The Olympic Legacy

In the long build up to and then during the recent London Olympics there was a lot of talk from the organisers about the legacy. What would be left behind for the future generations to encourage them?

I was probably a bit cynical, thinking that nothing would really change and that it would just be all forgotten fairly shortly and there would be a massive debt to contemplate.

But after watching and really enjoying The Olympics I do hope there are things that could be taken from it all.

Firstly there seems to be genuine plans with what has to happen with all the venues. While some might stay where they are there are a few which have been built in a way that they can be re-located to other parts of the country. Also there were plans to use the Olympic village as housing. Just from the finance point of view it is hoped that it all won’t end up costing a fortune and that some venues can be sold to other elite sporting organisations or used by the public.

There has also been a lot of talk from Sebastian Coe and his fellow organisers to encourage a lot more young people to get involved in sport and after seeing how a lot of people turned up to watch and support during all sorts of sports it can surely only be encouraging. Some people might not have much interest in certain sports but there was such great choice and there were great performances and role models from British competitors throughout that they cannot fail to have been enthused by something. There was even a change in traditional sports with women being noticed and doing well in traditional male events such as boxing, and football.

It was also very heartening to see all of Britains successful competitors being interviewed and come across as down to earth, hard working and likeable people. Very much a great chasm from the high earning and egotistical footballers that take up too much media space.

It would be ideal if after these games that people could find new heroes and role models. Rather than the odious John Terry and the vacuous, publicity seeking missile that is David Beckham and too many others like them it would be good if people turned their attention to more down to earth and worthwhile heroes such as Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Bradley Wiggins Sir Chris Hoy and many more.

The football season returns and the players become the big stars again but if people can remember how sport really can be and if more of the true heroes were shown to break footballs monopoly then this could be a real legacy.

Not even just for the youth. But these people can remind you about working hard and focus on what you want in life and not being in it just for your own bank balance and ego.

It’s only when you see these people behaving decently that you realise that this should be the aim and not for what we have settled for in recent years.