The people have united again just like in 2012
Britain’s golden boy from the London Games tells ALEX SPINK about one good thing to have come from pandemic disaster. Q WOULD YOU SUPPORT THE OLYMPICS TAKING PLACE IF IT HAS TO BE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS? A I can’t really envisage an Olympics without a crowd. Dina Asher-Smith became world champion in Doha last autumn with nobody in the stadium to cheer her on and that was ridiculous, not well thought out at all. You would have to have someone watching for it to feel like an Olympic Games. It would definitely lose its edge without anyone present. It wouldn’t feel as big and important. It would be bizarre. A That is the question. Maybe I shouldn’t say it wouldn’t feel like an Olympics, because given the amount of money spent creating these Games it would be tragic for Japan were they to be lost. They were ready to host an amazing Olympics. Going ahead in some way has to be better than cancellation. Q THE LONDON OLYMPICS ARE BEING RELIVED ON EUROSPORT IN THE COMING DAYS. HOW DO YOU FEEL TO HAVE HAD THAT EXPERIENCE, GIVEN THE TOKYO POSTPONEMENT AND THAT RIO IN 2016 WAS AN UNDERWHELMING ATHLETICS EXPERIENCE? A Unbelievably lucky. Not just me, but Jess [Ennis-Hill], Mo [Farah] and all the other Olympic medallists – everybody that got to compete there. London is by far the greatest modern Olympics. Lord Coe and his team absolutely nailed it. I still pinch myself that I was a part of that amazing night in that amazing stadium in front of those amazing fans on Super Saturday. The Olympics in London was as perfect as it could be. Q 2012 WAS SUCH A FEEL-GOOD TIME. DO YOU SEE PARALLELS BETWEEN THEN AND THIS SUMMER IN THAT WE’RE TALKING TO OUR NEIGHBOURS, CLAPPING THE CARERS… THE NATION IS COMING TOGETHER? Q
BIZARRE, YES, BUT BETTER THAN NOT TAKING PLACE? A
One hundred per cent. It’s funny isn’t it. It takes a home Olympic Games or a pandemic for people to stop, take note of things around them and actually start engaging again. There is undoubtedly a level of coming together which is similar to what we all experienced in 2012, when complete strangers were talking on trains and people were united by national pride. Q IS ATHLETICS DOING ENOUGH DURING LOCKDOWN TO ENTERTAIN ITS PUBLIC? A
Well, the pole vaulters have been great. The two ‘Ultimate Garden Clashes’ have been watched by hundreds of thousands and even featured on the 10 o’clock news. That was some achievement and a tribute to the inventiveness of the pole-vaulting fraternity. It would have been nice to see a bit more from the rest of the sport as with the postponement of the Olympics – athletics’ main shop window – you need to create as much content as possible and I haven’t seen an awful lot. But the circumstances are tough for everyone so I’ll cut them a bit of slack. Q JOANNA COATES, THE NEW BOSS OF UK ATHLETICS, WANTS TO SHAKE UP THE SPORT. DO YOU SUPPORT HER? A Absolutely. Athletics has to adapt, the sport has to bring itself into the 21st century. If you took the Olympic template for athletics now and laid it on say, 1924, it would be pretty much identical. It’s not a well-run sport. It has been stuck in the dark ages for quite a long time and I really hope we can start to move with the times and become more relevant to a younger audience.