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Newsdesk 2012

			
 ***************************************************
 RANELAGH HARRIERS E-NEWS # 383             1 September 2012
 Editor: Steve Rowland
 mailto: steverowland@ranelagh-harriers.com  
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  OLYMPICS SPECIAL 

Some Ranelagh Harriers might have dim and distant memories of the 1948
London Olympic Games, but for most of us having the world's biggest sporting
event on our doorstep has been a once in a lifetime experience. And what a
great job London has done. No city could hope to match the extravagance of
Beijing's Games but we did it our way and the British people took the Games
to their hearts.

Security fears proved groundless (or else were quietly dealt with out of
sight) and there was a fantastic buzz in central London and at all the
Olympic sites. Olympic rings were everywhere from Tower Bridge to Trafalgar
Square. Uniformed volunteers - the Games Makers - were ubiquitous,
unfailingly cheerful and eager to help. Major rail and Underground stations
had dedicated teams waiting to offer advice to bewildered visitors. Almost
every session of every sport was sold out. The noise generated by the
partisan crowds in the stadia was deafening. And unprecedentedly it looks as
if the Paralympics - which are taking place as I write - have equally caught
the public imagination.

Many Ranelagh members were involved in some way and we had two former
members as part of Team GB. Triathlete Stuart Hayes and Marathoner Scott
Overall were both  Ranelagh members as youngsters and experienced differing
fortunes in the Games. Stuart, although finishing down the field in 37th
place, was in the team primarily to act as a "domestique" (helper) to the
Brownlee brothers. They won the gold and bronze medals, so Stuart can be
adjudged to have done his job well. Scott, now a member of Blackheath and
Bromley, found it tough going in the Marathon and, struggling in the closing
stages, finished 61st in 2:22.37.

Hugh Jones was the official course measurer for the marathons and walks, and
during the marathons could be seen hanging out of the window of the press
truck desperately trying to see what was going on!

Hugh aside, the highest profiles amongst current membership were those of
Duncan Mallison and Nathan Mills, who were amongst the cast of thousands at
the spectacular Opening Ceremony. Here's Duncan:

"It was shortly after the results of the Olympic ticket ballot had been
released, and somewhat disappointed with my Wednesday afternoon Table Tennis
tickets, that I saw an item on the London 2012 website requesting volunteers
to appear in the opening ceremony and thought this might be my only way into
the games! A few months later I was invited to attend an audition at 3 Mills
TV studios in East London. After a couple of hours of dancing and acting,
certainly neither strong points of mine, I left thinking that it was a fun
experience but that I would never hear back. As my wife kindly pointed out I
would probably be one of those really bad auditions you see in the early
weeks of X-Factor. However somehow I was invited back for a second audition
in January and shortly after received the news that I had been chosen!

Then arrived the rehearsal schedule - ever Saturday and Sunday and some
weekdays from May to July! Early rehearsals took place on a patch of waste
ground near the Ford plant in Dagenham where the only audience was the
speeding traffic on the A13. The weather was appalling, without fail every
Saturday and Sunday was cold, wet and windy. It became obvious at the first
rehearsal that we hadn't been chosen for our dancing ability, we were the
heavy lifters changing the scene from a green and pleasant countryside to an
industrial landscape, which involved the removal of 2,000 props and pieces
of grass in 16 minutes.

It was clear from the off that this was a work in progress, and that no one
was entirely sure how we were going to do it. We soon became expert at
sitting around for hours and waiting to be told what to do whilst swapping
stories with new-found friends. Progress was slow as we tried to work the
logistics of this thing, every so often a breakthrough would occur, only for
us to take a step back. After five weekends in Dagenham, most of us still
had no real idea what was going on.

