Olympic Legacy

I have come through the last fortnight without watching any of the Olympics apart from the news. You couldn't avoid it there. This isn't going to be a gripe or a rant though.

My belief in the basic goodness of the human spirit has been reinforced over and over again by everyone taking part in any way whatsoever. The athletes deserved the cheers & encouragement & medals if they were lucky. Their effort and dedication puts most of us to shame. The organisers delivered a stunning location & largely glitch free infrastructure. I can't begin to grasp the complexity of the organisation & the number of people involved. The thousands of helpful & cheerful volunteers proved that not everyone looks for monetary reward or kudos of some sort. They did it simply because they wanted to contribute & take part. Finally the crowds of supporters - as far as I could see good humour prevailed. No fights, no drunkeness, not even any pushing & shoving. Just simple enjoyment & evenhandedly cheering the winners & the losers.

It is just so refreshing amidst the continuing news of financial wrongdoing & greed resulting in almost meltdown of the entire system. It's so different to the self aggrandisment & colossal over remuneration of people like footballers, "celebrities" & bankers. Hooliganism at football matches & bad behaviour by so called "role models" off the pitch couldn't be more different than the behaviour of all the athletes.

For a "buttoned down" nation we proudly wore our hearts on our sleeves. I thought it was really refreshing to see such genuine emotion on the faces of so many - athletes & onlookers alike. We shared in the victories & defeats & we admired the effort. Most of us knew that we couldn't aspire to reach the heights of skill displayed, but we wanted the athletes to know that it truly was the taking part that mattered.

In our generally negative news media there was a universal celebration of good news, apart from the glitch in the first week before the medals started rolling in. I suppose old habits die hard. Let's hope it lasts. Let's hope that in future there is a better balance between good and bad news. We should celebrate good news as well as be well informed about bad. Good news obviously does sell newspapers - hopefully the media moguls will remember that.