The Wardman Wire

Victory for the Pommes!
Congratulations to Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe. His opposite number in Australia, Kate Ellis will now have to wear an England jersey to a sporting event thanks to our athletes not only getting more gold medals that the ever winging Aussies, but actually getting more medals over all. We have become so accustomed to coming second best to the Aussies in the 1990s that every victory we get over them is instant cause for an open bus tour through the streets of London and a few honours to the leading protagonists. But I can’t help feel that it is a bit of a false victory.

Do not get me wrong – there will be few people in the country that watch the Olympics more avidly than me. Even fewer will have had such a hoarse voice after the men’s coxless fours. Nothing pleases me more than seeing British sportsmen and women doing well in their chosen field. But I fear there is a danger we are getting carried away.

We are so much more than just about sport
After all, Britain is a nation so much more than just sport. Yes we want to beat Australia at on the sporting field but what else does Australia really have to offer in the way of culture? Sport is what Australia is all about. It is what keeps it on the consciences of the world. Yet surely even the country that gave us the ANZACs must realise that a country’s achievements should be based on more solid grounds than sport alone.

Sport is very powerful
Sport can do a lot for a country, there is no doubt about that and I do not for one second underestimate the importance nor the power of it. The image of Jesse Owens, the way South Africa was brought together by the rugby world cup, Cathy Freeman in Sydney and the way the mood has lifted slightly in the UK at a time when the bad news was threatening to just get too much. No doubt about it, the Olympics has been a force for good in this country.

Sporting success at all costs?
Yet the nagging feeling is still there. We are spending the best part of £10bn to host the games. We are spending another £600m on getting our athletes in shape to win some medals. And herein lies the problem: it is clear now that there is a direct correlation between winning gold medals and spending large sums of money. What are proving at the end of this? That Britain can spend loads on winning medals?

The Olympics are about politics as much as sport
Already the criticism has been flying about that London will not be as spectacular as Beijing, but surely that is a good thing? The Olympics for China has been so much more than a sporting event. It has been about showcasing the next major world power. Those fireworks weren’t saying anything other than “We are China, get used to us”. Russia, the US and Nazi German and just about every other host nation has used the games as a political statement. Britain should too, but it should not be a nationalistic one.

It is almost un-British to try and win. We have proved we can pay to win a few extra medals and we will pay to win a few extra more in 2012. This is fine; but let’s not lose sight of things here. There is more to life than winning a sporting event – ask great Britons such as Churchill, Darwin, Newton, Pankhurst and Cook.

To take part sometimes really can be better than winning
I truly believe “to be born British is to win first prize in the lottery of life” – and not because eleven people who were born in our country lifted the world cup in 1966. It is because I am truly lucky to live in a country not ravaged by war and disease or ruled by a murderous dictator. I live in a country that is more tolerant of others than any other nation on Earth. I live in a country that provides the sick with health care and young with education. Yes we have a thousand and one problems with our country and society but you will struggle to find another country with such strong a cultural history and a modern outlook.

In sport and real life alike, while we may not be world leaders in every area, we compete in just about all of them. Sometimes winning is not everything and taking part is. After all, while china cleaned up on the medals table, I bet most Chinese people would give up everyone of those medals to be able take part in democracy instead.

A final thought…
I will leave you with this thought. Each year over 1 million people die from malaria worldwide. The disease costs the world’s poorest continent, Africa, £12bn a year. It would cost £1bn a year for ten years to completely eradicate the disease entirely. Or one Olympic Games in London lasting just two weeks in 2012.