Rehearsals shifted at the end of June to the Olympic Stadium. We now got to
work with the real props in a stadium we had to ourselves. After the wet
cold days in Dagenham everyone seemed to get a burst of renewed enthusiasm.
Despite the rain, the waiting around, the tiredness and the heavy turf, it
was always the human element that got us through. I nearly quit a million
times - I sacrificed time, money, my social life, my family and my ability
to function at work on Mondays - but the main reason why I didn't was that I
couldn't have left the friends I'd made. We were in it together, and we were
in it to the end.

The final week was magical. Eton Manor, our cast holding area, was bathed in
sunshine and there was a festival atmosphere as we all sat around in our
miscellaneous costumes. Two dress rehearsals to a full stadium on Monday and
Wednesday gave us an insight into what we could expect. Friday was one of
those days when things just seem to fall into place. As we made our way to
the stadium for the last time, pausing to watch the Red Arrows splash our
national colours across the sky, we kept reminding ourselves that this was a
moment we could never capture in a photograph or fully explain to our
friends, we just had to be in it, here and now.

The tension as we waited to go on was electrifying. As we came out into the
stadium I was fully aware for the first time of the crackle of excitement
from the crowd around us and the adrenaline was really pumping. We had only
managed to successfully complete our section a couple of times during our
rehearsals either within the 16 minutes or without something going seriously
wrong but as they say 'it will be all right on the night!'

It's strange now having weekends free from rehearsals. Running has been on
the back burner over the summer so having being inspired by the action after
the opening night, it's time now to get some serious training done.
Alternatively I learn Portugese and Samba and head off to Rio in four
years!"

Nathan adds:
"I auditioned hoping for a drumming part and ended up with a dance role.
Doesn't say much for my drumming skills!  I'm so glad I took part and
although I was definitely out of my comfort zone (Wayne Sleep I am not) I
enjoyed every minute, especially the moment where I found out that I would
not be wearing a 70's style Lycra cat suit but instead a rather fetching
sixties combo of grey trousers black shoes and orange coloured cardigan,
phew.  And this year I can proudly say that I have a dancing injury, rather
than a running injury.  It's still my hamstrings but since I haven't done
any road races this summer I can't really blame running can I?!"

As part of its journey to the Olympic Stadium, the flame travelled down the
Thames in a flotilla of boats. Paul Gregory was in one of the skiffs:

"An early start of 5.30am was needed to skiff up to Hampton Court and get
into position. There was a little bit of waiting as Matthew Pinsent was
about 20 minutes late with the torch, so the procession rolled off nearer
8am than 7.30.

The weather was kind after the cold and drenched Queen's Silver Jubilee
Pageant, where we were in open skiffs for eight hours and not allowed to
drain liquids over the sides of the boats!  There were cheering crowds of
high volume on both banks all the way down, definitely a party atmosphere.
At Teddington Lock, it was clear that there might be delays, so we were able
to go down the skiff rollers and not via the locks, about one boat each
minute.  The good part was when we came out, we were in an ideal position to
see 'Gloriana' which was heading the procession and many pictures were taken
of this magnificent craft. It was very congested as we approached Richmond,
and a cutter went straight in front of our skiffs with near disaster.

The skiffs departed from the procession at Richmond half lock and went back
to Richmond Bridge. On the way back, the Swan was sighted and we drew up on
the slipway.  Precisely as we left the skiffs at 10am the heavens opened as
the weather forecast said, so we took refuge in the nearest pub, what else?
There, the Olympic Torch Relay was toasted and reviewed - it was an honour
and a privilege to take part and see the enthusiasm of everyone - a
wonderful day."

Of the many "Games Makers", we have collected a few personal accounts from
Ranelagh members. I'm sure more were involved but these should give a
flavour of the kind of activities the volunteers were drafted in to cover.
We heard in e-news 381 from Frances Ratchford who was a judge's assistant at
the walking events. To keep all of the accounts together, here's Frances's
report again:

"I have just taken part in an Olympic Final and I am going to take part in
two more next Saturday. You did not know tiddlywinks was an Olympic sport I
hear you say, thank you!  Let me explain; last Saturday I was a judge's
assistant for the men's 20k Walk in the Mall.  The judge gives me a piece of
paper with the athlete's number on and their offence (athlete not judge)
which can be as heinous as bending their knee or something equally awful, I
enter it on  my machine then it magically appears on a giant scoreboard on
The Mall....... oh and all around the world!  So it really is a relaxing
job, no pressure.

