Is Success In Rio Down To John Major?
This article on the BBC is entitled Rio 2016: Does John Major deserve credit for Team GB’s success?
This is the opening paragraph.
The sight of Team GB above China in the Olympic medal table has led some to heap praise on John Major, whose government took the decision to launch the National Lottery. The lottery has poured money into sport in the UK, but can it claim credit for medal success?
Even, if to give total credit to John Major is perhaps a bit over the top, but without the Lottery funding, British Olympic performance, would be lucky to be as good as England’s footballers.
But money isn’t everything, as if it was Manchester City would win the Premier League every year and given the coffers of the Lawn Tennis Association, we’d dominate world tennis.
Tim Vickery On The Rio Olympics
I’ve just listened on Radio 5 Live to Tim Vickery, a Rio-based English football journalist on why the Olympic venues are so empty.
He puts it mainly down to the fact that Brazilians only are really interested, when one of their athletes has a chance of winning.
He also says that, the events are for Portuguese speaking people and everything is not very well-organised.
If you can catch it, it is definitely a must-listen.
After what he said, I’m glad I took the decision of not going.
The Medals Over Morals Mentality Disgusts Me
This quote comes from Sir Philip Craven and is fully documented in this article in the Daily Mail, which is entitled IPC disgusted by Russia’s ‘medals over morals mentality’ and issues blanket ban.
This is a flavour of what is said in the article.
In an IPC statement, Craven said: “I believe the Russian government has catastrophically failed its Para athletes. Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me.
I am doing my own one man protest, in that every time I see a Russian in an Olympic event, I give them a double-handed, two fingered salute, as only a true Brit can.
The Anonymous Widower 