[olympics] time to return to first principles

Time for this blog to put in its tuppence worth. Paula Radcliffe said:

A peaceful protest on the sidelines - fine.

Sorry, Paula - that isn't going to do it. Mutering "acceptably" in the corner like a Church of England Archbishop about Jesus is not going to convert or convince anyone. If it's going to be a protest, it has to be loud and outrageous.

But don't try to stop the torch, because the torch is about more than the Beijing Olympics. It's about the Olympic spirit and the importance of the Olympics in teaching youth, and teaching the world, what sport can do - how sport can bring people together, how it can overcome suffering, how it has overcome even wars in the past.

Trouble is - this is also true. The torch is the wrong thing, the one thing, in fact, which should never have been targetted. Gutless Brown and cronies should have gauged public mood or at least acceded to it, as revealed in polling organization results.

While these can be wildly inaccurate, mass feeling in a community shows through any polling system. If the China games are clearly anathema to most, then boycott them and hand in the keys to 2012 as well.

London 1908

That the games are now a farce is sad but true. To continue them in this fashion is a drug riddled parody. Better to drop the whole thing and start over in the fashion of the early games, as a largely impromptu affair using existing facilities.

Though they had their problems even then.