If you want to spot me I am in that mauve and red confection of a uniform
which mark us all out as something called "Games Makers".  I felt a little
self conscious when I wore the uniform for the first time but then began to
like it; people smile at you, ask you to take photos of them in front of
landmarks and ask worrying questions.  One American family accosted me on
Waterloo station and asked me to help them plan an interesting walk round
London.

How did I get here you ask?  It began last year when I volunteered to help
with the test event for the marathon but found myself working on....you
guessed, the 20K walk.  Since then I have been to training sessions with
10,000 others at Wembley Arena, more intimate training sessions with only a
couple of hundred others and last week a specialist training half hour with
eight people,  my fellow assistants.  Everyone working in my team seems to
be an official either in athletics or some other sport: one man officiates
in carpet bowls, not sure I see the link but who am I to question the
selection procedure. Strangely no one has ever helped with Walks events
before; perhaps the people doing the lap chart for the Olympic marathon are
all experts on the 50K walk.

Have I enjoyed it?   Yes, of course, I still can't believe I have been part
of the Olympics in London, the atmosphere, razzmatazz and overwhelming crowd
noise has been stunning, everything you'd expect from a final and more.
Sadly by Saturday evening it will all be over for me but perhaps Rio want
some help in four years' time!!!"

Christian Vaughan writes:

"Like Frances, I was a Games Maker at the Mall...although ironically the
only Mall event which I was not present at was the Men's 20K walk (i.e. the
one she officiated at) so I didn't see her. Having started to assist Andy
Bickerstaff's race marshal team at Ranelagh events over the past couple of
seasons, I thought I would apply to help at a slightly larger event. I ended
up being an Event Services Team Leader at the Mall, which meant that I led a
team of about ten volunteers manning a ticket entry point for the two
Cycling Road Races, both Marathons and the men's 50K walk. I was also
drafted in at Greenwich Park for the three-day event cross-country race. It
was all extremely hard work - very early starts (4:45 at the Mall for the
Men's 50k Walk), long shifts, terrible weather for the women's cycling and
marathon and some moaning members of the public but - especially now that it
is all over - I am really pleased that I got involved and am very proud to
have helped out in some way.

I did see some familiar faces at my events including the two Hughs - Jones
at the 50K walk and Brasher at the Marathon. I enjoyed some banter with
members of other running clubs: pretending that the ticket of the guy in the
Stragglers T-shirt was not valid ('Sorry, no Stragglers allowed in today')
and reminding a man in a Blackheath vest yesterday who was claiming Scott
Overall as 'one of us' that Scott had in fact started his career in a blue
and yellow Ranelagh vest.

Just like Frances I underwent various training courses. From my perspective,
the whole organisation of every aspect of this by LOCOG was pretty slick
right from the interview process, through collecting my uniform to the
actual race day co-ordination itself. I even attended a management course at
McDonalds University at East Finchley (yes, such a place exists).

One of the highlights (or lowlights depending on your political viewpoint)
was getting thanked in person by the Prime Minister. The day before the
Games began...a group of six of us were setting up barriers at the Mall and
as he walked towards St James's Palace, he saw us in our ghastly uniforms
and came over to thank us for giving up our time to help - I appreciated
that he did that, he didn't have to. Since then, the world and his wife have
gone on record to say that the Games Makers have been an integral part of
the Games' success - and that has been great to hear.

So all in all an exhilarating experience. When I was a youngster at Ranelagh
I dreamed of getting to the Olympics...so I guess I have accomplished that,
just not quite how I had expected it!"

