London 2012: a triumph of obscure sporting excellence

Guest post by Redbrick Sport editor Sam Price 

Peter Wilson literally shot to fame in an instant

 

For people that don’t like sport, the Olympics can generally be explained away as a series of trivial sporting pursuits contested in a far-flung region for a couple of weeks every four years. Not this time. As London continues to impress audiences worldwide with the staging of a thus far spectacularly successful Olympic Games, the British public consciousness is being increasingly pervaded by the same obscure sports that people wouldn’t usually bat an eyelid towards. The presence of British medal challengers in sports such as archery, diving and equestrianism has boosted domestic interest levels significantly, raising the profile of these sports and their participants to an incomparable high.

Take shooting, for example. The majority of Brits, myself included, who tuned into BBC One’s coverage of Thursday’s men’s double trap final would have never watched a shooting event in their life. But those who did would have found themselves captivated by a tense climax to a sport which they were quickly able to gain an understanding of, bringing celebration when nerves of steel from British finalist Peter Wilson earned the man from Dorset a treasured Olympic gold medal. The 25-year-old went from a relative nobody to talk of the town (or rather, the nation) in a matter of minutes, for shooting clay targets more accurately than anybody else in the world. You can’t get more obscure than that. 

Or can you? On the same day Gemma Gibbons beat the odds to win an unprecedented silver medal in Judo, a sport which, to the untrained eye, looks no more than a good old game of rough and tumble. But some brief swotting up on the sport and a basic understanding of the rules enables you to appreciate the skill of Gibbons’ manoeuvre in the semi-final, where she performed an ippon throw in the highly pressurised golden score situation to beat World and European Champion Audrey Tcheumeo, guaranteeing the Brit a medal. Gibbons’ twitter following has since skyrocketed from around 600 to over 20,000; always a good barometer of the modern sportsperson’s fame.

Sailing enjoys its fair share of the limelight during the Olympics

The host factor has certainly contributed to a better understanding and appreciation of the skill, dedication and achievement of the Olympians of 2012, for ticket-holders, armchair viewers and journalists alike. I’ve been involved with the BBC’s excellent coverage of the Olympics, a role which has seen me asked to cover sports such as sailing and fencing, the rubrics of which I had no idea beforehand. However, after some prior research and attention to detail while watching them, I feel in a much more privileged position to appreciate and enjoy the ferocious competitiveness of British sailor Ben Ainslie, who is pursuing a fourth consecutive Olympic gold, and the devastating skill of the Italian fencing team, who completed a clean sweep of medals in the women’s foil discipline. 

A more nuanced understanding of a sport cannot illuminate the countless hours of practice and self-improvement away from the television cameras that have gone into these Olympians’ moments of reckoning, but it can leave us better placed to enjoy and appreciate their endeavours. In some ways this is the beauty of the Olympics. For two weeks the spotlight in Britain is being shone brightly onto obscure sports to which competitors have dedicated their life to, a theme which the British public have resoundingly bought into. From the Opening Ceremony onwards, a genuine ‘feel-good factor’ seems to have engulfed the nation, creating an atmosphere which has turned the scarcely known into heroes, and has ensured that the Olympian’s mastery over their chosen sport has received full, rewarding recognition by a wider, more conscious audience.

The Search for Excellence hopes you enjoyed this excellent guest post by the talented writer that is Sam Price. You can follow Sam on Twitter @Sam_Price19 and don't forget to follow James on @TSFE2012 . James will be back with another blog tomorrow, after he attends the men's football quarter-final between Senegal and Mexico and the women's marathon in the morning.

Nerve, skill and superhuman accuracy. Meet the archers.

GB star Amy Oliver in action at Lord's

So where were you when Team GB won their first gold of London 2012? Well, while Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were covering themselves in glory by finishing first in the women's pair at Eton Dorney, I was sat at the legendary Lord's Cricket Ground. Yet despite the rain coming in dribs and drabs the action didn't stop as the sport gracing the turf was not cricket, but archery.This is the beauty of the Olympics, for every Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis and Neymar involved, there are stars from more obscure sports, usually kept far from the public eye, who can compete for their nation's glory. At Lord's, temporary stands have been erected to seat 6,500 spectators and, despite a few empty seats, it made for a vibrant atmosphere with plenty of cheers for competitors from all nations. A unique experience, I must say that there were several aspects of the sport which were unique when compared to other live sport events I have attended in the past.

