Olympic Stadium during the London 2012 Games.
The background
The 2012 Paralympic games ended 9 September after a spectacular ceremony in the Olympic stadium in London. Over a thousand acrobats and dancers performed to live music from the band Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z, in what was described as “Festival of the Flame.” The ceremony drew to a close London’s unforgettable summer of Olympic and Paralympic sport. The commentariat are now reflecting on London’s hosting of sport’s greatest show on Earth and what it means for modern Britain.
Read the best of the comment on the Paralympics closing ceremony here.
Great Britain is the biggest Games winner
In a leader, The Times (£) marveled at “the summer of hope and glory.” “Britain has used the occasion of the Olympics and the Paralympics to welcome the world rather than lecture it. Pomposity … was banished. We were not too po-faced to throw a party as well as a tournament; nor too timid to let the vexing matter of a double-dip recession blind us to the significance of the moment and spoil it with false economies. The view from abroad is that the biggest winner in this festival of sport and everything attached to it has been Great Britain. This is true.”
Britain passed the test with distinction
Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian said the ceremony “marked the end of a season of wonder that seemed to surprise the hosts as much as the guests, a period where we looked in the mirror and were met by an unexpected reflection – one we rather liked.” “If patriotism is self-congratulation on a collective scale, then Britain has good reason to feel patriotic. For we embraced these Paralympic Games as no other nation has. The venues were packed, that 2.4m figure five times as large as the 480,000 advance tickets sold in Beijing in 2008.” Freedland said that, “if staging a global event such as the Olympics and Paralympics is a test for a nation, then it is one Britain can justly consider itself to have passed and passed with distinction. These Games were efficient and well-run … They showed a nation ready to cherish all its citizens, black and white, male and female, born here or born elsewhere and – we now know – disabled and not. For so long, it has been said that Britain is a conservative country. Well, the last six weeks, which began with an opening ceremony celebrating Britain as a place of social revolution, say otherwise. Of course we’re not perfect. But if the Paralympic Games have taught us anything, it is that perfect is not everything.”
Bolt was brilliant, the spectators were a “force for good.”
At The Times (£), Melanie Reid celebrated “so many stardust memories of these two unforgettable festivals of sport.” She singled out Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for special praise. He “arrived nervous, his legendary status fragile. He left having secured the double-double, the first man to defend both 100 metres and 200 metres sprints, his finger to his lips as he crossed the line in the longer race to silence his doubters. That he then ran the last leg of the 4 x 100 metres relay, earning Jamaica a world record and himself another gold medal, was pure Hollywood. It is unlikely any other running arena will ever see his like again… ”
“As with the best theatres, the stadium was a much smaller, more intimate place than it appeared on television,” reported Reid, “The spectators were joyous, affectionate and kindly — a force for good. They roared on the losers, wept for the brave, and fell deathly silent for the drama of the blind long-jumpers.”
Legacy must be secured
At The Independent, Tom Peck said it has been a “summer to remember in the form of new heroes, golden moments and perhaps, even a legacy.” “So many of Great Britain’s Olympic heroes, young and old, have, when asked about the future, said words to the effect of ‘What is the point of carrying on? Nothing is ever going to better this,’” noted Peck, who insisted we simply must build on what has been achieved this summer: “It will be hard, now that the main event is over, to psych ourselves up to make sure that promises to “inspire a generation” are kept. That schools and sports clubs are equipped so that they don’t drop a baton that will now be thrust into their hands at dangerous speed. But we must.”