Heather Martingell was involved from very early in the Olympic saga:

"Over the past couple of years, in addition to attending the training
sessions, I've been part of a couple of test events:  UDAC (Uniform
Distribution and Accreditation Centre) and Beach Volleyball at Horse Guards
Parade. These events really tested everything from the time it takes to
photo capture an athlete, the time it takes to move from one section to
another area of the venue, to the tasting of the meals for the workforce.

Games time: I was a Team Leader - Accreditation working across all the
terminals at Heathrow over the six weeks leading up to and including the
first week of the Olympics. The passes we processed acted in some cases as a
visa waiver. The stats: Terminal 1: 7,031, Terminal 2: 7,880, Terminal 3:
5,052, Terminal 4: 6,245, total 26,208. On top of that we probably saw 30%
more clients that could not validated at Heathrow.

Favourite moments:
* Meeting and having a little chat with Michael Johnson, Kenenisa Bekele,
Vivian Cheruiyot to name but a few.
* Tracking down a pole vaulter's missing poles then watching the baggage
handlers cause mini mayhem getting the 5m long kit around the tight Nothing
to Declare corridor of T4.
* Walkie-talkies playing up so resorting to improvised sign language to get
the message to transport that VIPs were on their way.
* Accrediting family members, the youngest being six months. (Someone will
have the pleasure of accrediting Mo's twins at some future event).
* The purple part of our uniform was the same colour as the flight
connection sign and our desk underneath.  I cannot begin to tell you how
many times we said 'flight connections' whilst pointing the passengers in
the right direction.
* Someone asked me if I was in charge of the Olympics!?!"

Bronwen Northmore and Mary Hickson were both involved with the aquatic
events at Eton Dorney. Here's Bronwen:

"I was a Games Maker at Eton Dorney - three days of rowing and four of
canoeing, on what was euphemistically called 'venue entry' otherwise known
as security, helping the army search spectators. Mobile phones, keys, coins
in the tray please, belts and watches off, any liquids or aerosols - that
sort of thing, just like airport security. I never knew so many men wore
belts. For a week it was fine and working with the army was very good fun,
but I do now understand why the people on the scanners at airports aren't
the smiliest of folk!

We had to be there at 6.30 am which meant getting up at 4.30 - not my forte
but actually dawn at Eton Dorney was very beautiful, driving around at that
time was a pleasure and I came to quite enjoy it.  No public transport at
that time of the morning of course and very limited parking at the venue so
we were all told to sort ourselves into car pools.  The car pool for
Richmond/Barnes/Twickenham and assorted other vaguely west London locations
consisted of nine people, two cars, numerous different shift patterns and
two very precious green parking badges, all organised with military
precision and efficiency by - naturally - a Richmond parkrunner.

The huge plus for us was that the events were mornings only and all the
spectators arrived early so we had finished work by about 9.30 am and were
then free to watch the racing - mainly from the banks and on the big screen,
but occasionally from the stands. Saw lots of medals won including golds for
Team GB. It was a brilliant experience, unforgettable, and I am so grateful
to have done it.  Now thinking of volunteering for the rugby World Cup in
2015!"

And Mary:
"I was working in the medical clinic at the rowers' and canoeists' village
which was at the Royal Holloway College at Egham - I was a receptionist,
meeting and greeting the poorly athletes and making them appointments to see
one of a long list of medical professionals - Doctor, Nurse, Radiologist,
Physio, Sport Masseur, osteopath, chiropractor.....! We had a good team.  It
was great fun, the team were fantastic to work with and I got a few
treatments myself as we were rather quiet - my shifts were all in the
morning when the athletes were at Dorney Lake. We did keep up to date with
all the Olympic TV while waiting for sick folk to appear!  It was good to be
part of the 'Olympic machine' - a tiny cog, but at least I felt part of it
and I was proud to be part of the Games Makers team. Now it is over I might
have time to come back to club nights and do a bit of running myself!"

