Of Olympic Thoughts

So, London 2012 has been and gone. NZ was represented well by our athletes.I enjoyed watching the fantastic coverage that Sky TV presented. I loved seeing sports not regularly covered.There were, however, things I didn’t like:The NZ Media getting all gloaty after the first week. Making an effort to mock Australia. Yes, Australia didn’t perform as the pundits expected, and at least one of their papers took the piss out of themselves by creating Aus Zealand on a medal table. However, many New Zealanders took this seriously and reacted accordingly.I’m OK with friendly rivalry and oneupmanship but I felt it went too far. Are we really that insecure as a nation?The over-analysis of “What went wrong with Valerie”? Yes, there were some monumental errors made that absolutely had an effect. These will be examined and corrected.I didn’t see a similar headline “What went wrong with Nick Willis”? Was this because it’s bad form to bag the flag-bearer?On their day, the other woman threw further. The other 8 runners ran faster.Consistency is important in my opinion.I really didn’t like the accusations of doping around Ostapchuk before she was found out.The systems worked and she was caught. Sure, she robbed Valerie of a podium moment, but NZ will do something about that when Valerie returns here.I’m not impressed with NZ businesses selling product by questioning her gender and attacking her appearance. Unwarranted, low and tasteless.Habitual Fix. Tui. I’m looking at you.I feel that if you think it’s ok to mock the way someone looks, you open yourself up to getting it back. In spades. And you better be ok with it.I suspect I may have lost my sense of humour a bit.But in the end, a great result for NZ.Personally I can’t claim any credit for the success of these athletes. I wasn’t there at 5:30am, supporting their training every day for the last four years, but have some sympathy for the ‘we did great’ feel-good that a country gets after an event like this.I’m inspired by the dedication and hard work of Olympians. Seeing them get to this World Stage is uplifting. London did incredibly well as hosts. Now I have to wait four years until Rio. Waiting...Now back to my 5km walks.Sigh.- S.