Beijing 2008 - London 2012 to be "hell of a show"

Eurosport - Tue, 26 Aug 06:26:00 2008

Britain's Olympic team chief Simon Clegg paraded his Beijing medal winners and promised "one hell of a show" when London hosts the Games in 2012.

OLYMPIC GAMES 2008 Beijing Olympics Crowds outside Buckingham Palace cheer as they watch the handover for London 2012 - 0

The British team produced their best Olympic performance in a century by taking 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals - a total of 47 that placed them fourth in the final table.

Clegg said: "It gives us a level of confidence. We love the underdog, the Brits, but when you drill down deep into the psyche of the individual -we want to be winners."

Clegg said the team were very moved by their reception from well-wishers at Heathrow airport and added: "I don't think we could have contributed in any other way to exciting the nation about us becoming the next hosts of the Olympic Games in 2012.

"The whole country has woken up to the fact it's us next and it is going to be a hell of a show in London in 2012."

British medal winners, who gathered at the news conference at a Heathrow hotel, clearly felt the success in Beijing would inspire athletes for the home Games in four years' time.

Tim Brabants, who won gold in the 1,000 metre kayak single, said: "All of us will be back in training in a month's time, back to the real world and the hard graft.

"But it is only going to help to spur the rest of the team on to keep training through the next four years up until the London Olympics."

Ben Ainslie, who won a third yachting gold in as many Games with victory in the Finn class, said the wave of public enthusiasm generated by Britain's success was "perfect timing".

"It is so timely we were able to get this result now and do so well and get the nation really behind the Games," said Ainslie.

"In my experience that will make the difference between London being a great Games or not - how the British public will react to it.

"You saw in Sydney how the Australians got behind the (2000) Games and you saw a fantastic home performance by their team and again in China. It is great to get home to such a reception and now the next four years' hard work starts now," added Ainslie.

Rebecca Adlington, who became the first British woman to win Olympic swimming gold since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960, was also upbeat about Britain's prospects in 2012.

Adlington, who won the 400 and 800 freestyle, said: "From what I've seen there is so much money and facilities and great coaching and support staff coming into Britain and helping us out, I don't see how it can get worse.

"I just see it as getting better. It is going to be absolutely fantastic. It is going to be an amazing opportunity."

Reuters

Comment 1 - 19 of 19

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  1. Keith R , your an idiot since when is cycling a posh sport you dipstick,and what the hell is yatching, you can't even SPELL, when the hell did it become USA's war , then what the hell are you guy's over there killing people . moron

    From 3 Pyramids, on Wed 27 Aug 8:47PM

  2. Looking this morning at this, London wanted the games and has them. If any other city had tried, they would not have the govenment backing. There has been and now will be a step up in the awareness of London 2012. Beijing games were China on show, London games are not being billed G.B. on show, but London. When the games arrive there will be support for them. In reality most of us in the U.K. will be in work and as usual will follow the games on the BBC. As for the comments about Gorden Brown, this is the United Kingdoms of Great Britain, H.M. Queen Elizabeth is Head of State, not which ever PM is in office. As for the Americans that comment.

    From plewis696@..., on Wed 27 Aug 8:56AM

  3. Lesley B:Mybe you should know Chinese enjoy the same levle of freedom as the westener except you want to destroy your country.the UK gov and the China government are the same at its essential.Many Chinese acknowlege english ,they could read the westen media news and information anytime on the internet.But you know nothing about real China ,you are really brain-wash by your media and GOV.Chinese won't totally trust the Gov and the media .But I wish you totally trust your Gov and the media .Good luck! Mr predujice

    From Echen S, on Wed 27 Aug 4:43AM

  4. Yiannis P and Tony H: I hope you don't use the stupid words such as ‘robotic“、”fake“ to commet on Beijing Olympic.Beijing Olympics succeed because their deep love and enthusiastic for the Olympic Games,Chinese try their best to ogrnise the game and serve the athletes, not just by the money and big scale.Most of the money is spent on the construction of infrastructure and improvement of environment without wasting.
    If British really love the Olympic ,2012 Olympic will be wonderful too.

    From Echen S, on Wed 27 Aug 4:18AM

  5. Sorry brits, im sorry to say that we have a tough task on hand. the 8 mins show in the closing ceremony was just an embarrassment in front of the whole world - was that the best we've got? i dun see how the 2 million spent was not a waste of tax payers' money, boris (keep your hands off you pockets btw). mind u, whats wrong with doing spectacular shows? we should stop emphasising how "fun, human, and British" 2012 is gonna be, its really sad to be honest. the rest of the world knows cos we aint got the money and resources to out-do the awesome displays in beijing

    From hellringar, on Tue 26 Aug 5:49PM

  6. I think the couple making love in the sea (and the greek sea mind you) is a good idea for the GB olympics opening ceremony. After all that's what the Brits do on holiday

    From bowesey17, on Tue 26 Aug 4:31PM

  7. ...The London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony (and Closing Ceremony) are in all probably, not going to be as spectacular as Beijing's - simply as we don't have anything like the money or other resources that China do! But whilst they are visually great to watch, for one thing there should be a lot more fun, some humour, and Britishness, unlike in Beijing. Also, they're not the most important thing - strong competitors and winning will be, with the great incentive of winning medals on home soil, being sure to inspire our current Olympic team, and all new competitors who join them in the next 4 years.......
    Thoroughly Well done to all the Beijing 2008 Team GB, for bring back such a great feelgood factor, and the best of luck for London 2012!

