group Scouting for Girls did London Calling and the end of show stopper was Heather Small Proud where the twelve year old Trombonist Young Musician of the Year. Later I watched the decision programme of Last Choir Standing which was outstanding and where the Welsh Youth Choir sung for their lives and came through, I had worked this out as the three successful choirs contesting the final also performed in the Mall which must have been their greatest thrill to-date and for their families.
While Radio 2 concentrated on the music and interviews with the performers the TV show had live interviews some of the most successful athletes of times past with my favourite was Sally Gunnell who I have seen perform live at Gateshead. Now married with three sons she was thrilled to be back before the Camera and admitted that she did not usually watching the Olympics from the TV couch but had done so with her family who had been inspired. Mary Peters was there with a girl being fast tracked for Fencing while the mother of another teenager said her daughter was being fast tracked for diving which suggests that we have already identified those most likely to be able to compete at the required level. There was also evidence of the long term preparation as a water polo team were being trained for a sport where we had previously no entries or interests but were entitled to include a team as the hosts. This suggests other ventures such as baseball, beach volley ball and the like. It will be interesting to see how much of this activity is keep away from the media in the build up to the games and how far the government and the organisers will be able to keep the momentum generated by the Games to be maintained and progressed over the next four years.
I kept one eye on Teletex during the afternoon and evening as Durham progressed to a major win in the Pro Forty competition and moving to second in the Table with a game in Hand. It looked as if they could go top at one point at Middlesex appeared to have the upper hand over Hants, but they then collapsed and lost so Hants are now top of the pile which makes the four day and pro forty meeting there that much more important. My original intention to watch a replay of the Euro Grand Prix where our now Swiss based lad second to Phillipe Massa but widened his gap as top driver to six points. Rather than watch this or match of the day I had decided to write and listen having watched last week's and this week's of episode of Spooks code 9 where the story line is a good one but the script and acting pathetic. I also watched a early episode of Regan the Sweeney series in which featured the late John Thaw and his sidekick George Cole's Minder. I went to bed at midnight tired but content.
Once upon a time the Olympics was the opportunity for talent young people to compete against each other in a variety of competitions to prove who was best at that moment in time. The was a good idea for the events to be held in different countries to promote cultural understanding and to enable different people to experience the competitions not as participants but as supporters, Special stadiums and other facilities had to be created to enable competitors to perform at their best and for as many supporters as possible to participate which in turn involved ensuring there was appropriate transport and accommodation available for the relatives and friends of the participants and for those with a general interest the different sports. At one level this is still the situation.
Then politicians and country leaders appreciated that winning events had significant benefits for the nation in terms of its status in the world and their own and enabled them to achieve a cohesion through public support for successful members of the team. It was the 1936 Games held in Germany which provided Hitler and the Nazi regime to use the games as a major propaganda event, the 1948 Games as the 1951 Exhibition provided the opportunity for Britain to show that it had survived the war and was looking forward to the future. The Atlanta Games in the USA enabled to the country to demonstrate the progress being made in combating its inherent racism and tribalism, the Sydney games provided the opportunity for Australia to dispose of its XXXX image and to mark the first stages of recognising and apologising for its horrific record towards its indigenous people. The Spanish games was an important step to show the progress since its fascist decades and Athens was a brave attempt to remind of the original objectives and values.
And then came China with echoes of 1936 Berlin.
Where were the Chinese people? Glued to TV we were lead to believe marvelling what their nation was achieving and preparing them for the sacrifices ahead as tens of millions are forced to change their lives from peasant farmers into working in the new state dictated industrial economy. They built some iconic performances areas with the bird best stadium, the swimming pool and the Ling Ling media tower, iconic memorials to the vast fortune of some 25 billion dollars devoted to creating the month of events. The won over 50 Gold medals and 100 in total. In one event there were blatant examples of a bias in favour of the hosts and yesterday a similar suggestion made about the diving although it was not won by someone from the host nation. Our youngest competition aged 14 Tom Daley acquitted himself well coming 7th in the ten metre board final. Tom Daley is not the youngest ever competitor or would have been the youngest medal winner had he succeeded in the synchronised swimming event and has a comparatively long history of participation in national and international events to some of the British competitors. His event required courage as well as skill and to finish 7th out of thirty qualifying competitors is a significant achievement. I was also impressed by his interview this morning along side to Gold Medal winners. It is to be hoped that everyone will allow him to practice and compete and to grow up without being spoilt by eh fan adulation and media interest.
