The London 2012 logo. Photo credit: Ben Sutherland, http://flic.kr/p/9wtYrg
The background
Even a sports-hating miserablist would have to concede that the London 2012 Olympic Games are proving to be a rip-roaring success. Pre-event fears around travel chaos and security bungles have been replaced by an outbreak of highly contagious Olympics fever and a genuine feel-good feel in the English capital and beyond. Team GB’s really strong showing means the home crowd are right behind the Games, which hit the ground running with Danny Boyle’s widely-applauded Opening Ceremony and hasn’t looked back ever since.
GB currently has more gold medals than France, Germany, Australia and Canada combined. london2012.com/medals/medal-c…
— James Purnell (@jimpurnell) August 6, 2012
The stunning success so far of London 2012 has prompted commentators to ponder what will be the short and long-term effects on British politics and society.
Authoritarianism versus capitalism
At The Guardian, Jackie Ashley insisted that the Olympics are and always have been a “highly political event, with political lessons to be drawn from it about success and failure – and about nationhood.” She said that the Games pit “two very different systems” against each other. “One is authoritarian, centralist and utterly focused on winning the maximum number of medals for reasons of ideological pride – to make the old men at home look good … The other system is more chaotic, capitalist – but also more open to migration.” The US, France, Brazil and Britain have “perhaps the most multi-ethnic teams, and do richly well from their relative openness,” pointed out Ashley, who reminded that Mo Farah came to Britain from Mogadishu aged eight and that Jessica Ennis‘s father was from Jamaica.
Athletes remind us of the importance of belonging and purpose
Beyond the class of systems, Ashley argued that there is “a much deeper political, or perhaps a lesson about values, that every (political) party needs to ponder.” The athletes achieved what they did because “they worked ferociously hard, in training teams and groups that were well led and produced a deep sense of belonging and loyalty,” insisted Ashley, who said “that’s where I think there are the best lessons to carry back into our ordinary lives. Nothing beats a sense of belonging and purpose – not money, not fame, not celebrity.” Ashley argued that although Olympic heroes may sometimes look like individualists they are “all living embodiments of deferred gratification, putting in the self-denial and hard work for the chance of glory. They’re the opposite of the gimme-now, look-at-me, celebrity B-list fame academy set we keep being told epitomises modern Britain … And if we take those two things – the hard work, and the importance of group loyalty and sacrifice … then we have the glimpse of a different Britain.”
Society feels whole again
The Games are a “wonderful period for Britain” and “this is a time when society feels whole,” said The Independent in a sunny leader. The newspaper said that the “obvious” moral lesson from the Games is “that when individuals are united in a large common purpose, it can bring out the best in us.” However, the newspaper cautioned that “we would be wrong to be wholly optimistic about Britain on the back of the Games as we would have been wrong to be unrelievedly gloomy a year ago (after the London riots).”
Boris: Games can help Brits to make difficult psychological adjustment to austerity
Writing at The Telegraph, London Mayor Boris Johnson (and potential future Tory leader) argued that the Games “have been the most dramatic possible lesson in the virtues of ambition, hard work and competition. They are the opposite of the something-for-nothing culture. They could not come at a better time for a nation making a difficult psychological adjustment, after long years of easy credit and ballooning debt.”
No political bounce for PM David Cameron
Benedict Brogan of The Telegraph said that the beach volleyball, which takes place very close to 10 Downing Street, is “where David Cameron’s Olympics torment is encapsulated.” He noted that the beach volleyball MC has “a line of patter he deploys several times a night. ‘We’ve just had a call. It seems the Prime Minister is trying to get an early night and wants less noise. What do we say to that?’ Cue a roar of mockery and plenty of boos.” “Every night then the PM is being mocked, and there’s no sign of that political bounce he might have hoped for,” said Brogan, who said that Johnson, Seb Coe and “even” Tessa Jowell are benefitting from the feel-good factor.
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