    TonyH.

    From Tony H, on Tue 26 Aug 3:48PM

  8. lol cant wait for ur olympics what are u gonna show us tea drinking, rain busses jeez should be spectacular lmao

    From Dimitrios G, on Tue 26 Aug 1:19PM

  9. Agreed with what Keith said.

    About the chinese opening ceremony, it was quite frightening, the robotic people, the fake smiles, the music..I switched the TV off afraid I was going to have nightmares:) Total contrast with the one in Athens where my lasting impression was a couple making love in the sea inside the stadium.. it was about the simple and beautiful things in life and not about power and world domination. Too bad half of the greek athletes were doped though:) Many others too mind you. By the way, was any of the thousands of chinese athletes caught? Hmm...highly suspicious...

    Back to London, I hate to say it but it will be a very difficult task. Nothing works in this city, it takes more than a year to renovate (changing the tiles and the elevators) a single tube station (Queensway), the Wembley stadium was a disaster, the tube stops all the time due to "signal failure" (as if knowing that makes me feel any better), the trains travel at speeds last seen in the 19th century, Wimbledon's roof needs many years to complete as if it was the most complicated engineering task in history, etc.
    Best of luck to London though, I really want to like this city but fail miserably!

    From Yiannis P, on Tue 26 Aug 12:43PM

  10. Keith (and btw I'm not getting at you cause I notice that ppl fight alot on here lol), Gordon Brown had every right to be there. And in case you haven't noticed, Gordon Brown visits our troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq quite regularly. He is our head of state and welcome all those who are ambassadors for our great nation.

    From drummerboykyle, on Tue 26 Aug 12:36PM

  11. I hope we dont have an opening ceremony like the chineses. I dont want to see male and female segregation to that extent. Did anyone else not notice how it was either look alike males or look alike females doing each section? Although great skill I think it emphasised how robotic the people of China are and how controlled by their goverment. Puppets on a string???

    From Lesley B, on Tue 26 Aug 7:44AM

  12. 9 Billion pounds for sport and people are starving in hospital and drugs are
    to expencive for cancer sufferes I am not going on about the people that took
    part, ( just the govement)

    From ron g, on Tue 26 Aug 6:10AM

  13. Can You Brit creat a fantastic opening ceremony like chinese did?

    From Alex T, on Tue 26 Aug 5:16AM

  14. kudos to keith very good observation

    From dercute, on Tue 26 Aug 5:10AM

  15. Actually you can have an Irish Passport, and Ireland is a country.
    But you are right, the The United Kingdom is a union of four constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. But people from these "countries" are British, despite this, people from these "countries" like to believe they are either English, Scottish, N.Irish or Welsh.

    But to be honest UK did very well considering the small population compared to the 3 above in the medal standings

    From Rosi, on Tue 26 Aug 3:22AM

  16. Hello Silverbullet what country are you from? The IOC only recognises Great Britain because you can't have an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish passport in most other competitions (not all) the athletes represent their own countries. Is that stupid or are you?

    From Ronsenglish, on Tue 26 Aug 2:14AM

  17. like the 2nd comment totally agree however the 1st comment silver bullet fc your an @#$% if it was just englad doing the olympics wed stil be able to put on adecent show im guessing youre a scot welsh or irish just remeber for all your cries of "independance" none of u have any compunction about taking english money to support your frankly piss poor economys remeber without england youd all be 3rd world countries england forever!!

    From benny c, on Tue 26 Aug 2:11AM

  18. I love how all your athletes refer to Britain as one country! the stupidity

    From Creaven91, on Tue 26 Aug 12:06AM

  19. Why is it only the "posh" sports like yatching, rowing, cycling etc where we win most of our medals... we are @#$% on the track and field...

    And why was Gordon Brown there..? Can someone tell me why its more important to claim the glory for the Olympics that to support our troops... the ones he poorly equips for combat and then sends them to their deaths for the USA. Why cant he welcome our brave boys back from the wars...dead or alive... or doesnt that win votes for him... not that anyone will vote for this loser of a corrupt government anyway

    From Keith R, on Mon 25 Aug 11:42PM
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