Later in the Party in Mall celebration to mark the 2012 start day, the USA eight Gold Medal winner in Beijing Mark Phelps stopped over in London, his first visit to say hullo and to confirm his intention to return for 2012. His recent interview confirmed that he is a much better ambassador for the USA that my first impressions. He is still a freak human being along with Usain Bolt from Jamaica. These are two very different personalities. Phelps appears to have the made up his mind to run an international corporation or become a presidential candidate whereas Bolt could feature in the Hollywood story of his life and become one of the playboys of Caribbean world.
The closing ceremony had lots more fireworks and spectacular wow features but the tradition of the athletes breaking ranks and creating their own sense of a party was firmly resisted by the Chinese authorities, presumably with the blessing or even encouragement of the Olympic authorities. It will be interesting to see the London approach. The first indication of this was the eight minute come to London feature at the games. This comprised a Beijing to London red bus which opened up to show a London skyline made from green hedging. Former East Londoner David Beckham kicked his football and in an earlier interview mentioned that it was his father who encouraged him to practice rather than go out and to drink orange juice, Leona Lewis also a Londoner, looked gorgeous and an arrangement of a Led Zeppelin number about a whole lot of love. Having dancers with umbrellas was a good warning for visitors but I am not sure if the former band member Jimmy Page meant anything to the world wide audience and one could have used one of a dozen former or current rockers to end the message, It will be interesting to see how the media respond to the style of the segment although everyone should be pleased by the two verse well sung version of the National Anthem. The two hour closing ceremony was sandwiched between excellent BBC reviews of the Games event and their significance for London 2012, including an interview with Sebastian Lord Coe. Everything said by those directly involved suggested that Britain would be concentrating on the legacy of the games for the population in general and on promoting multiracial good sportsmanship. The first test was the party in the Mall.
The amount of organising and funding for this event only became apparent as I watched the TV event unfold. In addition to the main location outside Buckingham Palace there were some thirty screens erected around the country where there is to be direct participation in Olympic events, The closest to the north east was Middlesbrough which is one of the Football venues. This clearly demonstrated the political behind the scenes influence as Middlesbrough has the poorest crowd and local population involvement of the three teams in the three Premier teams in the North East. There were said to be 40000 to 50000 assembled in the Mall which omens well given the counter attraction of the Notting Hill carnival, sporting events including football.
After watching the event live I also listened to the radio two broadcast which had a different feel, omitting the recorded inserts of well known athletes talking of their experience and expectations. There were also only a few of he on stage interviews when the guests were impressive and the interviewers moronic. Before and in between the live acts there were more back stage interviews with the artists and some additional material, including "Keep on running", Junior Walker, "Keep on running," Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run", "Nowhere to run to Baby- Martha Reeves. 1951
Afterwards there was a special top of the pops featuring number ones at previous Olympics beginning with
Australia 1956 Johnny Ray Walking in the Rain very appropriate for London ;
Rome 1960 Apache with the Shadows;
Japan 1964 Tokyo Melody which admittedly only got to number one in the charts but was the BBC theme tune for the games. This reminds that the Chinese their own pop number called Beijing Beijing. For the Japan games 1964 the number was Roy Orbison and Pretty Woman, (also reminding that the Chinese had scoured their nation to present the beautiful, slim and tall ladies to the world but the British presentation included someone in a wheel chair and I hope this aspect will become a major feature of the opening of the Games in 2012.
