Legacy? What Legacy?

So the summer of 2012 officially ended today. Well, we didn't really have a 'summer' in the traditional sense of the word but it certainly has been a few months that none of us will ever forget for one reason or another. This afternoon in London there was a parade for the British Olympians and Paralympians and it was a fitting end to a summer of drama, excitement and pride. As much as I enjoyed seeing all of the GB team in one place to celebrate everyone's success there was one word that annoyed me throughout the coverage: legacy.

How to Take Inspiration From the Olympics

Last night's post is the last time I think I'll get 'deep' for a while. As much as I've enjoyed writing the last few posts, I feel that the style of them isn't really what most people want of an evening. With that in mind I set out on a quest of lightheartedness and jocularity and I hope you'll come along for the ride - that sounded like something from Disneyland; this isn't Disneyland.

It seems apt that I'm sitting down to write this post. I should say that I sit down to write all of my posts, just in case you had any images of me on my feet - sorry if that ruins your dreams. Anyway I'm very much in a sitting down position as I prepare, in my own inimitable way, to explain how to take inspiration from the Olympics. We've been told every day this week about the 'legacy' that the 2012 Games will have in Britain and how it's going to encourage people to get up and take part in sport. How does that legacy apply to the regular Joe though and how do we derive the necessary inspiration from Bolt and Co?

A Hopeful Return to the Basics

So with the finish line of the Olympics 2012 before us, it's about time that I found myself back on the blogging boat again. I've spent a lot of words on this blog in the past saying just how much I enjoy writing and, in particular, how much I enjoy writing my blog. That being said, I've actually enjoyed a brief hiatus from Ramblings of a Twenty-Something for one reason or another. 

First and foremost I've really enjoyed the last 2 weeks of sport on the TV and that is what I've been spending most of my time doing. Secondly (and I'm not sure why this is the case) I've enjoyed not having to thing about topics to write about - a break from the pressure that I put on myself to come up with good content. And that last note is third and final reason why I don't feel that guilty having not written for a while: I don't feel like I've written well for a long time. Looking back at my last 5 posts, there have only been a couple that I've come away with that satisfied feeling of having written what I what I wanted to. For those of you that click on my posts whatever the weather, you might have noticed this as well and for that I apologise. You might remember that I wrote about wanting to boost my readership through writing in quantity and with quality but neither of those things have come to fruition - time to pick things up I guess.

The Real Spine-Tingling Sensation

The sheer volume of things that I could have written about in this last week is almost as big as the Chinese medal haul at the half way point in the Olympics. The thing is that I've spent all of the last 9 days watching sport on TV therefore I've found very little time for anything else. The greatest irony of the Olympics so far for me in fact has been that I feel inspired to go out and run and cycle, yet I've been sitting down for about 90% of the last week. I've missed nothing though and there is plenty of time for inspiration to carry me outside when the Olympics come to a sorry close next week.

As I said, there has been a lot for me to write about this week, with last night's excellence in the Olympic Stadium in London being the pinnacle of an awesome week of sport. I watched every heat and final in the swimming, I've not missed a single important rowing race, I've lapped up the cycling and I've enjoyed learning about so many sports that I knew little (or nothing) about this time last week. Veined through all of that has been something that I've heard people talk about but never actually felt myself - in fact I thought that it was just a turn of phrase. Everyone has claimed to felt tingles in their spine at some point in their life and I can now state that well over 10 events this week have done that to me. Whether it be the outburst of emotion from a British athlete or the national anthem, I've never witnessed so many moments that I've felt such pride, awe, inspiration etc.

Yes, that's right, I said that hearing the national anthem sent shivers down my spine - I wasn't just going to wash over that point. I've said it in a couple of Facebook statuses: I've felt very British this year and never more than that during these Olympics. I won't get into Scottish independence discussion here but if it does come to fruition then we'll lose those moments because they won't be ours anymore. Scottish athletes have done well (Andy Murray you beauty!) but last night Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah did something beautiful for the whole of Great Britain, not just Scotland.

Other highlights? Well watching Michael Phelps this week in his final Olympics has been truly awesome - it always is - and the whole swimming competition has been really exciting. I've really enjoyed watching the Brits compete in the Judo - pure emotion flowing from them all. The stories coming out of the rowing have really caught my attention and have produced some great TV moments - I think that was where my first 'spine-tingler' came from. The last one that I will mention (because I could write a book on the last week) is the action from the velodrome. Watching Team GB win and break a world-record pretty much every time they got on the track in the first few days has been fantastic and that, mixed with Bradley Wiggins' success during the week, has made me think about dusting down the old bike in the coming days - or at least when the Olympics is over!

Thanks for reading and I hope to comment on the Olympics some more in the coming days when I find a gap in the coverage - it'll be hard but I'll try my best.

Marti

The Olympic Dream

I'm one of those people that will sit down and watch pretty much any type of sport on the TV, possibly with the exception of cricket. Imagine, therefore, what I have been doing for the last two days. That's right, you got it in one, I've been watching the Olympics for the whole time. To be exact, I watched about 12 hours yesterday and I've been watching it on and off today since about 9am until now. I've taken time out of my busy schedule to write this post in fact - you lucky people! The "Olympic Dream" that titles this post is nothing to do with medals or 'taking part' but instead it is the dream that is the Olympic fortnight for sports fans such as myself. The 24 HD channels that the BBC have dedicated to the Olympics have been used to their full effect - and then some.