The legacy of London 2012

It was with a groan of despair when I found out that the new minister for Culture, women and equality was this woman:



It is she that is responsible for the legacy of London 2012, which no doubt she will do a dreadful job of. However, the preservation of this summer of sporting activity perhaps will manage without her, as it has provided its own glorious legacy that will outlive Maria Miller and the dreadful coalition government.

I am surprised that I've taken to the London 2012 games so much, I am quite emphatically not a sporting fan, I get really uneasy about the notion of 'patriotism' (which is often only one step removed from racism), and the fact that the London transport system comes to a screeching halt if there are leaves on the track was leading me to expect a summer of pure misery.

The thing I wasn't expecting is that the Olympics and Paralympics aren't really about sport, and aren't really about borders and flags, they're about people; individuals and collectively. They're about people from all over the world cheering for the winners and losers, regardless of which colours they were wearing, they're about celebrating human spirit and endeavour, and most importantly they were about having a bloody good time.

I worried that my enthusiasm for the Paralympics wouldn't be as great as for the Olympics, because of the gap between them, but if anything I have enjoyed them more. Channel 4's coverage has been brilliant (aside from the incessant adverts), and has focused on human spirit in a non-sentimental and non-patronising way. I love that so many of the presenters have disabilities, and really hope that this will continue post-Paralympics.

The Olympics and Paralympics have also been a great platform for women, a huge reason why I find sport so difficult to digest normally is because women's sport is so often considered secondary. Women such as Jessica Ennis, Ellie Simmonds and Nicola Adams have been some of the most celebrated athletes in the games, with no inference that their achievements are any less than those of their male team-mates.



I also love how many holes in our government the games have exposed. The Tories' loathing of our immigration rates have made their support of our GB athletes such as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis look laughably hypocritical, and George Osborne being booed when giving medals at a Paralympic event was surely a highlight of the London 2012, it's disgraceful to expect that the response would have been any different given the Tories' lack of compassion for people with disabilities.

Perhaps the sour point is that even in something as all-embracing as London 2012, the number of 'out' LGBT athletes is tiny, while the opening Olympic ceremony gave a brief nod to the richness of the LGBT community in the UK, the measly proportion of out athletes simply confirms the inherent homophobia in sport. By my calculations only 0.16% of the near 14,000 athletes competing outwardly identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This is not enough! Although I will use this opportunity to include a picture of the lovely diver Matthew Mitcham, who embraces his sexuality and is a real stand out in terms of how freely he speaks about it. (the picture is from his facebook fan page)



I have always been annoyed by how much of our newspapers are dominated by sport, but the London 2012 games have shown me that Sport has what I've always believed the Arts to have, which is the potential to empower, inspire and bridge gaps between people. That's not to say my enthusiasm for sport will continue post London 2012- as our football culture in the UK is an embarrassing display of bravado, machismo, misogyny, racism and homophobia.

The games have been a triumph, and I look forward to seeing my home city of London continue to bask in that triumph for many years to come. For all of my initial cynicism, I stand corrected.