Why I Admire……The Olympics

Anybody who knows me well will be very aware of the fact that I am not any way inclined a sporty person. I don’t even really like to watch sport so needless to say the excitement of the Olympics was destined to pass me by.

As I live in Berlin, all my television channels are broadcast through German (how dare they). As I don’t speak German, this leaves my viewing choices very limited with BBC World news for drama and CNN for comedy.

Looking for something to watch which was out of my comfort zone, I found myself these last weeks’ venturing towards the ‘horror’ channel, Eurosport. What I really intended to go there for was to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics for all those delightful music artists who would be performing, but I found myself instead actually enjoying the biggest sports competition in the world.

So what was it that I, a sportsaphobic, got me enjoying the Olympics?

• I took a deep breath this earlier this summer and tried with all my might to support the Irish football team in the Euro championships. This was more due to a sense of national pride than the sport itself. For all my efforts I was left sorely disappointed. The Olympics actually gave me a chance to cheer on some terrific sportspeople as well as being able to showcase the talents Ireland has to offer.

• The Olympics is an event for ordinary people more so than any football championship is. For me, football nowadays is more about the glamorous lifestyle and the masses of money rather than the love of the game. It was very touching to see how overwhelmed the athletes were last night at the closing ceremony and I was very happy to see these people get their time in the spotlight.

• The Olympics was a beautiful symbol of peace and showed that there are times when the world can exist harmoniously. Maybe I am just unaware of any, but as far as my knowledge goes there were no racially aggravated attacks on anybody. One of the highlights for me was when the female runner from Saudi Arabia got a standing ovation from the crowd despite the fact that she finished almost an entire lap behind the winner.

• Watching the Olympics has made me quite excited about the impending sister games, the Paralympics. I just wish that they were getting as much coverage as the Olympics themselves.

• By watching these games, I got to see the Spice Girls perform once again