Faster, higher, sponsor

Matthew Huish
July 26, 2012

London has the privilege of being the only city to host the Olympic Games on 3 separate occasions. Since that has so far worked out as once every generation, I wanted to make sure that my children have at least some experience with the Games, even if they are still quite young to appreciate them fully.

So it was mild enthusiasm that I took them out early on Monday morning, walking down the road to the junction at which the torch relay would pass. My brother lives at that junction, so we waved to him as he peered out through his window. There was a small crowd of young families and construction workers who were working on a project at that location. It was nice to see some interest in the event.

The first development of any note was the arrival of some high visibility police officers on flashing-light motorcycles, who stopped the traffic (much to the annoyance of some uninformed commuters who expressed their feelings with their horns) and prepared for a smooth by-pass. A few minutes later, some corporate buses arrived, promoting some of the major sponsors. These buses had many people dancing and blowing whistles, cheering and waving. Loud music was blasting from the speakers and images were flashed on fancy displays on the sides of the buses. Cheerleaders executed rehearsed routines and megaphones were used to blast out motivating words to the public. But I was far from motivated. The torch was nowhere to be seen. The public around we were also unimpressed by this celebration of corporate sponsorship. In all honesty, most of the people on the buses didn't appear remarkably excited. I guessed they were getting paid to drum up support for the torch, but ironically that was the reason why we were there, and in fact their arrival served as an annoying distraction.

Once the entourage had passed, there was a moment of doubt: Would the torch arrive at all? A nearby father audibly expressed this doubt to his children. Then down the road I could just about make out the arrival of a group of runners, at the center of which was a young man, possibly a teenage boy, clad in white and lifting above his head a flaming gold torch. As this group ran by, we cheered a louder cheer than the entire corporate group could muster, although I felt disappointed that in comparison there was only a small number of people involved in the passing of the torch itself.

The passing torch was a fleeting moment and before long the police officers allowed traffic to continue moving. The crowd dispersed and it was as if nothing spectacular had just occurred. I took the children to a nearby playground where they played for an hour until about 9am, during which time I exchanged reactions to the torch relay with another father whose daughter played with my children in the playground. He shared my disillusionment with respect to the conflict between the spirit of the games and the capitalistic opportunism.

I'm looking forward to the Olympics. While I'll admit that I could quite happily watch all the events on the TV, I probably won't get to see half as much as I'd like to. I suppose recorded highlights will have to suffice. But I'm proud that London is hosting the games, with an understated British sort of pride.