You wouldn't normally see this at Lord's Cricket Ground

One of the most over-riding differences was the fact a pair of commentators, including a particularly grating American, could be heard over the whole arena. This meant the bowmen could hear every word they said and it is hardly ideal for athletes trying to focus on their performance when they hear things like 'there is some wind out there, but not enough to be held accountable for that' after one poorly aimed effort. Despite being sometimes irritating, the commentary did add to the overall experience and made sure everyone knew who was who and what was going on. A variety of pop and rock music songs were also played over the speaker system at every plausible opportunity, and while it kept the mood upbeat it could also be listed under the irksome category. But the format of competition was good, with two matches in the men's individual 1/32 (last 64) round followed by two in the women's individuals before the winners went head-to-head in the 1/16 immediately after. This meant the winning bowmen played twice in fairly quick succession, allowing the crowd to get behind them in their efforts.

A spectator tries her hand at Archery before the Olympians begin

On the field of play, there was plenty of action as reigning champion from Beijing 2008, Viktor Ruban stormed through to the last 16 round which takes place prior to the quarter-finals,semi-finals and final on Friday. The Ukrainian edged past China's Zhaowu Liu before obliterating Chen Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei, who himself had impressed in the first round.  The other danger man competing in the men's half of the competition this morning appeared to be South Korea's Oh Jin Hyek who left the Swiss Axel Muller for dead in the first round before beating the impressive Mexican Luis Alvarez in round two. Meanwhile, the biggest cheers of the day came in the women's first round where Amy Oliver, Great Britain's representative and a fan of felines judging by one of the albums on her official website, defeated world number one Deepika Kumari, from India. Despite shooting a 4 on one round, the lowest individual score of the morning session, Oliver hit plenty of 10s to claim a 6-2 victory over the young Indian who was just 16 when she claimed two commonwealth gold medals in 2010. Disappointingly, the British ecstasy was almost immediately ended as minutes later Oliver crashed out 7-1 at the hands of the incredibly accurate Indonesian archer Ika Yuliana Rochmawati in the 1/16 round.

London 2012 might not be run by a dictatorship, but they can still tell you what to do

Archery has it's fair share of intriguing characters, including the Georgian born American Khatuna Lorig. Lorig  represented the Soviet Union and won bronze as far back as the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but after going on to represent Georgia took US citizenship and represented the States from the 2008 Games. The 38-year-old taught Jennifer Lawrence her archery techniques ahead of the actor's role in the recent blockbuster 'The Hunger Games' and she provided a suitably Hollywood finish in her 1/16 match with Denmark's Louise Laursen. Laursen, who had earlier defeated another character in red-haired, facially-pierced Canadian Marie-Pier Beaudet, held Lorig right to the end of the fifth set and was seconds away from the match going to a single-arrow shoot off. However, the Georgian-American called on all her experience and, needing a 10 to clinch the game, pulled one out of the bag in style to progress to the next round with the last shot of the morning session. While the rowers' gold and Bradley Wiggins fantastic time trial success will be plastered all over the news tonight and tomorrow, the archer's results may fly somewhat under the radar. However, with their displays of nerve, skill and superhuman accuracy, these bowmen are undoubtedly true Olympians, and deserve the respect and adulation that all the other athletes at this thirtieth Olympiad will receive.


The Olympics go on, and so does The Search for Excellence. With Great Britain off the mark, James will be focusing on one particular British team tomorrow, so return for that on Thursday evening! And don't forget to follow on Twitter @tsfe2012


Again, all photographs by James Phillips himself. 

The Friday Feeling #1

This is the Friday Feeling. The first installation of a hat-trick of features which will appear on The Search for Excellence every Friday (you guessed it) during the Olympics. Expect some astute observations, irreverent opinions and priceless nuggets of information...possibly.

A huge advertisement hoarding by the Olympic Park 

TODAY


So the day has finally arrived. The Olympics are due to officially launch this evening with Danny Boyle's much-anticipated Opening Ceremony. Although in reality the tournament is already underway as earlier this morning legally blind ( I know?!) South Korean Im Dong Hyun recorded the first world record of the tournament with the best score in the men's Archery individual ranking round at Lord's Cricket Ground, with his country also triumphing in the team ranking round and setting another world record along the way with a score of 2087 (Team GB came 8th out of 12 scoring 1994 ). The women's archers are also in action this afternoon and of course, the first round of the football tournament has already taken place, although none of the games took place in London. But tonight, approximately four billion people are expected to tune in for the much anticipated ceremony where a bunch of people will prance around a stadium for a couple of hours before somebody lights a fire. It's all very exciting. But what does everyone else think?


THE MOOD


How else to judge the mood of the public than with the instant opinion generator that is known as Twitter.It's a pretty mixed bag of thoughts judging by the following:


It must be noted that this first girl is a 16-year-old Australian who is a self-confessed One Direction fan.

already sick of the Olympics and they haven't even started! #olympics #london2012
— maddie cameron (@maddie_cameron) July 27, 2012

This girl from Surrey is certainly getting into it...

