Olympic sized cynicism
Budgeting for the London Olympics has, not surprisingly, been the subject of much media derision with the initial excitement quickly over and journalists now handed the perfect excuse to mount an inevitable backlash against this ‘poisoned chalice.’
Sadly, this approach is only too well known with the UK media. In previous Olympic cities of Athens and Sydney there was far less immediate competition amongst local journalists to spot every weakness in the system and blame governments local and national.
Complete transparency over the budgets for the Olympics will be absolutely crucial from now on. OK so the coffers of the Lottery will need to be heavily raided whilst the budget for putting on this extravaganza gets ever bigger but there is a precedent of debt and delay with previous Olympic cities so no one can be hugely surprised, least of all the media who failed to query the initial, hopelessly unrealistic government figures.
Londoners could be forgiven for feeling a little more than disgruntled at having to pay for the Olympics, but when the fireworks are going off and the opening party is broadcast worldwide what is the betting that we will all feel at least a little tinged with national pride? Will the majority of sports fanatics then begrudge the funds needed to make it all happen when they watch the Games unfold or even take up the unique opportunity to go to some of the events.
Of course spiraling spending levels shouldn’t be just ignored, but we’ve got another five years of scrutinising the Olympic budget to go. Unfortunately it’s not remotely realistic to call for a joined up approach from the media on what we need to do in terms of actually getting our capital ready for 2012 and encouraging the next generation of sportsmen and women to come forward.
But are we so short-sighted that we can’t see the ‘jam tomorrow’ on the Olympics just because it isn’t literally going to be tomorrow? If the media continually gripes about the Olympics, by the time we get there and want to celebrate it, we will all be so jaded from the run-up that there will be a distinct lack of enthusiasm. And where does the media go after this – more constant sneering? Is there any chance of a headline that says ‘Actually we were wrong. It’s great’?
We all love our great British culture of building em up and knocking em down but go easy on the Games, boys and girls. Some of us might actually be looking forward to it.