British medallists

[percy toboggan]

Does anyone have an opinion...are some of these people more 'British' than others. I'm not just talking ethnicity...I'm talking class too.

Most of the rowers..and the horsey set seem to epitomise a Britain of another age...when lottery funding might not have mattered for those blessed with a certain amount of silver spoonage.

Middle class rather than upper but the accents...if not entirely 'cut-glass' bear little resemblance to the average kid in a hood on the street corner.

I'm not really mithered how many medals we win as a nation. The cycling girl and the double gold swimmer belie my argument of course but I think these are the times when we need to introspect as a nation and realise we are really several different 'countries' occupying the same space. I'm sure most other nation states are exactly the same...it's human nature I guess..a kind of unwritten rule. Do we ignore the fact...dwell upon it..or try to analyse it?

I venture the single mindedness of every one of those podium climbers is essential to success and the thought of any patriotic element was a poor second on their personal agenda. I'm minded to think the Olympics should have the flags removed, and the anthems...just let everyone compete as themselves? What do you reckon? Funding from the swollen coffers of a corporate backed O.O.C.

I expect the more insular amongst us might wish to see a Scottish flag fly one day...fair enough...or might it more likely be be the twenty seven stars of a European Super State?

Two questions in one...sorry:confused

[Anne x]

A Gold Medallist or whatever medal is just that hard work training years of stress and all the people today who got our Medals and yesterday
They did it by pure dedication to their sport and the help and support of all there families and friends some great champions
Silver spoon or not or lottery funding they are all winners
Team GB so far have been brilliant shame about track and Field events so far no real stars

I see no class in this

Scotland Flies its own flag at the Commonwealth Games and for every four years we are a United Nation team GB why not

[Melancholy Man]

I honestly don't know too much about the class credentials of 'em. Been too busy jumping out of my seat.

But, Mark Hunter went to a sixth form college, and plied his first waves in a district rowing club. Nicky Cooke went to a comp. Philips Iduwo is the son of West African immigrants, raised in Hackney. Going back four years, Kelly Holmes is the daughter of a Jamaican car-mechanic and unskilled English mother.

And Rebecca Romero appeared nude. That's not relevant, I just had to say it. She is quite posh.

[percy toboggan]

I must add that for no credible reason I have been moved by the success of British competitors and have been found to be cheering them across the line.

I think the panoply of society is under represented at the bottom though, and there are few middle class boxers. I'm musing in public here and not trying to make any particular point which is not blindingly obvious already to a thinking person.

[Melancholy Man]

Did I mention that Rebecca Romero's appeared in the buff? Actually, she doesn't appear all that posh. I'm liking her more.

[Kevin Milkins]

I honestly don't know too much about the class credentials of 'em. Been too busy jumping out of my seat.

But, Mark Hunter went to a sixth form college, and plied his first waves in a district rowing club. Nicky Cooke went to a comp. Philips Iduwo is the son of West African immigrants, raised in Hackney. Going back four years, Kelly Holmes is the daughter of a Jamaican car-mechanic and unskilled English mother.

And Rebecca Romero appeared nude. That's not relevant, I just had to say it. She is quite posh.
The bits I have seen of the the olympics have been great.

I dont know who Rebecca Romero is but if I was to be mugged by an athletic sort of person ,and had a choice she may well figure high up the list.
Its been fantastic to see the honed perfection of some of the divers and gymnasts and some of the female weight lifters are just unbelievable.
I know what it is like to bust your your arse training to be the best at what you do and as an ex rugby player and I have played in the same team as posh and poor, but these people are somthing else and deserve all the credit for dedication and commitant to there chosen sport.
To top it all we have done better so far than I would have expected.
So come on all you Brits.

[scorrie]

Does anyone have an opinion...are some of these people more 'British' than others. I'm not just talking ethnicity...I'm talking class too.

Most of the rowers..and the horsey set seem to epitomise a Britain of another age...when lottery funding might not have mattered for those blessed with a certain amount of silver spoonage.

Middle class rather than upper but the accents...if not entirely 'cut-glass' bear little resemblance to the average kid in a hood on the street corner.

I'm not really mithered how many medals we win as a nation. The cycling girl and the double gold swimmer belie my argument of course but I think these are the times when we need to introspect as a nation and realise we are really several different 'countries' occupying the same space. I'm sure most other nation states are exactly the same...it's human nature I guess..a kind of unwritten rule. Do we ignore the fact...dwell upon it..or try to analyse it?

I venture the single mindedness of every one of those podium climbers is essential to success and the thought of any patriotic element was a poor second on their personal agenda. I'm minded to think the Olympics should have the flags removed, and the anthems...just let everyone compete as themselves? What do you reckon? Funding from the swollen coffers of a corporate backed O.O.C.

I expect the more insular amongst us might wish to see a Scottish flag fly one day...fair enough...or might it more likely be be the twenty seven stars of a European Super State?

Two questions in one...sorry:confused

I think it certainly helps to have money in your family if you are trying to excel in sports that require access to a boat, yacht, horse and the relevant facilities. There is no doubt in my mind that poorer nations cannot hope to compete with the UK in some of those events.

The games are shot to bits as a friendly, amateur only event where it is "The taking part that counts" anyway. It is very professional now and a shed load of money is spent on bringing competitors primed to compete at the games.

Speaking of doing away with nationalities, this has been happening to some extent anyway. The world 800m record holder Wilson Kipketer was born in Kenya, yet ended up running for Denmark. I just watched the Mens 3000m steeplechase and noticed that the Australian runner was from Algeria, the Swedish athlete was from Somalia and the Bahrain runner, Tarek Mubarak Taher, was actually a Kenyan born with the name Dennis.

