I have been following the Olympics rather more than I thought I should – mostly mediated by the BBC, but including a trip to see volleyball for real (accompanying rather bemused grandchildren). I've been enjoying the drama without getting too carried away (I hope) with medal league tables, though they are hard to avoid (mediated by the BBC). I note that, amid the euphoria, it has also been a great opportunity for miserabilists everywhere, to demonstrate again the depth of their misanthropy, so I presume that even they must be enjoying it all.
I have not appreciated the BBC's obsession with "feelings": win or lose, the default question to the hapless athlete from the hopeless commentator always seems to start: "How does it feel to jump / run / dive / swim / stumble / fall off / drop it ... like that? No one, it seems, is capable of asking questions about tactics or skill. Lamentable.
As for the curriculum, and the questions around compulsory PE (or was that PT?), well, I suppose one day we might untangle issues around health / fitness / exercise / diet, on the one hand, and competitive sport / games, on the other – but not yet it seems. However, I'd certainly say we need compulsory vocabulary classes so that young (and not so young) people can say things other than amazing or unbelievable. And as for the Olympics and sustainability (or is that legacy?), this is not a word I have heard since the BBC's Twenty Twelve went off the air, though someone is claiming that these are the greenest games ever: details here.
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