Aquest estiu ho
hem passat de meravella mirant les olimpiades per la tele a Anglaterra. La
cobertura del BBC ha estat molt bé, i hem vist de tot, i, com no, xalat com mai
amb els èxits dels Team GB !! I els de Yorkshire – crec que van explicar
que si Yorkshire fos un país hauria acabat 11 o 12 en la taula final de
medalles.
Una de les coses
més interessants que gairebé tota la premsa ha remarcat és que aquests jocs son
un bon exemple de com es pot fer esport i ser educat, generós, honrat, humil –
quan fins ara per molts de joves els seus role-models havien sigut els mals
exemples dels futbolistes. A modo d’exemple, la primera dona en l’historia dels
jocs en guanyar una medalla en boxeig, va resumir el seu èxit amb la frase,
“It’s made my day” (m’ha alegrat el dia)!
A banda de
l’esport, aquest any vaig decidir de mirar les ceremonies d’obertura i de
closura com ja us vaig dir al bloc, bàsicament per a la música. Bé, si la
d’obertura em va agradar molt, no puc dir lo mateix de la de closura. Va tenir
moments impactants com els Pet Shop Boys
o The Kinks, però també trobo que, per ser una festa per als participants, es
van dedicar massa temps als “vells” (George Michael, per exemple), que els
esportistes de 20 anys ja no coneixen.
En fi, a veure
fins a quan podem fer aguantar els bons sentiments que va generar el London 2012
....
Luckily we
were in the UK for the Olympics and, although we couldn’t go to London, we
managed to get through hours and hours of the BBC’s relatively good cover. What
a year for Team GB, and for Yorkshire!
I was
particularly interested to read many articles referring to the fact that most
Olympic sportspeople seem to be polite, humble, honest, fair etc, and may
provide a better role model for youngsters than some of our football players! If
I had to stick with one phrase to sum up the Olympic spirit, I’ll go with what
the first female boxer to ever win a gold medal (in the entire universe!) had to say, in a typically
down-to-earth manner: “It’s made my day”. Wayne Rooney, watch and learn!
Apart from
sport, I also made an effort to watch the opening and closing ceremonies for a
change – basically for the music. I was impressed by the opening one, but found
the closing one a bit of a let-down. If it was supposed to be a party for the
participants, why did they have on so many “elderly” singers and groups that
most 20-year old Russian athletes will never have heard of. Obviously a few
exceptions made my night, such as the Pet Shop Boys and The Kinks.