Of course GB famously managed to poach Zola Budd, only for her to turn into a puddin' overnight. Poetic justice in a way, as I am not in favour of granting citizenship on the heads of getting gold medals in return.

[_Ju_]

Untill the WADA laboratories get their house in order, I am suspicious of every medal won. The laboratories are sitting on positive results because they do not exactly comply with a strict criteria set out eons ago. They are also completely blind to the new EPO drugs out there. Do I believe in the cleanliness of the Olympics? No way. Not when up to 70% of athletes are using EPO and getting away with it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7517332.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7516484.stm

[highbury]

I think when you delve a little deeper there are a fair few non-posh types, and, just incase Melancholy man forgot to mention , Rebecca Romero did forget to report for training fully clan in the past !!

[percy toboggan]

Radio 5 lives Victoria Derbyshire <spit>* must read the .org because she devoted a fair amount of time to this very subject on her daily 'phone-in' show today.
The Mail's front page declared 'It's Great to be British' with about nine smiling British faces who had won gold medals. Possibly the first truly positive headline I have ever seen on its front page! (all faces were white , I might add...which to the Mail would have made the choice of lead much easier)

Some might think me negative for bringing up class, and silver spoonage in relation to this matter - I think it's valid to do so, but recognise that whatever the wad in your pocket the dedication, fitness and commitment to excellence to a degree good enough to go Gold in the Olympics is only admirable. I have the utmost respect for those of ALL nations who have succeeded....yet I hear this afternoon that your typical amateur boxer receives c.£70,000 per year in lottery funding...can this be right? Is it right? I'd have thought a level of wage coinsistent with the national average might have been enough to persuade these young men to train for the Olympic games...and the possibility of a lucrative career in the Professional game.

[TBH]

Does anyone have an opinion...are some of these people more 'British' than others. I'm not just talking ethnicity...I'm talking class too.

Most of the rowers..and the horsey set seem to epitomise a Britain of another age...when lottery funding might not have mattered for those blessed with a certain amount of silver spoonage.

Middle class rather than upper but the accents...if not entirely 'cut-glass' bear little resemblance to the average kid in a hood on the street corner.

I'm not really mithered how many medals we win as a nation. The cycling girl and the double gold swimmer belie my argument of course but I think these are the times when we need to introspect as a nation and realise we are really several different 'countries' occupying the same space. I'm sure most other nation states are exactly the same...it's human nature I guess..a kind of unwritten rule. Do we ignore the fact...dwell upon it..or try to analyse it?

I venture the single mindedness of every one of those podium climbers is essential to success and the thought of any patriotic element was a poor second on their personal agenda. I'm minded to think the Olympics should have the flags removed, and the anthems...just let everyone compete as themselves? What do you reckon? Funding from the swollen coffers of a corporate backed O.O.C.

I expect the more insular amongst us might wish to see a Scottish flag fly one day...fair enough...or might it more likely be be the twenty seven stars of a European Super State?

Two questions in one...sorry:confusedI doubt there is anything insular about wanting a team solely representing Scotland at the Olympics.

[percy toboggan]

I doubt there is anything insular about wanting a team solely representing Scotland at the Olympics.Okay - point conceded, but I doubt they'd win much...funding could be well down too.
It's not about winning though is it? It's about 'independence'

[TBH]

Okay - point conceded, but I doubt they'd win much...funding could be well down too.
It's not about winning though is it? It's about 'independence'You doubt they would win much? Maybe not as much as the bigger nations but they would do well I am sure.

[Melancholy Man]

I doubt there is anything insular about wanting a team solely representing Scotland at the Olympics.

If you could divorce it from Fish-heid McMoonface's posturing, no. I have to admit, I'm not too sure where Northern Ireland stands with the GB team, but this has never represented an ethnic group called English. I've shared in the delight of the winners from the other two nations in GB just as much as I have in that of the Scots.

Anyone whose sense of national identity is so weak that it shakes on seeing posh-boy Chris Hoy walking under a Union Flag should address their perceptions before calling on others to do theirs.


The games are shot to bits as a friendly, amateur only event where it is "The taking part that counts" anyway. It is very professional now and a shed load of money is spent on bringing competitors primed to compete at the games.

This sense of near-churlishness has always baffled me. Olympic athletes are called upon to be holistic role models (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7547488.stm), not permitted to take perfectly legal pharmaceutical concoctions, and *then* wear sackcloths and ashes and forgo training regimes or equipment which would benefit them or allow them to concentrate on their physical excellence.

They're elite athletes. In the past, our heroes have included the likes of Lenin and Trotsky, even if dear old Lenny was a good egg. But, there are still real heroes, and these are them. Good luck to them.


Of course GB famously managed to poach Zola Budd, only for her to turn into a puddin' overnight. Poetic justice in a way, as I am not in favour of granting citizenship on the heads of getting gold medals in return.In her case, it was the only way in which a superb athlete - who still holds a number of national and international records - could have competed on an international level. It's the Olympian ideal, innit? Sporting experitise transcends politics?

Plus, her claim to British citizenship was perfectly valid under the principle of lex familiaris. It's 50/50 on the success of the boycott of SA, anyway, not to mention the undisputed success of the post-Apartheid period. Much of it was a conscience-salving exericise by nationals of countries which, just a decade or so previously, had been engaged in colonial rule (and wouldn't have counternanced boycotting sportswo/men of that paragon of racial harmony, Idi Amin's Uganda) or, at the instigation the the international boycott, Segregation was still in force across much of the USA.

And it was Dekker's fault.


just incase Melancholy man forgot to mention , Rebecca Romero did forget to report for training fully clan in the past !!

What, what, what? A photo-op where she wasn't delicately posed in artistic black-and-white? Where, please, I beseech you to the bowels of Christ, tell me where!!!!