Chris Wright:
"I was an Olympic Family Assistant which meant looking after an assigned
client from the Olympic family (IOC, NOCs, and Sports Governing Bodies).  In
my case I was looking after the President and Secretary General of the
Dominica NOC. The role was primarily about getting them to meetings on time,
so I got to drive a big BMW around in the games lanes (which was fun). It
was hard work with very long days, but it had its perks; Mary and I got to
see the dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony, my client got us tickets
just below the royal box for the closing ceremony, and I was able to watch
the athletics on three nights - including my personal race of the games,
David Rudisha's 800m."

Finally Carol Barnshaw:
"I worked at  Excel for the Olympics and will play the same role but at
North Greenwich Arena for the Paralympics. I was in the Mobility Team in
Event Services and the work was in three main areas:
1  Driving the Golf Buggy up and down the waterfront. The length of the
building is 0.7  km so it is quite a hike for disabled and older people. We
could take four walkers and one wheelchair per trip.
2  Issuing and assessing people for wheelchairs and mobility scooters (also
providing commentary ear pieces for people with sight loss and induction
loop systems for people with a hearing impairment.)  We provided a
wheelchair pushing service and sighted guide service for people within the
Excel Centre.
3  Attendence in the Arenas before and during sessions. We controlled
accessible seating (not always easy as they were often the best seats in the
house and everyone wanted to sit there) and generally attended to the needs
of disabled people within the arenas during the event.

Cons - the early starts (often 5.45am), long shifts  (often 10 hours) and a
lot of pushing heavy wheelchairs and standing  for long periods.
Pros - being part of a fun, committed and hard working team, feeling we were
providing a useful and sensitive service, being in the arena for the first
ever Olympic women's boxing match and having the opportunity to attend
events such as fencing and weight lifting that I would never, in real life,
consider watching.

Roll on the Paralympics."

Mike Rowland's spectator view:
"Well, it's over and I must try and get used to Countdown and Deal Or No
Deal all over again. It was the most wonderful fortnight of sport, starting
with Danny Boyle's spectacular opening ceremony right through to the
brilliant closure of the Games. How sad I felt when the flame was finally
extinguished but what a night of music it had been. For an old rocker like
me, it was so good to see some of the great bands of the past. Roger
Daltrey's voice just does not fade. And no song is more certain to get a
huge crowd involved than 'We Will Rock You'. I just hope a DVD of that
closing ceremony is released.

There are so many memories but here are a few of my own magic moments:
Top for me has to be David Rudisha. It's the way he runs his races that I
love. He just goes out and does it. His world record was inevitably
overshadowed by Bolt's run later that evening but, for me, his was THE
performance of the athletics. How long before he breaks 1:40.... or will
young Nijel Amos get there before him?? And so to Usain Bolt. What more can
be said about this man? He is the best thing that has happened to athletics
in decades. His gold medal runs didn't quite give me the thrill that I got
in Beijing. I didn't then realise just how good he was. Will he move up to
400 metres? Something tells me he won't. Mo Farah.... or will it soon be Sir
Mohammed? A few years ago, he was on the same college course as my daughter
and, from what she tells me of those days, he's matured a bit since then!
Tactical brilliance.

Saudi Arabia's first female athlete. 2:47 for an 800, that was me a few
years back. From one tail-end Charlie to another - you were FAB-U-LOUS!! The
tears of Felix Sanchez, back on top of the world after many, including me,
had written him off. Kirani James swapping name bibs with Oscar Pistorius,
and many others in the race congratulating him. They've all accepted him for
what he is - a superb athlete. A horse dancing to a medley of Land of Hope
and Glory, The Great Escape and the chimes of Big Ben. And we think we have
to train hard!! Andy Murray crushing Roger Federer. He'll never do it again
but what sweet revenge for Wimbledon. I noticed their towels after the match
was over. Murray's was thrown haphazardly on his chair, Federer's was neatly
folded. Typical of the man. The beautiful smile of Nicola Adams, first ever
Olympic women's boxing champion. It put a smile on my own face every time I
saw it. Boris dangling on a zipwire with a plastic Union Jack in each hand.
Only he could survive the indignity! The great Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang
being helped from the track by Andy Turner and another athlete after yet
again sustaining a serious achilles injury. How unlucky can you get.

