MR PENDLE: I’m glad the Olympics and Paralympics are over

THEY think it’s all over ... and thankfully, it is. The marathon of sports otherwise known as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that is.

For the best part of the last two months, the BBC in particular has treated the Games as though nothing else really mattered, with gold medallists at both festivals treated as national heroes in a manner which over the top cannot begin to describe.

Commentators on both radio and television worked themselves up into a frenzy as home competitors qualified for finals in heats they were expected to win through easily, and went one stage further when it came to the finals as their excitement nearly brought them bursting out of the sets.

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The BBC trumpeted about its 24 sports channels dedicated to the Games - yet many of them showed pictures of competitions without commentary and Radio 5 bizarrely chose to feature dressage - a sport which Mr Pendle cannot understand when watching it on TV, let alone listening to it on a radio.

But it was not all bad news.

The Games brought sports which would not normally see the light of day into our living rooms, and we were introduced to their rules, some of them bizarre to those with no knowledge of them beforehand.

And now it is all over, of course, we will have a non-stop drip feed of how so many people are taking up sport as a result of the legacy of the Olympics, although when Mr Pendle looked out of his living room window the other morning and saw five young boys slouching along the street, it looked to him as though very little had changed around Colne!

TWO small things concern Mr Pendle about the Olympics.

One was the reluctance of commentators to use the word “last” whenever reference was made to a British competitor who came in at the back of the field - we were instead told they were sixth, eighth or whatever.

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We could see they were last, but the commentators had apparently spotted a phantom rower or swimmer bringing up the rear.

And what about the use of the moniker Team GB?

There were some who took part in the Games who were not fit and should have stood aside for someone else - but they showed none of the team spirit and instead acted in their own interests, only to break down after a few seconds.

Yes, there will be those who will say how the Games gave some a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in the Olympics, but what about those fit athletes who would have liked a chance to take part but who were denied it because of selfish individuals who had about as much chance of winning a medal as Mr Pendle?

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