The citizens of the United Kingdom were elated at the announcement in 2005 of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, to be held in London, England from July 27 to August 12, 2012. They have been in full swing in preparing for the thousands of participates and spectators.
A new Olympic Park was constructed in East London and other places such as the Horse Guards Palace and Hyde Park will be used in surrounding locations which were already in existence. Much of the funding has come from private and business sectors as well of billions coming from the public treasury. Not just venues for the Games, but public transportation system needed improvement. A new high-speed rail service was introduced, named the “Javelin” as well as new cable cars linking the various venues and housing facilities.
A major expenditure saver are the thousands of volunteers known as “Games Makers” who will be working before and during the Games. However, the one major expense remains the price tag of security operations. With police officers increased and added military forces along with their equipment, planes, helicopters and ships, the total cost for protection is enormous.
It will be Queen Elizabeth II who will officially open the Games on Friday, July 27th at the new Olympic Stadium and some 183 nations will be represented in London. “Live As One” will serve as the 2012 Olympic Motto.
For many people of Great Britain they still hold fond memories of the 1948 Summer Olympics, which were officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad. True, many of those who witnessed the games from July 29 to August 14, 1948 were young people and now they are the senior members of society since it has been 64 years since the last Olympics were held in London.
It was King George VI, the father of the U. K.’s present Queen Elizabeth II, who declared the Games officially opened in 1948. It was then that some 2,500 pigeons were set off into the clear blue sky and the Olympic Flag was raised to 35 feet on the Wembley Stadium’s flagpole with some 85,000 people in attendance. Everyone was so proud of having come back from the suffering and hardships of years of war during the Second World War to be able to host the Olympics. Not just the those in attendance, but there was the broadcast of the Games on the BBC television, offering the astonishing events to more people.
What made these Games very extraordinary in the summer of 1948 was that there were no special stadiums, playing fields or housing constructed as is now done by the host cities. Due to the shortage of materials as Great Britain tried to rebuild after the war, the Games were kept very simple with no new venues constructed or even an Olympic Village to house the athletes. The participants were housed in nearby college dorms and at military camps. The government made do with what facilities they had or could modify.
The main arena was Wembley Stadium which dated back to 1923 and was used for years to host English football games. At the same location known as Wembley Empire Exhibition Grounds there was a pool for the swimming events. Just to name a few of the other venues which included the Windsor Great Park for road cycling, Harringay Arena for wresting and basketball, Empress Hall for weightlifting and gymnastics and the Royal Military Academy for running events. Just one venue used in 1948 will also be part of the 2012 games, the Herne Hill Velodrome which will be used by the track cyclists.
Another example of innovation was the making of the a suitable running track at the stadium. It would be ash as the basis for the track and ordinary people donated the ash from their own coal burning furnaces to surface the Olympic track.
In total there were 4,104 athletes, men and women from 59 nations in 1948. They were transported to the proper venues using the traditional double-decker busses.
The motto proudly displayed at the Games in 1948 was: “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well.” It was taken in part from the original philosophy of Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games. There was such a spirit of unity to help heal the world after so many years of war.
Those who recall London in 1948 have wondered since the 2005 announcement of the 2012 Olympic Games in England what impact it will have on the nation. As stated by Ken Rydings, a native of Essex County, England who attended the 1948 Games, “I recall London’s last Olympics in 1948, we were only just emerging from the most devastating war the world had ever experienced. London had been blitzed almost to extinction, we were a bankrupt Nation, rationing was still in force, and yet with very little time for planning the Games went ahead. There was no razzmatazz opening ceremony, a few Boy Scouts carrying National flags, unlike the choreographed pyrotechnical displays of the modern era, where each country strives to outperform the previous holders.
As an Englishman, Ken Rydings goes on questioning today about all the commercialism the Games have taken on over the years and even more so in 2012. One example of such he covered was, “that there will be no British beer available for sale at any of the Olympic events or venues!!! The Dutch Brewers Heineken paid £10 million for the exclusive rights.” Putting on such a world event is very expensive and corporate sponsors are needed. Ken who recalled that the “spirit the Olympic Games were originally meant to stand for, the engagement of all nations in true amateur sporting competition.”
The boundaries of the 2012 Olympics will be felt not just in London, but include the neighboring counties of Essex, Kent, Surrey and Middlesex. With new facilities for the Games also going into the neighboring counties, Ken Rydings does acknowledge this new construction has updated the community and allowed the Stratford, Essex area to “emerge as a highly desirable area with a thriving community.”
Expressed in The Guardian newspaper on April 19, 2012 by Diana Brooks of London, “I was at Wembley in 1948 for the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. It was a very low-key event compared to the one planned for this year. After a speech or two, the crowd rose to their feet, and with ‘heads bared’ sang with the choir the closing hymn. The words written by A.P. Herbert, chairman of the literature committee, and sung to the tune of the Londonderry Air, moved many to tears.”
Recalling the 1948 Games, Rydings, was a young man of 17 years of age, expressed his fondest memory was that of the athlete, Fanny Blankers-Koen who was nicknamed the ‘Dutch Mum’. As Ken stated Fanny was a mother of two, “who had experienced the horrors of living under the Nazi occupation of her homeland, who comes to London and shows the spirit and determination to pocket four gold medals, the stuff of which dreams and legends are formed!! No wonder we loved her and have never forgotten her achievements.”
So over 60 years later there are reasons for the citizens of Great Britain to celebrate and to question the London hosting of the Games of the XXX Olympiad. Everyone hopes for the very best outcome for all the athletes and for the nation.
Sources:
Ken A. Rydings, of Grays, Essex, England, U. K. The Guardian newspaper of the U. K., April 21, 2012.
Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games
Baron de Coubertin, Olympic Creed
1948 London Olympics
2012 London Olympics