Olympic fever has officially set in, beyond excited... #teamGB #backtheteam #london2012
— Emily Spencer (@elspencer1) July 27, 2012

As is this fellow from Dover...

8hours and 12minutes to go :D #OpeningCeremony #London2012 amazing times!!
— Richard James-King (@RichardKing_RJK) July 27, 2012

This man from Cornwall is clearly not at all interested.

Are the #london2012 Olympics over yet?
— Nicky (@cashinol) July 27, 2012

Whereas this woman from Kent is clearly over the moon! Not exactly sure what 'me my pants' is meant to mean though.

I think I could almost me my pants I'm that excited about the Olympics. Cannot wait for the opening ceremony tonight #Olympics #London2012
— Tracy Crampton (@tracy_crampton) July 27, 2012

Judging by the 60,000 who turned up in Hyde Park for the torch relay and the huge numbers expected to be watching tonight, it does seem that the overall mood is of excitement and anticipation. So what could possibly go wrong?!


THE BLUNDERS


Well already there has been a couple of high profile cock-ups. The worst being the mix-up of the North Korean and South Korean flags on the big screens at Hampden Park ahead of North Korea's women's football match with Colombia. Such an amateur mistake, with the two flags hardly being similar (see picture below) is inexcusable at an event as high-profile as the Olympics and the North Koreans are not exactly the sort to take it lightly. In fact it is believed that the women storming off the pitch in protest was as much due to their fear of getting into trouble with North Korean authorities as it was down to their being genuinely offended. This was followed up yesterday with the official match program at the Team GB vs Senegal men's football game listing Welsh midfielder Joe Allen as being English. While this is a less serious offence, it would certainly have irked many Welshman, including those within the Welsh FA who were hardly receptive to the idea of their Welsh footballers competing under the guise of Team GB. Yet another blunder has occurred at the Westfield shopping centre, next to the Olympic Park, where 'Welcome' has been written in many different languages but the Arabic version was written backwards rendering it illegible. The irony is that Westfield is in the borough of Newham, which happens to be the UK's most multi-lingual region. Oh dear.

Quite a difference...The North Korea flag is on the left

THE QUESTION


The big one today has to be, who is going to have the privilege of becoming the final torchbearer and light the flame in the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium tonight? In recent weeks it has looked like a two-horse race between Sir Steve Redgrave, the legendary Olympian who won a gold medal rowing at every Olympics from 1984 to 2000, and Sir Roger Bannister, the now 83-year-old who ran the first sub four-minute mile back in 1954. However, this morning the odds on Daniel Craig, the current James Bond actor who is set to be involved in the Opening Ceremony tonight, have dropped rapidly to 3/1 at the time of writing. David Beckham, controversially omitted from Team GB's football squad remains in the running as does the Queen, whose odds have also dropped overnight and are now at 6/1. Whoever does step up tonight is certainly going to be winning some people a fair bit of money.

The Queen and Daniel Craig, two of the contenders to light the torch

THE VILLAIN


Whoever was behind the Korean flag blunder could be a contender for this accolade, as could Phillips Idowu, the triple jumper who seems bizarrely adverse to complying with the BOA and the rest of Team GB. But head and shoulders above the rest is Voula Papachristou. The Greek triple jumper has been expelled from the Olympics by the Greek Olympic Committee after making a racist joke on Twitter. Following reports of mosquitoes in her home country carrying the West Nile virus, the 23-year-old tweeted, 'With so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile Mosquitoes will eat home made food!' She later apologised but the damage had been done and the Greek authorities said her tweet was 'contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.' The tweet was clearly tasteless, offensive and unnecessary so it is not surprising that the Greeks have now banned all their athletes from tweeting opinions during the Olympics. Is it really that hard not to say something stupid? Apparently so.

Papachristou will not be gracing the sandpits of London this year

THE SUPERHERO


Who else but Bradley Wiggins, who has handed Team GB a huge boost going into London 2012, by conquering the Tour de France last weekend. The first ever Brit to win the famed road cycling tournament, he has his eyes set on gold in the Time Trial next Wednesday. Before that he will be competing in the Road Race tomorrow, although he will be focused on helping his Team Sky and Team GB team-mate Mark Cavendish to gold, even if the two don't always see eye-to-eye. If Cavendish, the sprint-specialist from the Isle of Man and mod-loving Wiggins bring home the medals then 2012 will surely go down as the very greatest year for British Cycling. A golden era may well be upon us.

Wiggins, right, will be assisting Cavendish, in tomorrow's Road Race

From today The Search for Excellence will be posting articles daily for the duration of London 2012! Come back tomorrow for some Road Cycling fun and don't forget to follow James on Twitter @TSFE2012