I hope Charles Van Commenee doesn't carry out his threat of resigning if GB
didn't get eight athletics medals. Four golds was our best, I think, since
1964 but our performance should not be judged on medals alone. There were
some fine achievements by others, not least Julia Bleasdale and the
wonderful Jo Pavey. I think they were the first non-Africans in both the
5000 and 10000 metres. Lawrence Clarke did superbly well to finish fourth in
the 110 metres hurdles, though it has to be remembered that the race was
missing two of the event's stars in Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles. I was so
pleased to see Andrew Osagie in the 800 metres final. At last we have a
half-decent middle distance runner. And there were good performances by
Steve Lewis, Chris Tomlinson, Sophie Hitchen and the highly promising
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (watch out, Jessica!)

We didn't get any tickets. Not for want of trying but all I could come up
with were £450 tickets for the Tuesday evening of the athletics and a couple
for one of the Paralympic power lifting mornings. So we made do with
television. But we did come up to London on the final Saturday and had a
great day , culminating in the women's 20k walk. Ten laps of a 2k course
using The Mall and Constitution Hill (where we were). And what a great race
it was. Defending champion Olga Kaniskina set off at a furious pace with
only Liu Hong for company. But the Chinese girl could not keep it up and
faded back into the chasing pack. Then it seemed that the Russian could not
be caught and the main interest was whether she could break the world
record. On to the last lap and we were all shouting "Olga! Olga!", trying to
spur her on to the record. But then we saw 19 year old Russian Yelena
Lashmanova and China's Shenjie Qieyang eating into Kaniskina's lead. I wish
we'd been in The Mall to see the end of the race. I hear that Lashmanova
took the lead with 100 metres to go and came home just 7 seconds clear of
poor Kaniskina. Qieyang was a further 7 seconds back in third. And the world
record was beaten!

We came to cheer GB's Jo Jackson and she'd started to move through the field
when she was DQ'd at the end of lap four. I suspect the noise of the huge
crowd cheering her on may have caused Jo to lose concentration. Walkers are
used to crowds that you can count on the fingers of your hands! But once
she'd gone... well, we just chose somebody else to cheer. We were surrounded
by a family of Chinese, three Spanish guys, a tiny Japanese woman, two
Portugese and some Italians. So we just joined in their cheers! It was so
lovely at the end. Hardly anybody left until the final woman had gone
through, a little Venezuelan who was a long way last. And what a cheer she
got!. I don't mind admitting it brought a tear to my eye. A big thank you to
Frances Ratchford who was on the course just in front of us and helping the
judges. The thank you is to Frances as a representative of the huge army of
volunteers who helped to make the Games such a success.

We went into Green Park after the race to have a well-earned sit-down - we'd
been standing in one place for about three hours! And then I saw something
which seems so insignificant but meant a lot to me as a race-walker. A young
lady from the Czech Republic who'd just finished the race, was walking up
the path with her kit bag over her shoulder, laughing and joking and holding
her boy friend's hand. They seemed to be heading for Green Park station. It
was as if she'd just completed a low-key Saturday afternoon race in the
park. No matter that she'd finished way down the field, she was just so
pleased to have been in the Olympics. She didn't need the glamour that the
big track and field stars get. And good for her - walkers like her will keep
my sport alive. Shame on the BBC for not even giving the result - IT WAS A
WORLD RECORD, BBC, A WORLD RECORD!!!

The final word has to go to Channel 4 for their ingenious slogan for the
Paralympics - THANKS FOR THE WARM-UP!!"

