A few days on since the Spice Girls made all my dreams come true by reuniting for the Closing Ceremony, the question on everybody’s lips now is: What do we do now the Olympics have finished!? For two wonderful weeks, I could return home from work, or wake up on a weekend and tire myself out watching endless hours of other people doing sport. Now I am at a loss; no more Team GB, or discovering sports I never knew existed has pushed me into a ‘Post Games’ depression.
I imagine my London 2012 experience would have been very different if I were still at home, but I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing familiar images of the UK flash up on screen, and I don’t think I have ever been this proud of my home country. Although the Spanish TV coverage has left a lot to be desired, I still managed to support Team GB, thanks to the world wide web and the BBC live update. I am especially gutted I missed the Brownlees well deserved success in the men’s triathlon because I was at work, but I was still able to follow their progress with the text updates online and regular messages from Mum. I must admit, that afternoon wasn’t particularly productive for me...
As for watching live on TV, I was often disappointed, and I don’t think I will ever take the BBC for granted again! Forget the luxury of the red button, Spain only had two channels which showed the Games, which on occasion had the same coverage. I’m sure you can imagine my delight at discovering both channels were showing some sort of martial art quarter-final when I wanted to watch the GB hockey teams in the semis. One of the first things I noticed when the Olympics began (and maybe it happens at home too but I’ve never realised), was the fact that 98% of the time sports were only shown if there were Spanish teams involved. This meant that for the first few days I was subjected to more Olympic football than I have ever seen, until thankfully Spain were knocked out of the competition unexpectedly early. In addition, I now know what handball is (and could probably tell you all of the rules), and I appreciate the skill involved in water-polo.
In the years leading up to the Games, we complained about the cost, among other things, and worried about terrorist attacks, whether or not we would be ready, and what the world would think of us. Now it’s all over, and from what I can gather, I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking “When can we host the Olympics again?!”
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