I remember it well... Wednesday 6th July 2005, Singapore,
7:46pm local time (12:46pm UK time). I
was working in the North East of England, at the site of one of my clients
(who, luckily, was also a sports fan), and we eagerly tuned into the radio, to
hear the big announcement. Then, we
heard IOC President Jacques Rogge, as he delivered his brief speech to the
listening world - in his careful, deliberate tones, Monsieur Rogge delivered the following words "The International Olympic Committee has the honour of
announcing that the Games of the 30th Olympiad 2012 are awarded to the city of
LONDON".
And so began the 7 year countdown to "The Greatest Show
on Earth" - and I sincerely believe that the Olympic Games are worthy of
such an accolade. Other people may tell
you that they would rather live in the host nation of the FIFA World Cup - but,
for me, whilst I'm a huge football fan, I can see that the balance of power in
that sport has transformed it into something of a "Millionaires'
Playground" - and, based on what we heard in the recent Premier League
court case, it is a somewhat foul-mouthed playground at that. I can empathise far more with the
participants in the Olympics, with their dedicated work ethics and Corinthian
ideologies - often when working from threadbare financial resources.
It isn't a cliché to say it will be a once in a lifetime
opportunity for the people of London and the UK to experience the Olympics'
perfect combination of sporting excellence and national pride. I’m fortunate enough to be attending a lot of
the events in person, as a spectator, and I’ll aim to maintain this blog for
the duration of the games. I’m generally
much more of a numbers man than a words man, so these blog entries aren’t
likely to take the form of literary masterpieces. But I simply can’t let such an event pass
without writing something about it...
Citius, Altius, Fortius.
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