Olympian thoughts

Last week I heard three Olympians speaking at different events. George Weedon was a gymnast who took part in 1948 in London. Sharron Davies, the swimmer, competed in Olympics over three decades and Jo Pavey, a runner, who has been to three Olympic Games and hopes to compete in 2012.

Most of the talk was about the differences between then and now. Today the training and medical facilities, the physical and mental coaching and the numbers of elite athletes have changed completely since the last time the Games were held in London.

Nowadays sport is viewed as entertainment and many elite athletes are paid via the lottery to allow them to train full time. Athletes are interviewed by the media and some are household names. Until the 1990s UK athletes wanted to be the best in Britain. Today they want to be the best in the world.

What doesn't change is the need to train every day. To be able to overcome injuries and disappointments. To be willing to re-train and take part in another discipline as rules are altered by the sporting bodies or the IOC.

I can only admire their dedication and the sacrifices that they make as young people. Nor was it surprising to hear that neither woman is pushing their children to become elite athletes. They know how hard it is.

700 days to go

The Olympic Park is huge. Looking at the website, London 2012.com, just doesn't give an idea of the scale. The Park is the same size as Hyde Park, 50 hectares.

We took the free bus tour from Stratford. That helped me to understand LOCOG's vision of regeneration, encouraging more young people to get involved in sport and venues that can be used after the Games. Oh and exciting sports events.

London 2012 is using a world renowned sporting event to achieve the redevelopment of a grotty part of East London. Nor is it just the Park. It is the roads, the tubes, the railways and new stations. It is housing being developed and a shopping mall with John Lewis and M&S as flagship stores. It is cranes everywhere you look and the new stadium able to be seen from across London.

I was overwhelmed and proud. The site will look wonderful when all the building is completed, the trees and shrubs and environmental works in place and lots of people walking around and enjoying themselves.

On Thursday all the Relays staff are going to London to visit LOCOG in their offices at Canary Wharf. They will be speaking to us about volunteering and the Inspire programme.

Then on Friday we are taking the tour of the Olympic Park. Having watched some of the tv coverage in July and seen the photos on the London 2012 website I am really looking forward to seeing it for myself. Judging by the reactions from family and friends everyone is very jealous of me getting this opportunity to see the site.

So me, my passport and tube maps are off on a big adventure.

Pounds of sport

The value of sport to the UK economy in 2008 had grown to £17.38 billion with 441,000 jobs. The figures for the south west region are £1,606 million and 44,000 jobs, so roughly 10% of the total.

These financial exercises don't claim to be exact, but they do show trends and these figures demonstrate an increase in the spend and in the numbers of people employed.

A lot of the money is in the things surrounding sport, the clothes, equipment or going to events. The breakdown for the total expenditure showed that 22% was spent on subs and fees and 19% for clothing and footwear while 15% was for gambling and 10% for TV.

So at least 25% of the total is for watching sport, probably while wearing sports gear.

Legacy-How social media can help

I heard about the ping pong tables set up around London and I thought how great that sounded. I played lots of table tennis when I was young on wet holidays in Wales and I am still pretty good.

Today I read an article saying that social media could be used to encourage informal sport like table tennis or jogging. Fewer people are joining sports clubs, but they will try an activity on holiday or informally with friends, especially one that is fun.

Legacy isn't just new buildings or elite athletes. It is also about using the excitement and inspiration of 2012 to get more of us active. Informal groups encouraging us to try something new and then perhaps our thinking This Is Fun has to be part of this.

Delivering Winners

On July 10th I was part of the team of people supporting the Devon Games to Inspire in Tavistock. More than 1500 people aged 8-16 took part in sports events, dancing, singing, and other activities.

The local team from West Devon were the overall winners when the sports points were totalled up. Exeter got the prize for best sportsmanship. Lots of people won medals. The event was described as "the day the Olympics came to Tavistock."

Today I was sent some photos, including those of our Games celebrity local Olympian Heather Fell. She is dwarfed by a huge lorry. A transport company is supporting the pentathletes and Heather's photo in her fencing suit adorns one of their lorries.

The photo is huge and on both sides of the truck. She hadn't seen it before and nor had her parents. They were stunned, but pleased, when I chatted to them.

The strap line on the lorry is Delivering Winners. I hope more companies follow their example.

Relays and London 2012

Relays is a regional project in the South West of England that is part of the London 2012 legacy.
I am thinking a lot about legacy today as it is exactly two years till the Opening Ceremony in London.