...the Olympic spirit really does exist....

So it's over and I am devastated. What am I going to do now? The evenings won't be the same with normal television. The vibrancy, excitement and buzz of the games is over. Normal life resumes and the deep funk that comes from the highs of emotions is upon us.
It has been amazing. I was thinking this morning that we have been intent on calling ourselves English, a reaction to the push and pull of UK life, the devolution of Wales and Scotland and our search to find our national identity outside of the UK but I have spent the last two weeks proud to be British.
Britain is a wonderful ideal and national identity within that framework can only be positive so long as we recognise ourselves as British as well.
So, my highlights now that it is done and dusted, I won't mention every medalist, just the standout occassions. All the rowing team, all of them heroes (Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins).
All the cyclists for amazing performances (Brad Wiggins, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny). The emotional goodbyes to our cycling heroes, Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton. There is the slightest hint that Chris Hoy may be tempted by another Olympics, let us hope!
The World's greatest Olympic sailor, Ben Ainsley, incredible achievements and his fight back to win was beyond belief, a nail biter.
Greg Rutherford in the long jump, unexpected but amazingly welcome, and a local boy to me.
Jess Ennis had so many hopes on her, the pressure must have been crushing. We have seen some of our athletes falter under this pressure but she rose to it and made a nation proud.
Mo Farah was another poster boy and favourite of these Games and he delivered, creating two of the favourite moments for the press and commentators across the UK. A brave and self assured couple of runs. He is running my current distances and I have to say that looking at the times, his titles are safe from me this year.
Tom Daly had a rough ride coming into these games, and he had some scary moments, scraping into the final. He fought hard and produced some phenomenal dives, in any other competition he would have won gold but David Boudia was simply out of this World. There are moments in time when people are invincible, I think David Boudia could not have been beaten on that day by anyone ever, he dominated the final.
Finally for me the Triathlon. The UK had two brothers entered and they came in first and third. What an amazing achievement for that family.

I didn't just watch the UK win, I watched David Rudisha win the 800 metres. What an incredible athlete, such a smooth style of running, effortless, I can see why Seb Coe had been singing his praises.
I watched the men's marathon, a fantastic run by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda. That was an Olympic moment, an athlete that no-one expected to win, from a nation that hasn't won a medal in 40 years, takes on the Kenyan athletes and wins at their distance. His welcome home must be that of a conquering hero.

I watched large nations crushed by island states, heart and soul poured into tired limbs in that effort for more, proud winners and gracious losers and an effort on the part of the authorities to keep the Olympic spirit alive, punishing cheats and reviewing scores and bouts to ensure that fairness prevails. I saw the curse of the Olympics plague the Brazil football team in the their loss to Mexico and in that match, possibly the finest referee'd match I have ever seen. I saw favourites beaten by younger athletes and experience triumph over youth. In this gladiatorial arena we saw the triumph of hope and spirit. Long may the future hold these keys.
It is amazing that the Olympic spirit really does exist, despite the cyncism and pace of modern life, the Olympic spirit is, I am proud to report, alive and well and living in the UK at this moment in time.
Roll on two weeks until the Paralympics start and I can do this all over again!

Olympics 2012: view from the UK.

I am speechless. As with the rest of the UK, we weren't really behind the Olympics until the opening ceremony took place and, oh boy, the UK is now 100% Olympic mad.

I loved the opening ceremony, it was eccentric, interesting, probably confusing to anyone outside of the UK. I have no idea what the reaction of the rest of the World was to the ceremony but it was amazing in the UK and the reviews are incredible, Danny Boyle did the impossible, he captured us. It was incredible to see the Queen featured, she was wonderful and what a great sport she is.

So we were geared for the medals. Mark Cavendish, a dead cert in the road racing so I settled down on Saturday, cleared my itinerary and spent 5 hours watching a race that made no sense to me at all but was still thrilling. I was devastated for "the Cav" when he didn't get his gold but pleased for the Lizzy Armitstead and her silver that got us off the starting blocks on the medal front.

Day 2, still no gold, Day 3, still no gold. The Sun said, "Wanted: Gold medal, any sport will do". We were getting worried. Our Olympic superstars were failing to deliver....except that Hannah Miley hit the nail on the head, she finished 7th in her swimming final and was pleased. As she pointed out, she was 7th best in the World, up 4 places from last time. 7th best in the World?! That's an incredible achievement, it suddenly puts the results into perspective. Still we were waiting for that elusive gold....and then it came and it was amazing, Heather Stanning and Helen Glover in the Women's Pairs without Coxswain. It was described as a procession rather than a race, UK's first ever women's medal in rowing and our first gold. And the day got better, Bradley Wiggins won gold in the cycling time trials, winning by 43 seconds and in third was Chris Froomes, yet another medal for team GB. In the evening Michael Jamieson won silver in the 200m breaststroke and it was proclaimed, "It took a World record to beat him" and you know what? It did.

Today is more rowing and we have a silver already, the cycling starts this afternoon and we are already banking those medals.....stupidly.

My Olympic moment so far, is Chad Le Clos beating Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps was a gracious loser, a mark of a true man, although I'm not sure I would call silver losing. It was Chad's reaction, genuine and uncontrolled and then his Dad, Burt Le Clos, unbelievable. He was interviewed by the BBC and all we could hear from him in that gruff South African voice, was "Unbelievable" and then "There he is, my beautiful boy, isn't he beautiful!" It was funny, emotional and a truly magical moment. It's probably available on youtube somewhere but those two have endeared themselves to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYa0r43Xn-8

I am not a huge fan of the big underdog syndrome where we welcome the biggest loser as a hero. Big hearted athletes with the competitive spirit that finish the race no matter what, is wonderful. Competitors that have earned the right to sit at the table of champions and compete for that place in the final is wonderful, the wild card that goes to Third World Nation and they enter an athlete that isn't in the same league as a competitor that has put in the years of training either through funding or ability, it seems grossly unfair that we welcome them in minutes after the other competitors and call that the Olympic spirit. This is Olympic spirit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbl6wt8kjJM, watching an athlete saunter home 3 minutes after the rest is embarrassing and patronising. Give them the equipment to train a worthy competitor based on ability and qualification, let them compete with dignity rather than feeding them the crumbs from the winners table. The Olympics is about how you participate and the ability to win the ultimate prize in your chosen field.

We are about to become a nation of keen swimmers and cyclists. The first break in the weather and thousands of beer guts will be squeezing into skimpy speedo's, a nation of aerodynamic whales, displacing huge quantities of water with our racing dives, getting banned en masse from the leisure centres up and down the UK as we run, bomb and splash our way to a week of fitness before ditching it all for fat hugging lycra as we irritate our piles on the razor bladed seats of racing bikes, buckling the paper thin wheels on the lousy roads and bunging up the hospitals with the multitude of scratches, scrapes and broken bones as we try and relive the historic Olympic moments of Wiggins, Pendleton and Hoy. 
However, the general message behind this Olympics is "Be Inspired". And you know what? I am.

2012 is the year of the UK, what an absolute blinder of a year for us and I hope that if you have the chance to visit us, you do, bring a raincoat though.