London 2012: A Games for Everyone?

As Lord Sebastian Coe spoke at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games, reflections of London 2012 were already beginning. Charged with providing a ‘Games for everyone’, Coe believes London 2012 was in fact A Games BY everyone. The Paralympics that followed, and the unprecedented crowd support for the brave and miraculous athletes, only served to enforce this belief. Throughout the Olympics, the BBC broadcast countless athletes, coaches and foreign visitors praising everything about the Games. Realistically there will have been complaints and issues too, most notably the ticketing row and the inability shown early on to pick apart the flags of North and South Korea, but the reaction was positive for a reason. Venues were as full as the public could possibly make them, and accredited seating aside; all sports were supported by enthusiastic, full houses. The volunteer army that greeted the guests were polite, cheerful and informative, and made the predicted chaos of security checks, a serene passage from the outside world into zones of unbridled joy.

Back in 2005 when London was announced as the 2012 Olympic hosts, it was hard to understand the enormity of what would follow, but even then, as a 13 year old, I knew this could only mean good things. When my dad phoned me during my lunch break at school to break the good news I punched the air in celebration, and 7 years later I can confirm that reaction was absolutely justified.

Looking solely at the sporting action, both the Olympic and Paralympic Games included enough standout moments to have them remembered as one of the greatest Games of the modern era. Records tumbled, and rivalries were renewed as stars like David Rudisha pushed the boundaries of their sports. Rudisha ran the 800 metres in 1:40:91, and it is very hard to explain how astonishing that achievement is without simply trying to run that distance yourself and then measuring the difference. So great was the speed endurance of Rudisha, and the effect this had in pushing all of the runners in the final, that all of them were quicker than the time posted by the winner of the event in Beijing four years earlier. Sticking with Athletics, the story heading into London 2012 was the rivalry of defending 100, 200 and 4x100 relay champion Usain Bolt, and his fellow countryman, and training partner, Yohan Blake. Blake had beaten Bolt in the Jamaican trials over 100 and 200 metres, but come Olympic competition time, it was all about Bolt. This can be summed up simply by the delight on Blake’s face as he celebrated his two silver medals; he knew he was racing for second place, even if the public didn’t. Once again Bolt was the face of the Olympic Games, because as an athlete he is astonishing, but he is also a real character, and nothing is more important in creating sporting drama, than the personality of those involved.

There are many other examples of individual triumph across every sport at both Games, to list and describe them all would be impossible, but to mention a few is important. The British teams in particular captured the nation’s imagination, and really worked alongside the process of hosting to create a pride in being from this small island of great achievement. New names were cast into the spotlight, and in the same action, they cast their sport into it too. Peter Wilson took on men old enough to be his father in the double-trap shooting and claimed a Gold that has just seen BBC Sport produce a feature on his post-Olympic experience. Jonnie Peacock was Britain’s Paralympic Athletics sensation. In the T44 100 metre final, he destroyed a field that included the most famous Paralympian in the world, Oscar Pistorious. Without going into detail I’d also like to mention the medals won by Mo Farah, Laura Trott, Sir Chris Hoy, The team show jumpers, Gemma Gibbons, Andy Murray and Laura Robson as personal highlights. For anybody who didn’t see these moments, or wishes to relive them, all of the footage is still available on the BBC website and is worth a watch.

The venues for London 2012 were exceptional. Both those created for the event, and those adapted, were beautifully turned out and expertly manned. My one reservation regarding stadia lies with the position of the Olympic stadium on a plateau separated from the rest of the Olympic Park. This created problems with overcrowding as LOCOG explicitly maintained that spectators could not exit this plateau and then re-enter it during a session. When a lull in play signalled a good time to get lunch this led to huge queues and thousands of people moving in every direction around the outside of the stadium. Large crowds are of course no surprise in an event of this magnitude, and this was the only venue I personally experienced any that were particularly uncomfortable.

As a cricket fan I was excited by the chance to go to Lords and see an Olympic event. Almost unrecognisable from its existence as the Home of Cricket, the Ground was well turned out and served as a spectacular scene for Archery, a sport that until I saw it, was hard to picture as a spectator friendly sport. My favourite venue however, was Horse Guards Parade. Sandwiched between Downing Street, the Thames and The Mall, the Beach Volleyball was the unexpected star of the Olympic Games. A picturesque backdrop mixed with the samba-style party atmosphere led to a strange scenario in which the beach was placed in the centre of London. My day at Horse Guards was capped off nicely with the news of Bradley Wiggins’ Gold medal ringing around the stadium, but having watched plenty of the Beach Volleyball on television too, I can safely say any visit there would have been well worth it.

Both the BBC and Channel 4 did themselves proud in covering London 2012. Channel 4 was never going to be able to match up to the comprehensive coverage of the Olympics by the BBC, but what must be considered is what they did do, not what they did not. The Channel 4 bid was as extensive as a privately funded television channel could possibly be, and although the adverts were a constant frustration, they aired much more of the 2012 Paralympics than has ever been done before, and this is a step in the right direction.

Credit where credit is due though, the BBC coverage was brilliant. The only complaints I heard about their coverage were focussed on the limited ‘Red Button’ action for Freeview customers compared to those on Sky and online, and the inclusion of Colin Jackson as part of the commentary team for the 3D coverage of the Opening Ceremony. Claire Balding and Gabby Logan stood out as the best informed and most likeable presenters, and the analysis of Ian Thorpe from the Aquatics Centre, Sir Steve Redgrave at Eton Dorney and Mark Cavendish from the Velodrome were equally brilliant.

Finally I will address the statement by Lord Coe. The venues were magnificent, it was planned superbly, it was staffed by friendly and knowledgeable volunteers and reassuring military personnel and it was supported by crowds of people who felt a part of every minute. Due to the coverage of the BBC and Channel 4 spanning the entire day, even those at home were able to feel involved. This simply says to me that he was absolutely spot on, London 2012: A Games by Everyone.