Mike Hubbert sends the Aussie view as represented by the Melbourne Age:

"LONDON, you didn't half do a decent job. These Olympics had Sydney's
vibrancy, Athens's panache, Beijing's efficiency, and added British know-how
and drollery. With apologies to Sydney, they might just represent a new PB
for the Olympics. They were superbly organised. Olympic Park's setting, in
one of the UK's poorest boroughs, proved inspired. London consists of
layers, new cities built on top of fallen or demolished old. Now another has
been added. Some Olympic sites become post-Games wasteland. This one began
as wasteland and is now full of possibilities. Derelict bits of old
Stratford still poke through, without ruining the effect. It is a measure of
the UK's maturity that it went to less effort to disguise its warts-and-all
self for the Games than most Olympic cities do. Elsewhere, London was
unbuttoned, which made for some delightfully unexpected sights: of the
Lord's pavilion, for instance.

In London, the Games were preceded by the usual fatalistic anticipation of a
cock-up. It proved groundless. Moving masses of people around a mazy city
was expected to be a nightmare, but London made it look effortless. Security
was plentiful, but low-key. The Army, called in to meet a shortfall, proved
to be the UK's finest ambassadors. If you were to pick a nit, it would be to
say that some volunteers tended to officiousness, sometimes.

It rained, of course, but no more than usual for London, and not at all on
London's parade. A carnival spirit prevailed. A London cabbie (is there any
more authoritative?) said he had never seen so many happy people. Custom was
down because most people either were at the Games or out of town, but he
didn't mind. It helped, of course, that the host nation outdid itself in the
arenas. The athletes surprised the fans with their excellence and the fans
perhaps surprised themselves with their fervour. The stadium was Homebush
(Sydney) reincarnate, but without the infantile chanting.

Usain Bolt cannot be said to have stolen the show, because it was his
anyway. But his performance personified both the rarefied standard and the
joie de vivre (to borrow from across the Channel) of these Olympics. Jessica
Ennis was the British face of the Games, but the delightful Mo Farah became
their envoy. There were many forms of winner. In the stadium, women from
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, running in hijab, trailed in their rivals by
hundreds of metres, but were cheered home to the echo. Their victory was to
be even at the start line. For bodily challenged South Africans Oscar
Pistorious and Caster Semenya, ditto.

Sportsmanship was these Games' motif. There were notorious exceptions, but
they served to prove the rule. British cyclist Victoria Pendleton was
plainly devastated to lose a sprint final to bitter Australian rival Anna
Meares, yet in the moment took Meares by the arm and held it up to the crowd
in an age-old gesture of acclaim. London's Games had no finer moment.
London's Olympics were not perfect, of course; nothing on this scale could
be. But the faults were mostly endemic to the Olympics, not London
particularly. There was the merest hint of a drug taint, for instance; will
it ever go away? And the time surely has come to dump the tedious athletes'
parade from the opening ceremony.

There is an incandescent glow upon London today. At worst, the Games were a
distraction from troubled times. At best, they might act as the UK's timely
reminder to itself about what is possible when it puts its mind to it and
its heart in it. Polling suggests that Britons think this was £9 billion
($A13.35 million) well spent, for now at least. The London Olympics, it can
truly be said, were a right bang-up job."

It's a shame that the Age's correspondent reserved one of his few criticisms
for the volunteers. In my experience they were invariably cheerful and
helpful. Games Makers indeed...they made the Games.

FINALLY...
Remaining with the Olympics theme, can I warmly recommend the stage version
of Chariots of Fire which is currently running at the Gielgud Theatre in
Shaftesbury Avenue. The story - of Abrahams and Liddell at the 1924 Paris
Olympics - is well known, even down to Vangelis's iconic score, but the
staging - with up to a dozen actor runners hurtling at top speed round a
makeshift track in, around and behind the audience - is amazing. Get one of
the stage seats if you can, and be close enough to the action to smell the
wintergreen embrocation!