Mexico Games 1968 the official British team song, was Mexico, sung by Long John Baldry, amazing given his jazz blues background. Mary Hopkins Those were the Days had been number one and continued for throughout the Games.
Munich 1972 was Rod Stewart and You wear it well. Some 700 athletes form 120 counties and 190 off medal events was the biggest until that time, but is now remembered for the terrorist horrors committed against the Israeli Team.
Montreal 1976 All- Kiki Dee and Elton John, Don't Go Breaking my Heart.;
Moscow 1980 Xandu Olivia Newton John was the number 1;
Los Angeles 1984 Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Two Tribes go to war;
Seoul 1988 He aint Heavy, He's my brother;
Barcelona 1992 Jimmy Nail I want no body else;
Atlanta 1996 Forever Love Garry Barlow;
Sydney 2000 Maria Carey and Westlife It's against all odds:
Athens 2004 Natasha Beddingfield These Words.
But what was for 2008? Given that the Games are spread over a number of weeks not all the number ones in the UK were features and it would be interesting to hear what was top of the Pops in the cities and countries where the games were held.
It emerged that the organisers had invited the artists on the basis that they would agree to perform one of the iconic songs associated with sport and performance. This resulted in Katherine Jenkins doing Nesum Dorma associated with the World Cup, and a composite rock band starting off the event with We will rock you and We are the champions of the world which have become Icon numbers of the I was there Live Aid concert at Wembley 2008.
The dancers reminded of Hair and the Gay group whose name I cannot remember but who dressed up in butch fancy dress with the hit song YMCA. This time the dancers represented youth cultures and their contemporary dress wear. The next singer, unknown to me performed Nobody does it better. James Morrison was the most negative pointing out that if the organiser wanted karaoke they should just have had karaoke and decided on an authentic performance of Imagine adding his unique voice. The Feeling felt challenged by doing a version of David Bowie's Hero for a day, and the interview with the lead singer. McFly appeared genuinely delighted to have been asked and by the audience response singing The Winner Takes All Another group Scouting for Girls did London Calling and the end of show stopper was Heather Small Proud where the twelve year old Trombonist Young Musician of the Year. Later I watched the decision programme of Last Choir Standing which was outstanding and where the Welsh Youth Choir sung for their lives and came through, I had worked this out as the three successful choirs contesting the final also performed in the Mall which must have been their greatest thrill to-date and for their families.
While Radio 2 concentrated on the music and interviews with the performers the TV show had live interviews some of the most successful athletes of times past with my favourite was Sally Gunnell who I have seen perform live at Gateshead. Now married with three sons she was thrilled to be back before the Camera and admitted that she did not usually watching the Olympics from the TV couch but had done so with her family who had been inspired. Mary Peters was there with a girl being fast tracked for Fencing while the mother of another teenager said her daughter was being fast tracked for diving which suggests that we have already identified those most likely to be able to compete at the required level. There was also evidence of the long term preparation as a water polo team were being trained for a sport where we had previously no entries or interests but were entitled to include a team as the hosts. This suggests other ventures such as baseball, beach volley ball and the like. It will be interesting to see how much of this activity is keep away from the media in the build up to the games and how far the government and the organisers will be able to keep the momentum generated by the Games to be maintained and progressed over the next four years.
I kept one eye on Teletex during the afternoon and evening as Durham progressed to a major win in the Pro Forty competition and moving to second in the Table with a game in Hand. It looked as if they could go top at one point at Middlesex appeared to have the upper hand over Hants, but they then collapsed and lost so Hants are now top of the pile which makes the four day and pro forty meeting there that much more important. My original intention to watch a replay of the Euro Grand Prix where our now Swiss based lad second to Phillipe Massa but widened his gap as top driver to six points. Rather than watch this or match of the day I had decided to write and listen having watched last week's and this week's of episode of Spooks code 9 where the story line is a good one but the script and acting pathetic. I also watched a early episode of Regan the Sweeney series in which featured the late John Thaw and his sidekick George Cole's Minder. I went to bed at midnight tired but content.
No comments:
Post a Comment