Sorry guys.... have ski’d for the last 10/11 years and would take a ski holiday over any summer holiday fighting over sun-loungers, drunken clubs, sitting by the pool all day, dealing with sunburn and reading books I’d never bother with normally. Loving the Winter Olympics and the amazing skills of skiers and boarders. A lot of brave sportsmen and women out there, and we’ll done to our Olympians!
Increasingly I couldn’t care less about nationality Ubes, but I like having a team to shout for when it comes to sport, and team GB, whoever is actually in it, seems the obvious choice. Sport U.K., and the lottery players of the U.K. sponsor a bunch of athletes from all over the place to achieve in their individual disciplines, we can take pride (if that’s important to you) in that they wouldn’t achieve without our direct and indirect support, and be chuffed that foreigners prefer to wear our colours than those of wherever they come from. English cricket has been full of foreigners for decades, rugby since it went professional has gone the same way (we are even pinching young Welsh players now) bizarrely it’s only the England football team in the most corrupt and money driven sport of all which still seems to try to be English, though most other national teams don’t bother. The rules are so opaque and athletes’ nationalities are so fluid that I can’t be arsed to bother about it anymore. What can be a real source of national pride is actually staging international tournaments, I still think the 2012 Olympics were brilliant, despite my pre event cynicism.
Frankly, the older I get the less pride I take from any individual triumphing in their chosen sporting profession. I shared your cynicism prior to London 2012 and was soon bored during the event itself. I can’t feel national pride over an individual, but respect their dedication and sacrifices made to reach the pinnacle of their competition. Some sort of vicarious national triumphalism doesn’t sit easily with me. I would rather we were a great nation and society in a great many other respects than jump about because our adopted son, daughter or Mx can run faster than somebody else’s. Mind you, I want England to win the football World Cup in my lifetime, but I shan’t be waving my made-in-China plastic flag of St. George in triumph when they do(n’t).
When Claire Balding uses words like RAd or Stoked then it’s time for ketamine to escape the sickening portrayal of the BBC’s Team GB The athletes are simply brilliant
I just meant that, having tried it repeatedly, I’m not a fan of skiing for myself. I am surrounded by people who love it and have found that they find it very difficult to accept that not everybody does. The athletes at the Winter Olympics are superb.
I'm as conflicted as you seem to be when it comes to nationality, Stan. Logically it is meaningless, but on a base level you need someone to root for. I think the proudest I have ever been about my country was during the 2012 Olympics, and in particular the opening ceremony. I know I've posted this before but I think it bears repeating. The New York Times review of the 2012 opening ceremony said (something like) 'an opening ceremony of such humour and humility could only have been produced by a nation with an innate sense of superiority'. Happy with that.
Not sure conflicted is the right word, as it doesn’t cause me any stress or anxiety. I quite happily practice cognitive dissonance/doublethink/advanced hypocrisy on so many things it’s become a habit. As I said above I ended up loving the London Olympics, though I found the opening ceremony a bit cringeworthy (can’t say I’m a fan of any opening or closing ceremonies), and I think the NYT quote says more about the NYT and Danny Boyle than the national psyche. Anyway, come on team GB let’s have some more medals in sports I’ve never heard of!
I see the the Poles are looking to do well hoping for Gold, Silver, Bronze, Lead, Copper, Cars, Bikes and anything else not nailed down.
Not having that. The Polish i have worked with are far superior than any Brit i have seen in the building trades especially plus our cleaner is Polish and very trustworthy. Mods this man is outrageous
Many thanks! But it feels like a silver that got way. Plus, the ski jumping seems a bit tame and old fashioned compare to the Aerial Freestyle. I have to admire the guts and coutage of all of these "jumpers".
* Meldonium has been in the spotlight since Russian tennis player and former world number one Maria Sharapova tested positive for the drug in January 2016 and was later banned for 15 months. Sharapova said she was unaware that the drug had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA)banned substances list.
