Vancouver’s Winter Olympics began in tragedy, and throughout its two weeks was on the receiving end of much publicised criticism over various aspects of their running of the Games. While the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the competition’s eve won’t soon be forgotten, the fortnight’s action that followed served to overshadow much of the negativity towards the event as Canada and the watching world once more found itself immersed in the bi-yearly ritual of the Olympics.
From the moment Alexandre Bilodeau won gold in the men’s moguls, securing the host-nation’s first such medal in three attempts at hosting an Olympic Games, the collective sigh of relief was almost audible as Canada truly begun to enjoy itself. Fourteen gold medals, seven silvers and five bronze arrived as Vancouver found itself at the heart of a once slightly sceptical country embracing the Olympics.
While not diminishing the efforts of the several talented athletes that worked to bring in this sparkling haul, it was that final medal, the ice hockey gold secured in a 3-2 victory over the United States that proved sweetest of all.
Hockey is Canada’s game, the sport they live and breathe every day. Seeing their country’s athletes prove so successful elsewhere was wonderful. But coming out on top in a sport that goes beyond the seasonal and into the very fabric of a country, that has made these Games more than just an event, but a part of Canadian folklore.
The focus now shifts to London as it prepares to hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics. However leaving aside for now the issues of sporting and social legacy, just how will our Games as an event come to be defined in the years that follow as the British public look back on the time the Olympic flame burnt in London once more? Will one sport in particular capture our imagination as we look to embrace the Olympic spirit, or will competition rather than success define it?
Football at the Olympics
When it comes to the way we consume our national sport of football, in many ways we are not that different to the Canadians and hockey. Kids are brought up playing it, and generally it is a passion that will exist in us for the rest of our lives. More than just a sport it is a legitimate and important part of our national identity. But in terms of the Olympics, football and Great Britain do no co-exist so simply.
Ice hockey gold at the Winter Olympics is arguably the pinnacle of someone like Canadian superstar Sidney Crosby’s career. But for Wayne Rooney, such comparison would be winning the World Cup or European Championships with England. The merit of the Olympic football competition is not in question, after all this is a tournament highly regarded in many parts of the world including football powerhouses like Brazil and Argentina. But the complicated nature of the Home Nations as footballing sovereignties has meant that Great Britain has not competed in the tournament since 1972, all but devaluing it in the eyes of the British soccer fan.
The latest, as of last year, is that Great Britain will enter a football team in London 2012. But this will likely only consist of English players; with the Football Associations of the remaining Home Nations fearful of losing their independence from FIFA should they allow their countrymen to participate. If such a plan was to go ahead it will not help the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) in fighting suggestions that these Games are more than just for the English.
It is hard to imagine a GB football team could exist as the Canadian hockey team did, with the pulse of a nation at its heart. With Euro 2012 only coming a month or so before, the fortunes of an Olympic team consisting of predominantly under-23 players would not likely grab the attention of the country’s football fans in the way an England side competing at a major tournament would. Part of the reason why the Olympic tournament is of higher importance in continents like South America is its scheduling in otherwise tournament free years.
Cycling
If there is one sport capable of doing at the Olympics what will be hereafter referred to as ‘doing a hockey’, it might be the world-beating behemoth of the GB cycling team. Its credentials as the ‘national sport’ do not come close to matching football, but its enormous success at Beijing in 2008 has ensured that expectation will be huge come 2012.
Without this success there is no doubting cycling would have struggled to produce the levels of popularity it has been building since then. But successful it was, and there is reason to believe that going into the next Olympics Great Britain are capable of replicating this. Travelling to a foreign land and conquering those who dare to cross your path gives much to be proud about. But victory on home soil, with your compatriots there to witness it, creates a special kind of goodwill that could take the sport forward even further.
There is no getting away from the target that now rests on the back of Team GB, with the rest of the world eager to claw back the gap that was created in the velodrome around Beijing. Rest assured they will not be dragged back so easily, with positive performances at the 2009 World Track Championships suggesting plans are well in motion for defending their sizable Olympic medal haul in two years time.
Just as interesting are GB’s prospects out on the road. The introduction of Team Sky to the world circuit this year, masterminded by track guru Dave Brailsford, has come with the direct aim of crowning a British Tour De France winner within the next few years. With Brailsford’s track record (pun intended) and the revelatory performances of Bradley Wiggins (now competing without the added pressure of the track) it is a legitimately realistic aim, and one whose realisation could reap dividends when it comes to the Olympic Road Race.
With all due respect to track cyclists, the Road Race is a far more entertaining viewing.
Watching Nicole Cooke time her finish to perfection in Beijing, where she picked her moment perfectly so as to explode off the front with not enough space left for her rivals to catch her was riveting viewing and just a tad more exciting than watching Chris Hoy comfortably destroy his opposition. Cooke, only 29 in 2012, has a great chance of repeating her achievement. Also should he compete in the event, the British public will find much to get excited about in the prospect of a dazzling Mark Cavendish sprint finish.
Not one single moment
Perhaps though, what Britain can truly take from hosting the Olympics is the opportunity it will give to see these world class performers on our shores.
While it would be wonderful should one sport ‘do a hockey’ in London, the preparation seemingly going into the Games should hopefully ensure we witness a decent level of performance across the board from Team GB.
In trying to force these great, defining Olympic moments it is quite possible to either lose the spontaneity all together, or as has happened in British sport so often, backfire completely.