Never Grey – the trial of the Olympics
Our new regular columnist EVA CAMERON is Never Grey especially when it comes to the Olympics.
Posted by Elderjuice
on August 10, 2012. Filed under Banter,Opinion.
Posted with the tags:Eva Cameron, never greyYou can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Dove Bike waits outside the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Courtesy of Mjs110
An historic first for Saudi Arabia… a triumphant triumvirate from Jamaica… our own Hoy and Murray are golden boys… and little Sark shining in the Dressage! Emotion and Entertainment all round. Even EVA CAMERON get oared in…
If you’re like me you had no intention of watching the Olympics, had you. Reality is, it was impossible really to escape them.
Gary Lineker summed up the opening ceremony as far as I was concerned as ‘much of it was bonkers’… but if you’d ever worked in TV production (giving myself away here) you’d know they were flying by the seat of their pants with a show like that… and by and large they pulled it off with no major disaster.
It was only the magnificence and sheer technological brilliance of the cauldron that utterly captivated me.
What I fail to understand is why folk seem to be enthralled with running around. Which is what much of The Games seems to be about.
Daft
As far as I’m concerned chasing round a pitch after a ball is daft enough, but pounding over the pavements, the tracks, the whatever, for its own sake defies being of sound mind.
Knees were absolutely never designed to take such strain. For goodness’ sake, arthritic joints are par for the general ageing course… Never mind making them compulsory.
I fear for what pain and privation these young ‘uns are setting themselves up for in a few decades’ time. A gold dingle dangle won’t do much for you then.
Joy
It certainly was a great joy to see Olga Korbut recently being wonderfully athletic on ice, since I thought she’d been permanently crippled after her extraordinary gymnastic feats before she was even out of her teens. Is she the exception, though, I wonder?
Isn’t there something more inspirational about taking on the elements – as in sailing? Swimming’s got something going for it. It’s really the diving that’s utter brilliance. I can understand the buzz you can get from cycling. These are what you’d call Olympian. And of course tennis has completely cross-party appeal.
Olympic origins
Ever since I went to a lecture about the origins of the Olympics – when you’re of A Certain Age this can be your best route to mental stimulation if not health… unless you’re into crosswords of course – I’ve been quite curious about the evolution of the whole event.
Apparently… in Ancient Greece not only were men generally bi-sexual (though I’m sure it wasn’t compulsory), but the Olympics were very much a gay event. Yes. There’s documentary evidence.
There was also quite a cultural fringe to the sporting activities too. Philosophical debates, sort of thing. This seems quite at odds with its reincarnated character, doesn’t it. Basically macho and muscly is how it all comes over to me.
And given that the whole torch business has been such a community-connecting success, it’s somewhat spooky to think that it was Herr Adolph who introduced this dimension to the proceedings.
So much for reflections on the history of the Olympics…
Theatre
Something for everyone after all, perhaps? Competitive Spirit though? Not for me. Team spirit? Yes, of course. Joyous, even life-affirming. Role models? – definitely.
More than anything though I’m for the sheer theatre of it all. The accumulated energy of the audience is the real marvel. The Greeks knew what it’s at when they built those amphitheatres. And let’s face it, no matter how good you are at your sport, it’s charisma that counts. Well, on television anyway.
Amazing. Incredible. Absolutely outstanding. Absolutely fabulous.
- Eva welcomes your comments and the next Never Grey will be in two weeks time.
Related posts:
Recent Comments